February 23rd

Usually I write about the gospel from the previous Sunday and I marvel how we all listen to the same gospel and it plays out differently in the lives of my fellow bloggers and me.  But there is a gospel reading from this week that seemed to speak directly to me about the issues in the news and has been on my mind lately.

Mark 9:30-37:
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

The Disciples, the twelve that were specifically chosen, argued about who was the greatest, perhaps even who was the most powerful, and they missed it.  They missed Christ’s message, not a message that was shrouded in symbolism and parables, they missed THE message because of themselves and their own hubris.

Sometimes I get disappointed in my leaders.  Those that I have elected and those that have been specifically chosen.  This gospel reminds me to think for myself and listen for myself for His call to be the humble servant.

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February 22ns • Ash Wednesday

Hiding the Alleluia
During the penitential season of Lent, we do not sing or say “Alleluia” during our worship.  Last year, I came across a good idea for making this “fasting” from the Allelluia concrete for my children.  It is the hiding (or burying, if you’re fond of dirt) of the Alleluia.  Perhaps you would like to try this idea in your home.

First, create some kind of article that has the word “Alleluia” on it…this can range from a hand-drawn picture,  to a painted wooden plaque, to a fabric banner.  Don’t let perfectionism paralyze you;  the children will enjoy this no matter how simple your Alleluia (speaking mainly to myself, here).   Then, on Ash Wednesday, (or Mardi Gras, but that was yesterday!), the Alleluia sign will be hidden somewhere in the house, or you may enclose it in a plastic bag within a shoebox and bury it.  On Easter morning, the children find the Alleluia, which may be encircled with treats, highlighting the sweetness of Christ’s resurrection, and symbolizing the return of the Alleluia to our Mass.  It is a fun and faith-filled tradition.

Crown of Thorns
You will need a small grapevine wreath, a box of toothpicks, and a tray or dish.Insert the toothpicks snugly into the grapevine wreath.  This will resemble a crown of thorns.

February 21

What makes you uncomfortable?  What frightens you?   What don’t you understand?

While sitting at Sunday’s Mass Father Jack asked a question that really made me sit up and take notice.  “What paralyzes you?”

This week’s Gospel has always been a favorite of mine.  Even as a child I thought it was amazing.  I pictured a paralyzed man who had some awesome friends.  Their faith was so strong that they carry their friend on a mat through hot and  dusty streets looking for Jesus.  When they find out where he is, the crowd is too big and they can’t get in.  Do they give up?  No.  They lift their friend up on a roof and lower him into the room where they know Jesus can heal him. And then Jesus stuns the crowds by telling him, his sins are forgiven.  Healing him in the way only God can.     Jesus does tell him to rise, take up his mat and walk but that’s secondary.  It almost seems like Jesus says to them, you think having him walk is a big deal, then you missed it.

What aren’t we seeing?  Or what stops us from seeing.  It’s like that old saying, “we can’t see the forest, for all the trees”  What stops us from recognizing someone else’s pain and suffering?  What stops us from recognizing God in them as well.  The lowest of society, the so-called bottom of the barrel were Jesus’ friends.  The tax collector, the lepers, Gentiles and women of questionable backgrounds.  He acknowledge them by seeking them out, dining with them, healing them and forgiving them.

It reminds me of an incident that occurred   when I was college.  While walking across campus with an acquaintance, she pointed to a young man wearing dreadlocks (a natural hairstyle worn by some African- Americans)  and stated, “those people scare me”  Those people?  I looked at her confused.  “Who him?”  He scares you?  Why? I asked.  She didn’t seem to know.  But as we got closer to him I couldn’t help but smile.  It was my cousin.  As we embraced and spoke for a few minutes I can’t imagine what she was thinking.  I felt sorry for her.  She missed it.  Had she looked closely, she would have seen an intelligent man  of great faith, who also had an awesome sense of humor.

We all want to be treated fairly and when it comes to our misgivings we yearn for compassion,  empathy, tolerance… You know the golden rule.  “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  Father Jack was right.    We all have something that paralyzes us and  when I get in my own way, I hope I take a minute to seek God’s guidance and listen.  He only has to say one word.  MOVE.

What’s getting in your way?

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Saint Brigid says, “Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  Alleluia! Hallelujah!  Aleluya!  ….”
That’s the last time we’ll hear this praise-word until Easter Sunday.
Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. 

February 20th

You learn the most interesting things when you go to Mass.  During the Gospel of Mark this past week end in Mass, we heard that Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic man in Capernaum before healing him of his paralysis.

