Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Mark 6: 7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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The disciples must have felt superhuman, as Jesus gives them the power of his Spirit. As the Gospel tells us, they’re able to cast out demons and heal the sick at the drop of a hat!

But there’s only one problem – they’re not allowed to take anything else with them on their journeys.

As powerful as they may be, they’ll feel the twinge of hunger and the pangs of thirst within a matter of hours. By day’s end, they’ll also need a place to sleep.

The disciples cannot survive on their own; humanly speaking, the Spirit will not be enough.

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Herein lies a lesson from Jesus for them – and for us.

Self-reliance is a myth; no one can make it through life alone.

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Just as the disciples will need a helping hand to find food, shelter, and encouragement, so we all need friends to love and support us along the journey of life. 

Hasn’t COVID reminded us of that?

Being denied the grace of in-person visits reminds us just how necessary human interaction is. We’re relational beings, who must find creative ways to stick together.

How much has COVID isolated me? Have I made the effort to stay connected with friends, reaching out to the lonely? Or should I be more proactive?

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“Take nothing for the journey,” Jesus says. 

Rather, look for people of good will along the way, because friendship doubles your joys and divides your sorrows.

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Gospel: Mark 6: 1-6

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. 
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished. 
They said, “Where did this man get all this? 
What kind of wisdom has been given him? 
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! 
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? 
And are not his sisters here with us?” 
And they took offense at him. 
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.” 
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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By this point, Jesus has developed significant momentum in his ministry.

He’s proclaimed the kingdom of God and demonstrated its presence by casting out demons, healing the sick, stilling the stormy waters of Galilee, even raising a child from the dead.

But in today’s Gospel, this momentum comes to a screeching halt. What demons, disease, and stormy waters could not stop is blocked temporarily by the greatest obstacle of all: unbelief.

That’s the one area in this world God will not go.

While he’ll gladly cast out disease, demons, and famine from our lands Jesus will not enter where he’s not wanted. Faith is the Lord’s entrée into our lives. But he only enters with our permission.

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While it’s easy to criticize the locals in the Gospel for their lack of faith, Jesus grew up with these residents of Nazareth. To them, he was wildly ordinary. A poor carpenter’s son. A former refugee. A nobody. 

How could God possibly make himself known through a man like this?

Jesus stretched their understanding of God too far, so they shut the door of their hearts in his face.

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How often can we do the same?

A particular temptation strikes us – maybe anger, lust, or greed – and instead of opening the door to grace, we close it.

Or maybe our faith has been clouded by doubt. We look at the world around us – we see all the suffering caused by COVID – and conclude our problems are too small for the Lord to answer, so we stop praying.

Or life doesn’t go our way. Instead of trusting that the Lord has a plan for us, we close the door and take control ourselves.

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Mighty things can happen in our lives through faith. But that’s a door that must be opened from within.

May we swing it wide open for Jesus, allowing his grace to guide us today.

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Gospel: Mark 5: 1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”

He  replied, “Legion is my name.  There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine.  Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them 
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel gives a graphic example of the dehumanizing effect of evil.

There is a man possessed by demons, who self-mutilates and lives in a graveyard, often by shackle and chain. His only company is a herd of swine.

When Jesus approaches this man, he says to the demons inside of the man, “What is your name?” 

“Legion,” they say.

In the ancient world, legion was a Latin term for a regiment of six thousand men. If taken literally, this man is telling Jesus that he’s bound by 6,000 demons.

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Making the story even stranger, he runs up to Jesus, prostrates himself, and calls Jesus, “Son of the Most High God.” These are things a disciple would do, revealing just how conflicted this man is.

He’s under the constraint of evil and needs to be set free. 

That’s what Jesus does best; he heals. He saves. He sets people free.

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This is among the most extreme stories told in the Gospels. But if Jesus can set this man free – a man bound by 6,000 demons – then think of what the Lord can do for us, who likely struggle with much less.

Perhaps we’re bound by fear; COVID has unearthed insecurities in all of us. Perhaps we’re afraid of the future; afraid of change; or we need to shake a harmful habit.

Whatever it is, the Lord has come to set us free.

Lent is only a few weeks away. It’s the perfect time to return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation; it’s a time to focus on those areas where we need spiritual growth the most.

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“If today you hear God’s voice,” the Psalmist says, “harden not your hearts.”

This Lent, let Jesus set you free.

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