Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Luke 6: 17-26

Jesus came down with the Twelve
and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples
and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
            “Blessed are you who are poor,
                        for the kingdom of God is yours.
            Blessed are you who are now hungry,
                        for you will be satisfied.
            Blessed are you who are now weeping,
                        for you will laugh.
            Blessed are you when people hate you,
                        and when they exclude and insult you,
                        and denounce your name as evil
                        on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
            But woe to you who are rich,
                        for you have received your consolation.
            Woe to you who are filled now,
                        for you will be hungry.
            Woe to you who laugh now,
                        for you will grieve and weep.
            Woe to you when all speak well of you,
                        for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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How many of us remember the story of Cinderella?

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There’s something ironically Christian about it, as the major theme of the story is the reversal of fortunes.

As the story begins, Cinderella is held captive in her own home. Her evil stepmother and stepsisters force her to scrub the floors, to wash their clothes, to make their beds, and to serve them dinner.

She’s essentially a slave. But Cinderella never loses her inner goodness; from start to finish, she’s kind, forgiving, and humble of heart. 

And, in the end, her fortune is reversed.

Cinderella journeys to the royal ball, where the prince falls in love with her and crowns her a princess. Together, they live happily ever after.

Meanwhile, Cinderella’s evil stepsisters are forced out of their home, losing everything. 

That’s the type of story anyone can cheer for: when the poor become rich, the servant becomes a princess, the underdog wins.

Even in sports, a “Cinderella story” refers to an unlikely team winning in the end, like the Bengals in tonight’s Super Bowl.

In fact, no sports team from Cincinnati has won a championship in 30 years!

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The same idea – the reversal of fortunes – is at the heart of our Christian faith, which Jesus describes in today’s Gospel.

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“Blessed are you who are poor…for the kingdom of God is yours.”

“Blessed are you who are now hungry…for you will be satisfied.”

“Blessed are you who are now weeping…for you will laugh.”

“Blessed are you when people hate you on account of me…leap for joy on that day.”

And the greatest reversal of all, which we read in the Book of Revelation, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,” for they shall live again.

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So, is Jesus telling us that we must be poor, hungry, or persecuted in order to be blessed?

Not at all.

Rather, he invites us to be aware of those who suffer, and to find ways to comfort them. “For whatever you do to these, the least of my brothers and sisters,” he says, “you do to me.”

Therefore, when we forgive others, God forgives us. When we shelter, clothe, and feed our neighbors, God provides for us. When we share our blessings, God blesses us.

This is the difference between Cinderella’s story and ours. While she was forced into serving her stepsisters, Jesus invites us to serve others willingly. 

Doing so brings us closer to the world God envisions: a world of harmony and peace.

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In what ways can we help make God’s dream a reality? How can we be a servant of others?

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For example, when dinner needs to be made, the house needs to be cleaned, and the kids need to be picked up from practice, do we gladly offer our help? 

When harsh words are exchanged, do we offer an apology? Do we do our best to forgive?

When opportunities arise to be more generous with our time, treasure, and talent, do we embrace them?

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This is the simple, yet challenging, message from the Gospel this week: Serve others like Cinderella. Give yourself away like Jesus. 

If we do, then God will reverse our fortune – and bring us back to life.

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Image credits: (1) Interrupting the Silence (2) Cinderella, Disney Inc. (3) Dunfermline Free Church

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Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis. 
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. 
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 
He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well. 
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel passage reminds me of an experience I had recently, which wasn’t one of my finer moments.

Sitting in my office, I noticed an Amazon delivery driver pulling up the driveway to drop off a package. So, I went outside to greet him.

After a few attempts of saying, “Sir! Sir! Sir!” I became increasingly frustrated, thinking he was ignoring me. 

So, I started walking towards him angrily, but when he turned around and saw the look on my face, he apologetically signaled that he was deaf.

My heart sank. I was quick to judge. Humbled. Embarrassed.

That moment made me consider how difficult it must be to be deaf; nobody can immediately recognize your condition.

You have to interact with a deaf person – hopefully in a kinder manner than I did – before you realize they cannot hear you.

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That moment struck a chord in me. I began to wonder, “Aren’t we all like that man who is deaf?”

Often, we, too, can conceal what burdens us most.

Nobody walks around with a t-shirt on saying: Deaf. Cancer. Difficult marriage. Addict. Frazzled. Bullied. Insecure.

Yet sometimes we are.

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What if we allowed Jesus to pull us aside – to dig his finger into our wounds and heal us? What might he touch?

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While we all wish our healing were as immediate as that deaf man, remember how his healing started: the community brought him to Jesus.

Then, he was healed.

Perhaps that’s where our own healing can begin – by bringing one another to the Lord in prayer. And sooner or later, the Lord will respond:

“Ephphatha! Be opened.”

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Image credits: (1) The Georgetown Voice (2) Dustoffthebible.com (3) pktfuel.com

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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.”

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Have you ever wondered why the Saints tell us the path to holiness is so difficult?

It requires a slow, consistent turning away from ourselves to the point that, as Saint Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”

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The Native Americans think about it in a similar way. They believe there are two wolves living within us.

One wolf feeds on things that are evil, which Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel: pride, selfishness, gossip, anger, judgment, and lust. 

The other wolf feeds on things that are good: patience, humility, honesty, forgiveness, kindness, and love. 

The question is, “Which wolf wins?”

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The one we feed.

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How do I feed that good wolf within? 

Or, using Paul’s imagery, how do we feed Christ living within us?

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May we continue feeding that good wolf until it is no longer “we who live, but Christ living within us.”

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Image credits: (1) Pin on Following Christ, Pinterest (2) Verve Team (3) Jesus Christ, Biography