Sunday Meditation: The Homecoming

Two weeks ago we had a Gospel passage where in a storm at sea, Jesus admonishes his apostles for not having faith, and yet performs the miracle of quieting the storm,  In last week’s reading Jesus praises Jarius and the woman with the hemorrhage for having faith, and He performs two miracles.  In today’s reading, Jesus returns to His home town, preaches, and yet the people who knew Him best took offense at Him.  Here was a great lack of faith, and so He performed no miracles.  Faith is critical to these early chapters of Mark.

 

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.

When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astonished.

They said, “Where did this man get all this?

What kind of wisdom has been given him?

What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,

and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?”

And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

and among his own kin and in his own house.”

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,

apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

He was amazed at their lack of faith.

~Mk:1-6

 

Why did the people who knew Him best spurn Him?  Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchin Franciscans explains it fully and provides the significance for our spiritual needs. 

 

God is all around us, but it is so ordinary that the familiarity breeds contempt.

Sunday Meditation: “Where did this man get all this?”

 

Back to a John Michael Talbot hymn, “Where Have You Hidden.”

 

 

Sunday Meditation: His Brothers and Mother

We are now fully back in Ordinary Time, and the Gospel reading picks where we left Jesus before Lent and Easter entered the liturgical season.  Jesus had been preaching in Galilee with His disciples and now this Sunday returns home.  This passage is an example of what some scholars call a Markan Sandwich, that is, a technique that Mark likes to use in telling a story.  A Markan Sandwich is one where Mark starts with one story, transitions to another, and then returns—thereby creating the sandwich—to complete the original story. 

 

Jesus came home with his disciples.

Again the crowd gathered,

making it impossible for them even to eat.

When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,

for they said, "He is out of his mind."

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said,

"He is possessed by Beelzebul,"

and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons."

 

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,

"How can Satan drive out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided against itself,

that kingdom cannot stand.

And if a house is divided against itself,

that house will not be able to stand.

And if Satan has risen up against himself

and is divided, he cannot stand;

that is the end of him.

But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property

unless he first ties up the strong man.

Then he can plunder the house.

Amen, I say to you,

all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be

forgiven them.

But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit

will never have forgiveness,

but is guilty of an everlasting sin."

For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

 

His mother and his brothers arrived.

Standing outside they sent word to him and called him.

A crowd seated around him told him,

"Your mother and your brothers and your sisters

are outside asking for you."

But he said to them in reply,

"Who are my mother and my brothers?"

And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,

"Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God

is my brother and sister and mother."

~Mk 3:20-35

So the first story is that of Jesus’ family thinking He’s gone insane.  The middle part of the story is the conflict with the Scribes and His answers to their claims.  And finally He returns to conclude with a resolution to the first story.

Fr, Joseph Mary of the Capuchin Franciscans offers a pertinent homily.

 

Now some may be shocked by the verse about the unforgivable sin.  Jesus says, “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”  What is this unforgivable sin, because I want to make sure I never commit it?  An old favorite of mine, Fr. John Corapi explains, taken from St. Augustine I might add.

 

 

Got that?  The unforgivable sin is refusing final repentance.  

 

Sunday Meditation: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

Let’s end with a hymn from John Michael Talbot, “One Faith.”

 

Sunday Meditation: Divine Mercy Sunday

Easter has passed and we like the apostles are dazed with the events of the past week.  Jesus has died, and some have seen the Risen Man.  But we hide in fear and doubt.  Until suddenly He appears with the word of Peace. 

We are now in the Easter season, and we come to the Second Sunday of Easter, the first being Easter itself.  The reading is the same for all three years of the lectionary.  We are asked to believe.

 

On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained."

 

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

But he said to them,

"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands

and put my finger into the nailmarks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

 

Now a week later his disciples were again inside

and Thomas was with them.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,

and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,

and bring your hand and put it into my side,

and do not be unbelieving, but believe."

Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

 

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples

that are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

~Jn 20:19-31

In the year 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter has been observed as the Feast of Divine Mercy, authorized by Pope John Paul II, who had a devotion to St. Maria Faustina.  Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchins Franciscan gives a wonderful homily, capturing the fear and message of peace of the day.