One of the things we should do as part of the upcoming season of Lent is to celebrate the sacrament of penance/confession — to experience a healing from our sins.  Lent has been described as the season of penance, reflection, prayer, almsgiving and fasting in order that we can prepare ourselves to better celebrate and live Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday and beyond.

We heard during the homily that sometimes we are paralyzed by our sin.  That sometimes parishioners are embarrassed to go to confession, particularly when we have repeated the same sin again after having previously engaged in the sacrament of penance/confession.   I must admit that committing the same sin after confession has on occasion dissuaded me from going back to confession again.  I learned that God recognizes that we are human and that in our humanness we will stumble, fall and make mistakes, often the same mistakes we have previously made and been absolved of.  But that like our own children, when we make mistakes and fall – often the same mistakes, God will be there to pick us up, dust us off and send us on our way.
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Saint Brigid says:  ”Ash Wednesday is this week”.  To see the Ash Wednesday Schedule CLICK HERE.

February 18

February 17th

Do you remember any special events happening in your life by the end or mid 1980′s? Any important plans? Maybe a place you visited a person you met? A song that influenced the way you saw life?

Well, I was in my late teens living and enjoying life. I thought a break from a “long life” of schooling would be what I needed and the time to make money in the family business was the right move for me.  At that time I had developed a new more simple and practical language compared to the elaborated and rich bilingualism I was born into. It was a language that communicated great ideas, feelings and experiences in monosyllables.

Conversations with my parents on a Sunday morning before church sounded more or less like this:

Mom: “you came very late last night, where did you go?”
Me: “nowhere”
Dad: What did you do?
Me: “nothing”
Mom: Who did you see?
Me: “no one”
Mom: “Kyrie Eleison” ( Greek for” Lord, have mercy”)

There was a song by Mister Mister “Kyrie Eleison” that connected my vision with my life, family and faith. Although I wasn’t sure where my path will lead me to; I had the strong conviction that God’s love and mercy was always going to be with me.

Every Sunday morning celebrating Mass with my family, we ask for God’s mercy, love and forgiveness, I know that He will always be with me: Kyrie Eleison!

February 16th

Gym class.    Do those words send your stomach doing flips or do they fill you with athletic pride?

I find most people have very vivid memories of their gym class experience and I speculate these feelings are directly related to the picking order.   Where were you picked when dividing up for teams?  Were you the one perhaps doing the picking or were you waiting to be picked and hoping beyond all hope that you wouldn’t be picked last.

 Sunday’s gospel, Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”  Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose.  Be made clean.”

Jesus picked that day in gym class, and those that were usually last were picked first.

Susan Boyle.  Such an unexpected performance.   Please remember compassion as you go through your day today.

February 15th

I try to understand the Bible as best as I can.  One of the things I have been focusing on lately is why Jesus sometimes admonished the subjects of his miracles not to tell other people.  It just seemed odd to me.

I did some reading, and I found an explanation which made sense to me.  God had a bigger plan, beyond the “lesser” miracles of Jesus healing of the sick, etc., and He didn’t want the earliest Christians to focus too much on these miracles.  Rather, Jesus, and God through Him, wanted the people to focus on the big picture of their eventual salvation through Christ.  This salvation, the defeat if death itself, is the ultimate miracle.  I don’t know that this is the best answer, but it made sense to me.

But I also thought about Jesus, and why he performed the miracles.  I seemed to recall somehow that before Jesus performed many of this miracles the Gospels often note that He had “compassion” for the people.  I did a word search on my iPad application “GloBible”, and it checked out in a number of cases.  A note of Jesus’ “compassion” comes before many of His miracles.  For instance, Matthew 14:14.  “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”  Or the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Matthew 15:32, “Jesus called his disciples to him and said “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

  So why did Jesus tell the subjects of the miracles (like the leper in this past Sunday’s reading) not to tell anyone else?  I have some understanding of the concerns Jesus had not to violate or offend the Jewish law.  And I thought about the “big picture” argument above.

But I also thought about it from Jesus’ perspective.  I think that in His human capacity, he just couldn’t keep from healing and helping with miracles.  Even if God’s plan was to keep the early Christians from focusing too much one these “lesser” miracles, Jesus, as a human, just couldn’t stop Himself from healing and helping in miraculous ways.  I know that nothing Jesus did was outside God’s plan, but I feel like Jesus’ human side just kept calling Him to have compassion for the people He met, regardless of what He may have known intellectually.  He had compassion beyond His reason.   To me, the most comforting part of being Catholic is the fact that our God brought Himself to be like us, so that He could have true compassion.