Author: admin

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“He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly” (Mark 1:44).

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One of the best days of my life was the day I was ordained a priest. 

I remember people taking hundreds of pictures with their iPhones. It was such a special occasion that everyone wanted to be a part of it.

I felt like you may have felt on your wedding day, the day when you held your first child, or another day that changed your life.

When exciting things like that happen, we have to share the experience and the pictures with others. 

It’s simply part of being human.

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That’s how this man felt about Jesus.

Jesus changed his life; he cured his leprosy! 

He couldn’t help but shout the name Jesus from his rooftop. As the Gospel tells us, he told so many people that Jesus couldn’t enter a town without being bombarded.

Have we had that same type experience with Jesus? Does the Lord drive us to excitement? 

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Or are we more casual, lukewarm in our faith?

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Joyful moments must be shared. And what better news is there than the friendship and salvation offered in Jesus Christ?

Like the leper who was healed, that’s news we should share joyfully with others today.

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“In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit. He cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?'” (Mark 1:23).

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The synagogue was a holy place.

Why, then, is there a man with an unclean spirit present???

He seems wildly out of place.

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Or is he?

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We shouldn’t be quick to judge.

Perhaps he was conflicted.

Both a believer and a sinner, a man in need of grace. 

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Are we any different? 

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, Saint Paul says. They’re holy, much like the synagogue was.

Yet how many of us need something unclean cast out of us – jealousy, greed, lust, fear, a residual grudge?

As someone once put it, “The greatest sin is thinking you have none.”

Like that man in the Gospel, there’s likely both good and evil, love and sin, at work within us.

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May the same Lord who set this poor man free drive out from us whatever is displeasing to him, so that so that we may love and serve with ever greater freedom. 

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I’m sure many of us remember the feeling of falling in love.

At first everything about that person seemed enchanting – the way they walk, the tone of their voice, the look in their eyes. The smallest detail can give you butterflies.

You’re left feeling like you cannot live without the other person by your side.

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But eventually the reality of ordinary life sets in.

You realize that the bills must be paid, space must be shared, and they – like you – have their own priorities.

While it’s easy to fall in love, it’s much harder to remain in love.

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In the Gospel, Jesus invites Simon, Andrew, James, and John to become his disciples.

Immediately, they drop everything and follow him.

They must have been spellbound by Jesus; he spoke with authority, he performed miracles – and they were part of his inner circle.

But as their lives with him slowly merged into one, they realized just how hard it would be to say “yes” to him every day, much like a couple that’s been married for many years.

In the words of Jesus, they will have to, “Deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him.”

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We are all here this morning because – like the disciples – we’ve fallen in love with Jesus. 

But the butterflies are probably gone. Reality has set in.

It can be much harder to say “yes’ to Jesus today than it was yesterday, because the longer we know him, the more he wants of our heart.

So how is the Lord inviting me to follow him today?

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Maybe he’s asking me to be kind to that person who constantly gets under my skin, to be generous with my time, or to let go of a temptation that I’ve clung to.

“No one can have two masters,” says the Lord. 

Jesus wants to be number one.

Will we let him?