 

I bet no one in the whole world has used Orwell's 1984 as part of a Divine Mercy Sunday homily.  Well done!  And that is the connection to “Peace” or “Shalom,” or as Father explains, “Wholeness.”  Christ brings wholeness to a fragmented world.

Sunday Meditation: "Peace be with you."

Finally, I embedded Annie Karto’s “Divine Mercy Flood My Soul” some 11 years ago for Divine Mercy Sunday.  I love it so I will post it again, only a different video with the lyrics.

 

Sunday Meditation: Repent and Believe in the Gospel

After Jesus is baptized (see last week’s Gospel) by John the Baptist, John’s fortunes “decrease” while Jesus’s begins His ministry.  Today, in gathering some of His disciples, He announces the Kingdom of God.

After John had been arrested,

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:

"This is the time of fulfillment.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent, and believe in the gospel."

 

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;

they were fishermen.

Jesus said to them,

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.

He walked along a little farther

and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

They too were in a boat mending their nets.

Then he called them.

So they left their father Zebedee in the boat

along with the hired men and followed him.

~Mk 1:14-20

This week Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchin Franciscans makes you feel the full force of Christ’s call to repent. .

 

Fr. Joseph Mary does not seem like an introvert to me, but that may be deceptive.  I had no idea what menudo is.  I never had it.  I looked it up and yuck.  We never do hear how that young man resolved his anger that evening.  Do you think that young man repented?  My intuition tells me he did. 

Meditation: "This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."

A clip from The Chosen.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Oblivious Rich Man

Today’s Gospel is one of those unforgettable parables—that of the rich man and Lazerus—that convicts.  It convicted me from the first time I read it, and it continues to every time I read it.  Is it because I identify with the rich man?  What exactly is his sin?  Sure luxury and gluttony, but neither are listed in the Ten Commandments.  However, luxury and gluttony lead to the obliviousness and callousness of the rich man to the pitiful poor man.  But there is so much more to the parable than showing the just deserts of heaven.  The Kingdom of God is the paradoxical inversion of the earthly world.  There is also the lesson Father Abraham, a stand in for God, delivers: no sign from heaven will ever be good enough for those without faith.

 

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

"There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen

and dined sumptuously each day.

And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps

that fell from the rich man's table.

Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.

When the poor man died,

he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.

The rich man also died and was buried,

and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,

he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off

and Lazarus at his side.

And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me.

Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,

for I am suffering torment in these flames.'

Abraham replied,

'My child, remember that you received

what was good during your lifetime

while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;

but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.

Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established

to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go

from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'

He said, 'Then I beg you, father,

send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers,

so that he may warn them,

lest they too come to this place of torment.'

But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them listen to them.'

He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham,

but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,

neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Lk 16:19-31

 

As well as I thought I knew this parable, this Franciscan friar—Fr. Joseph Mary from the Capuchin Friars on a vlog called A Simple Word—points out even more than I realized.

 

The parable is addressed to the Pharisees!  How could I miss that?  And perhaps even more importantly, the rich man has no name while Lazarus does.  How rich is that!

 

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Edit 25 September 2022 at 9:05 PM: 

Here’s an interesting question on this parable, proposed by Fr. Paul D. Scalia (yes, the son of the former Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia) in an article, “The Poverty of Wealth,” at The Catholic Thing.  

 

Who is the more pitiable in this parable, Dives (the rich man) or Lazarus? Naturally, our heart goes out to Lazarus, the poor man at the gate, longing for scraps of food and whose sores the dogs would come and lick (an endearing detail to today’s dog lovers; but not to the ancient Jews, who didn’t have that same affection). In fact, Dives is the more to be pitied, not only because it’s far worse to do evil than to suffer it, but also because of what he became by way of his sin. So, we must appreciate the wretched state of Dives and the sin that brought him to it.

I think the person to be pitied becomes inverted with the inversion of status in God’s kingdom.  I think this is a very pertinent question to ask.