Year: 2024

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Gospel: Mark 7:24-30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is one of only two miracles that Jesus performs at a distance. Meaning, the person being healed is not physically present.

In this case, a desperate mother falls at the feet of Jesus, telling him that her daughter is being tormented by a demon. 

In the ancient world, a “demon” could’ve been anything – something as mild as a temper, more serious like mental illness, or an actual demonic possession.

We don’t know what the case was, only that this little girl needed to be healed. 

Interestingly, the other miracle Jesus performs at a distance is the healing of another child: Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter. In both cases, the children are Gentiles, not Jews.

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Why would Jesus heal a Gentile? And why would he heal someone at a distance?

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To emphasize two things:

First, Jesus came to save all people.

Secondly, healing a person from a distance re-enforces the intercessor’s faith – in this case the mother – which is what Jesus wants from everyone.

This mom has no proof that her daughter had been healed other than Jesus’ words, “You may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

Yet that was enough, which is why the Lord says elsewhere, “Not in all of Israel have I found such faith.”

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Just as the Lord healed children at a distance, all we need to experience his healing power is an open heart filled with faith.

“Ask and you shall receive,” he says, “seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you.”

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Image credits: (1) IMPACT Church Parkersburg (2) Benedictine College Medium and Culture (3) Etsy

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Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.” 

When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Nothing that enters one from outside can defile,” Jesus says, “but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

In Judaism, to be “defiled” meant that a person lost access to the Temple, and therefore access to God. In order to remain pure – or “undefiled” – religious scholars created over 600 commandments that observant Jews needed to follow.

This included everything from the washing of hands and dishes to the treatment of birds. Jesus overrides these commandments and insists upon one thing only:

A pure heart.

“From within a person, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, and greed,” says the Lord. These things sour our relationship with God and with our neighbors.

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The Native Americans believe in a similar idea, stated in a different way.

They say there are two wolves living within each of us. One feeds on negativity – things like selfishness and anger – while the other feeds on positivity – things like hope and love.

The question is: “Which wolf wins?”

The one we feed.

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May we make every effort, in the words of Saint Peter, “to be found without spot or blemish before God.” 

Holy, undefiled, by feeding that good wolf – Christ – within.

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Image credits: (1) Hope 103.2 (2) Chabad.org (3) Apostles of the Interior Life

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Gospel: Mark 7: 1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.)
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,
as it is written:

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die.
Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”‘
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When I think about Nagasaki, Japan, the first thing that comes to mind is the atomic bomb dropped on it during World War Two, incinerating 37,000 people in a matter of seconds.

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But 350 years earlier, the people of Nagasaki faced another tragedy. The Japanese government was trying to systematically wipe out our faith; Christians were being martyred by the thousands.

The first known group of martyrs included Saint Paul Miki and 25 of his companions, all of whom were crucified on a hill outside of Nagasaki, Japan.

Among them were not only priests…but also the elderly, women, even children.

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Like Jesus, Saint Paul Miki used the cross as his pulpit to preach his final sermon.

These were his parting words: “After Christ’s example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as fruitful rain.”

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The Japanese continued stomping out the Catholic faith until all traces of it were lost.

In fact, missionaries would not return to Japan for another 200 years…But when they did, they discovered that Paul Miki’s prayer had mysteriously come true.

Somehow, thousands of Christians were living quietly in Nagasaki and beyond, reminding us all of a very important truth:

The Church never dies.

In spite of scandal, persecution, or any threat to its mission, the Gospel message never stops converting and saving souls.

It spreads through the daily words and actions of ordinary people like us.

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In answer to Paul’s prayer, how might we continue to share our faith with others today?

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Image credits: (1) RISE Youth, Facebook (2) America Magazine (3) WordsForTheHeart, WordPress