Monday, January 20, 2025

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot

(Hebrews 4:5-1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)

The movie “The Miracle Club” describes the pilgrimage of a handful of Irish women to Lourdes.  Each woman to varying degrees has faith.  And each prays for a specific miracle.  In the end no one receives the miracle in the way she expected.  Yet each one’s life is altered so that it might be said that they did experience a miracle.  Something similar takes place in today’s gospel.

The four men bringing the paralytic to Jesus believe that he can enable him to walk.  They may be disappointed when they hear Jesus pronounce forgiveness.  They were looking for more visual healing.  If they have time to reflect, however, they may realize that they have received a miracle.  The paralytic is now able to enter the rest of the Lord, as the first reading puts it.

Miracles are more common than we imagine if we believe.  God is working with us, for us, and through us so that we too may enter His rest.

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)

The term “banality of evil” was coined by the philosopher Hannah Arendt after World War II.  She used it to describe how war criminals like Adolph Eichmann could have taken part in atrocities like the Holocaust.  Her thesis is that many who do evil are not bad people with evil intentions.  Rather, they just do what is necessary to live comfortable lives like most people.  Arendt wrote that to combat evil people must ask themselves how their actions affect others and desist when they cause suffering or distress.

The reading from Hebrews today warns people to likewise be wary of the “banality of evil.” The message implies that going along with the crowd can create injustice and bring forth the wrath of God.  Saying that the people have become partners of Christ, it urges them not to abandon the one who has set them free from evil.

The reading’s lesson applies equally to us.  We too may follow the majority into a swamp.  Lying to receive added compensation is just one way people today participate in the “banality of evil.”  As the author of Hebrews recommends, we should remain faithful to Christ who forbids it.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 2:14-18; Mark 1:29-39))

In the 1940’s and 1950’s several priests in France set out early in the morning to work in factories.  Seeing that many laborers had stopped coming to church, these “worker-priests” decided to bring the gospel to them.  It became a contentious experiment, however.  Worker-priests supported union organizing, which was opposed by managers, who did go to church.  Eventually, the worker-priests were told by the hierarchy to leave their jobs.

The worker-priest movement might have found its inspiration in today’s first reading.  As Jesus Christ experienced the human condition, worker-priests worked side-by-side with laborers.  The reading is quite explicit.  Jesus was tried by suffering so that he might help others who suffer.  No doubt, worker-priests suffered as well.  They went to work before dawn when they might have slept until the hour of daily mass.  They also had to face rejection for their attempt to preach the gospel.

Suffering is part of every human life, but especially the Christian life.  Jesus tells his disciples to take up their cross and follow him.  He means that we are not to shun but to embrace suffering as a way of serving him.  When we are sick, we can bear with the discomfort as an offering to God for others’ sake.  When we are well but find it distasteful to visit the sick, we should not shirk that service. 

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 2:5-12; Mark 1:21-28)

The struggle between Jesus and Satan did not end in the desert.  With his minions Satan’s continues his spiritual battle.  In today’s gospel an unclean spirit has possession of a man in Jesus’ presence.  The demon makes a defiant charge: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  Then it attempts to control Jesus by revealing his name, “Holy One of God.”

Jesus, however, is unruffled by the verbal assault.  With a fierce shout he commands the evil spirit to leave the helpless victim.  The spirit obeys but not without hurting the man.  The compassion of Jesus in rescuing the possessed man and the evil of the possessor are manifest to all. Jesus is rightly commended for “teaching with authority.”

The struggle be Christ and Satan continues in each of our lives.  When we feel tempted to lie, steal, lust, or whatever, we need to call of Jesus.  He maintains the authority to keep the devil at bay.

Monday, January 13, 2025

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

 It is conventionally thought that the Letter to the Hebrews was written to dissuade Jewish Christians from giving up faith in Jesus.  Modern commentators, however, no longer think that it was a letter nor that it was necessarily written to Jewish Christians.  They will not dismiss the treatise on these accounts because it brilliantly defends the faith from popular criticism.

According to contemporary biblical critics, the work was written as a sermon to which the author added an epistolary ending.  As today’s passage shows, the author regularly contrasts old (“In times past, God spoke in partial and varied ways…) and new (“in these days, he spoke to us through the Son…”).  He then indicates the superiority of the new dispensation.

The Letter to the Hebrews presents what is called a “balanced Christology.” It shows how Christ is fully human and divine.  Because he is human, he knows our deep-seated needs for meaning and hope.  Because he is divine, he can provide supernatural help to transcend our desperation.