Category: Uncategorized

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If we venture into our kitchens this morning and do a “head-count” of all our dishes, we may find we have a few imperfect sets.

7 dinner plates, 5 saucers, 9 glasses, 3 soup bowls. But why?

Incomplete sets are the mark of a “lived-in” kitchen. Many of us have children or grandchildren running around, for example. I myself am clumsy from time to time.

Maybe a bowl fell off the counter last week; a glass broke in the dishwasher; a wet plate slid from our hands.

What do we do when a dish breaks?

We sweep it into the garbage.

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That’s how we deal with most things when they’re broken. 

That space heater that fizzled out this winter; that wobbly wooden chair; that old couch the kids jumped on just one too many times. 

Toss it. Drag it out to the curb. Throw it in the dumpster.

But what about a broken heart? A weak marriage? A fractured friendship? A COVID positive patient? A crumbling relationship with God? 

Are we to be disposed of like a broken bowl?

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The Japanese have a fascinating custom called Kintsugi. 

When a bowl is broken, they don’t throw it away; rather, they piece it back together using glue and gold.

They say that breakage and repair are all part of the history of that object. The focus is not on how the object broke, but that it was restored.

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Haven’t we all been broken like a bowl at some point in our lives? 

We’ve been diagnosed with cancer; we’ve struggled with addiction; we’ve lost our job, our home, our marriage, or even a child.  

Life has a way of breaking us. 

But broken hearts – and by extension, broken lives – can be put back together. That’s what our faith – and forgiveness – is all about.

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Throughout the Gospels, Jesus seeks out the sinful, the sorrowful, the possessed – and he heals them. 

“For I did not come to call the righteous,” he says, “but sinners.” 

The broken ones.

Ask any of those healed, Jesus has a way of filling those cracks and chips in our lives with the golden glue of his mercy.

In that sense, the Lord is the ultimate Kintsugi artist. He can piece anyone back together, no matter how much damage has occurred.

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Where are the cracks in my own life? Where do I need to be pieced back together?

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Often people associate Ash Wednesday with the passage of time; with death. 

But it’s about much more than that. It’s about new beginnings; restoration; resurrection.

As you come forth to have ashes sprinkled above your head, remember the words, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Turn to the Lord, trusting that he can – and will – piece us back together, because no life, no circumstance, no person is disposable in the eyes of God. 

We’re all made with glue and gold.  Those cracks in our lives are simply part of our story.

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Gospel: Mark 8: 14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.” 
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Jesus said to them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

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Leaven, also known as yeast, makes dough rise. A tiny amount is all you need to permeate an entire loaf.

Jews often referred to the evil inclinations within us as leaven. When left unchecked, just a touch of evil – a single lie, a single malignant cell, a single evil thought – can take over an entire person.  

Today we call that leaven, Original Sin. 

It’s affected all of us. Our work as Christians centers around uprooting that leaven by doing good and avoiding evil. 

But the day we stop trying is the day that leaven starts growing again.

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Herod and the Pharisees have given in to the leaven. Their hearts are hardened towards Jesus; now they’re plotting to kill him. 

Jesus warns his disciples not to join them.

Although the disciples struggle to grasp the fullness of his teachings, they cannot give up. Rather, they must persevere with open minds and hearts. 

Eventually, the leaven of their doubt will give way to faith. Then, they’ll fully understand.

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In a sense, that’s what Lent is all about – growing in faith.

At times we struggle to understand the Lord; we struggle to understand his teachings and his actions in our lives. But like the disciples, the leaven of doubt must give way to faith.

Tomorrow we begin a penitential season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. If we devote ourselves to these practices, then surely our hearts will not be hardened.

Rather, the opposite; we’ll better understand the Lord, seeing him clearly acting in our lives.

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Reading: Genesis 4: 1-15

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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Autoimmune 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; meaning, normal cells are mistaken for a threat.

As a result, the body begins attacking itself.

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Doesn’t it feel like our world is attacking itself? 

Although we’re all equal and loved in the eyes of God, sometimes one human being unfairly mistakes another for a threat, as if that person doesn’t belong in our society, much like a malignant cell in the body.

Consider this in the context of religion, racism, economic inequality, or the political division rampant across our country. These are like autoimmune diseases attacking our world.

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In our first reading from the Book of Genesis, Cain mistakes his brother, Abel, for a threat. Cain’s insanely jealous, because the Lord favored Abel’s offering over his. As a result, he lures his brother out into a field and kills him.

Immediately, the Lord reveals himself and says to Cain, “Where is your brother, Abel?” 

Cain’s response becomes the first question human beings ever ask God in the bible: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

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How can we reconcile this ancient and malignant “us versus them” mentality?

Perhaps it will never be completely removed; not until the Lord returns. But you and I should work for greater peace in our homes, in our Church, and in our broader community.

In the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.”

Being proactive in working for peace can start the healing process we’re so direly in need of today.

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