Author: admin

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Gospel: Mark 1: 40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him, 
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This man healed from leprosy was quite the salesman! 

In fact, the Gospel tells us that he was so effective in telling others about Jesus that Jesus couldn’t even reach the edge of town without being bombarded by the sick, the paralyzed, and the possessed.

Everyone wanted the healing and the joy Jesus offered this man.

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I’m sure we’ve all acted like that leper before. 

Think about how you reacted the day you got engaged; the day you had your first child or grandchild; the day you landed your dream job; or the day you got a puppy.

How many people did you tell? How many pictures did you take or post on social media?

Whenever something good happens to us, we naturally share the news with others. Being healed by Jesus was no different.

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Have we had that same type of experience with faith? Has Jesus changed us so radically that we can’t help but tell others?

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This is how the Good News of the Gospel spreads: one person at a time, sharing the uncontainable, life-altering joy that Jesus Christ brings.

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Image credits: (1) Bible Reasons, Joy in the Lord (2) Osprey Observer (3) Subiaco Church

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1 Samuel 3: 1-20

During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli,
a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infrequent.
One day Eli was asleep in his usual place.
His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.
The lamp of God was not yet extinguished,
and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD
where the ark of God was.
The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”

Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am.  You called me.”
“I did not call you,” Eli said.  “Go back to sleep.” 
So he went back to sleep.
Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli.
“Here I am,” he said. “You called me.”
But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”
At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD,
because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.
The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time.
Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. 
You called me.”
Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.
So Eli said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply,
‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” 
When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
the LORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,
not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
Thus all Israel from Dan to Beersheba
came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the LORD.

The Word of the Lord.

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Imagine you’re at a show in Las Vegas. Some popular magician has just walked onto a stage set with all sorts of props – a cage, boxes, saws, wands, swords, and so on.

After prepping the crowd, raising their expectations, he declares his need for help from the audience. Suddenly, you find his finger pointing right at you.

Like everyone else around you, your neck keeps turning as you seek to identify who the “unlucky” winner is. No, it’s not your neighbor.

It’s you.

The magician has called you onto stage.

Anyone who isn’t inclined to risk, who isn’t extroverted or a daredevil, might be a bit unhappy with this magician’s choice; you didn’t buy your ticket only to become another prop on his stage!

But there you are. The audience roars. The time has come to stand up and go.

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Though there is nothing “magical” about our faith, that sensation of being chosen – and feeling like you’re the last one fit for the job – happens quite frequently in the bible.

In our first reading, for example, God chooses Samuel to be his servant. Samuel’s young and inexperienced, but he becomes one of the great prophets of the Old Testament, preparing the way for Jesus.

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Like an unexpecting spectator, Samuel could’ve said, “Why me? Why not him or her?” 

But hear his response: “Here I am, Lord…Your servant is listening.”

How might our day change if we repeated Samuel’s words, “Here I am Lord” ?

I come to do your will.

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Image credits: (1) Fine Art America, Unique Trees (2) The Conversation (3) God Encounters Ministries

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Gospel: Mark 1: 21-28

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, 
and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” 
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
 “What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When I think of a sacred space, I think of this church. This altar. This pulpit. The Saints and the Stations of the Cross that line our walls.

Sacred spaces are filled with holy things that point us to God.

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In today’s Gospel, there’s a man with an unclean spirit present in the synagogue. The synagogue is a holy place, so why is he there?

Surely, he doesn’t belong.  

Or does he?

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I imagine him to be a conflicted man, both a sinner and a believer – a man who knew he was under the power of something stronger than himself.

Maybe he showed up in the synagogue that day hoping to be set free.

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This becomes the first miracle that Jesus performs in Mark’s Gospel, giving this man an added meaning.

Perhaps Mark uses him as an image for all of us. 

Like that man in the synagogue, at times aren’t we all possessed by something, or under the influence of something stronger than ourselves?

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Think of the person who gives into a particular temptation over and over again; the person who cannot find the grace to forgive; the person who harbors jealous or judgmental thoughts about others.

Occasionally, we all need the healing grace of Jesus.

The best place to find it is either where that man was – in the house of God – or in the grace-filled silence of prayer.

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Image credits: (1) Limbourg Brothers, Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Spirit (2) Lens of Faith Blog (3) Indian Catholic Matters