Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Mark 8:22-26

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Part of the tragedy in today’s Gospel is the fact that this man’s blindness was preventable.

Many children in first-century Palestine were born blind because people didn’t know how to properly care for their bodies or how to prevent the spread of disease.

As a result, this man was treated as an outcast his whole life.

Suddenly, Jesus – the divine physician – comes along and heals him.

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Interestingly, this is the only miracle where the healing Jesus offers isn’t immediate; it takes two applications of divine spittle before the man can see clearly.

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Can’t we see something of our own stories in that?

Like this man’s blindness, some of the problems we face in life are preventable – whether it’s financial or relational ruin, spiritual stumbling, falling into unhealthy habits, or entertaining unnecessary fears.

We find ourselves in an unfortunate place – and need to be healed. Like that man, the healing we receive often comes slowly, in stages.

Rebuilding trust takes time. Breaking bad habits is often a gradual, uphill climb. Finding our way to financial security can take years.

But it’s possible.

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Is there any area of my life where I need that slow, healing touch of Jesus? 

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May we be content to receive – not a total resolution – but incremental change where we need it most today.

As the old scene goes, “the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.”

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Image credits: (1) Moms in Prayer (2) Jesus Healing the Blind Man, Brian Jekel (3) The Letterer

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Genesis: 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 10

When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,
and how no desire that his heart conceived
was ever anything but evil,
he regretted that he had made man on the earth,
and his heart was grieved.

So the LORD said:
“I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,
and not only the men,
but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,
for I am sorry that I made them.”
But Noah found favor with the LORD.

Then the LORD said to Noah:
“Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.
Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs,
a male and its mate;
and of the unclean animals, one pair,
a male and its mate;
likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs,
a male and a female,
and of all the unclean birds, one pair,
a male and a female.
Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.
Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth
for forty days and forty nights,
and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth
every moving creature that I have made.”
Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him.

As soon as the seven days were over,
the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

The Word of the Lord.

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“Then the LORD said to Noah: ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household… Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him. [Then] the waters of the flood came upon the earth.”

Noah started building his ark while it was still bright and sunny outside. Once the darkness fell and the floods came, he was saved because he was already inside the boat. 

He prepared for the flood waters, even when the rain was nowhere in sight.

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The story of Noah’s ark offers us a timeless lesson in faith: 

Build it now.

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There are moments in every person’s life when the flood waters come rushing in; when it feels like we’re going to drown.

Faith is the ark that keeps us afloat.

It strengthens and protects our mind and heart, giving us firm resolve.

So, what is my spiritual life like? How am I growing in faith? 

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Ash Wednesday is just a few weeks away. 

Perhaps an appropriate goal this Lent is to put more time into building our “ark,” the place we go when the storms come rushing in, allowing us to rest peacefully with the Lord. 

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Image credits: (1) Substack (2) Skeptoid Podcast (3) Ludolf Bakhuizen, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, QuotesCosmos

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Genesis: 4: 1-25

The man had relations with his wife Eve,
and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,
“I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”
Next she bore his brother Abel.
Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.
In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD
from the fruit of the soil,
while Abel, for his part,
brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
but on Cain and his offering he did not.
Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.
So the LORD said to Cain:
“Why are you so resentful and crestfallen.
If you do well, you can hold up your head;
but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door:
his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.”
When they were in the field,
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
He answered, “I do not know.
Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The LORD then said:  “What have you done!
Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!
Therefore you shall be banned from the soil
that opened its mouth to receive
your brother’s blood from your hand.
If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce.
You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Cain said to the LORD:  “My punishment is too great to bear.
Since you have now banished me from the soil,
and I must avoid your presence
and become a restless wanderer on the earth,
anyone may kill me at sight.”
“Not so!” the LORD said to him.
“If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.”
So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.

Adam again had relations with his wife,
and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth.
“God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel,” she said,
“because Cain slew him.”

The Word of the Lord.

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Auto-immune diseases – such as type-1 diabetes and arthritis – confuse the body’s natural defense system, so that the body can no longer tell the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy cell.

Normal cells are mistaken for a threat, causing the body to attack itself.

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In our first reading from the Book of Genesis, Cain asks God the first question ever posed by human beings, which comes after he murders his brother, Abel:

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Cain and Abel were the first offspring of Adam and Eve, revealing that, from the very beginning, there has been a seed of division sown into the heart of humanity.

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When we gaze across the world of politics, race, religion, and culture, it’s easy to see this “auto-immune” mentality still at work.

But this was not God’s will from the beginning. Rather, after creating Adam, God concludes: “It is not good for man to be alone.” So, he builds Eve out of Adam’s rib.

It is still “not good” for man to be alone, and by extension, for humanity to live divided. When we live in harmony, we reflect the inner life of God who is One in Three Persons. 

Conversely, when we fight against one another, we tarnish God’s plan of universal brotherhood and peace.

As Christians – and people of good will, in general – we are called to help restore what was lost; to overcome that division that started with our ancestors. 

But we need the gift of the Holy Spirit, because God’s Spirit allows us to love until it hurts; to forgive wrongdoings; to bring peace where there is division, light where there is darkness.

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In what ways can I overcome that “autoimmune mentality,” working for harmony, instead – in my heart, in my home, and in the community around me?

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Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in us the fire of your love and we shall renew the face of the earth.

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Image credits: (1) Got Questions (2) Scholarship Institute (3) Christianity.com