Year: 2024

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Gospel: Mark 9:38-40

John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him.”

Why on earth would John – or any of the Apostles – try to stop someone from doing a good deed? Casting out a demon from a possessed person would not only lead to immense relief for the possessed, it would also glorify God!

And yet, “We tried to prevent him.”

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Though they bear the authority of Christ, the Apostles are already starting to experience an attachment – even an entitlement – to Christ’s power, as if it’s all about them. 

This can still be a temptation for people involved in leadership or parish ministry today. We can quickly become so attached to authority, as if it’s ours, that it makes us afraid to either share it or give it up. 

This is not only true amongst the clergy, but also the laity.

As a result, new ideas are quickly squashed; ministries become exclusive; the Church looks more like a “club” than a welcoming family.

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“Do not prevent him,” Jesus says. In fact, do not prevent anyone from doing good!

Because this is how the kingdom of God grows – when new people are welcomed, new ideas are expressed, responsibility is shared, and good deeds multiply.

As we often sing together on Sundays, “All are welcome in this place!”

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Image credits: (1) Tricycle: The Buddhist Review (2) Buckhannon Alliance Church (3) Salem United Methodist Church, Facebook

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James: 4: 1-10

Beloved:
Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?
Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?
You covet but do not possess.
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war.
You do not possess because you do not ask.
You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
to spend it on your passions.
Adulterers!
Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world   
makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose that the Scripture speaks without meaning when it says,
The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy?
But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says:
God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.

So submit yourselves to God.
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy into dejection.
Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you.

The Word of the Lord.

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The ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, likens the soul to a charioteer whose task it is to drive two horses. 

One horse is gentle and mild, obedient to the commands of its master. The other is wild, untamed, and rebellious.

The name of the first horse is Reason. The second horse is Passion.

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Reason and Passion live in constant conflict within us.

For example, if someone strikes you across the cheek, reason would say, “Take a deep breath. Back down. They may be stronger than you!” 

Even, “Forgive them.”

Passion would say, “Hit ‘em hard! Smack ‘em back!”

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This is what makes Christian living so difficult at times. We must learn how to tame our passions; how to humble our ego; how to be measured, wise, and merciful. 

In a word, how live and love like Christ.

Meaning, it’s not enough for us to refrain from hurting another person; we should never wish harm upon anyone.

It’s not enough to know what is right; we should always do what is right.

It’s not enough to refrain from being dishonest; we should never consider telling a lie.

As Saint James writes in our first reading: 

“Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? So, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

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Hands the reigns of your heart over to Christ to the point that we can say with Saint Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living within me.”

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Image credits: (1) Tug of war rope, Amazon.com (2) Steemit.com (3) Heartlight.org

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Genesis: 3:9-15, 20

After Adam had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”
Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me— she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”
The LORD God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?”
The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”
The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

The Word of the Lord.

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In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve break their communion with God through an act of eating.

As Satan the serpent slithers in the Garden of Eden, he convinces Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, which she then shares with Adam, as we heard in our first reading.

This act of disobedience breaks the commandment given by God to Adam:

“You are free to eat from any of the trees in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it, you shall die.”

Christians understand this to be the origin of sin – and by extension the evil that is still present in our world. Once humanity’s relationship with God was severed, “all hell broke loose,” as it were.

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How is this rupture meant to be restored? How do we re-enter into communion with God?

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In John’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a new commandment, echoing that of Eden: 

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6: 51, 53).

Just as Adam and Eve lost communion with God through a disobedient act of eating, so we are brought back into relationship with God through an obedient act of eating.

Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge. 

In the Eucharist, we eat from the Cross, the tree of life.

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What are we to do with such a great gift?

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Saint Augustine said, “Become what you consume.”

Be the hands, the face, the voice of Christ in the world through acts of prayer, charity, and self-sacrifice. 

What might that look like for me – to become what I consume – today?

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Image credits: (1) The Eucharist, St. Mary’s Catholic Church (2) Scott Smith Blog (3) Catholic Answers