31st sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

The Old Testament text quoted by our Lord in Mark’s gospel is called the Shema, the Hebrew imperative meaning “hear,” or “pay attention.”  This Shema constitutes the basic creed of Judaism.  It reads: “you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

By quoting the Shema,  Jesus declares that it is also the foundation of His own faith and devotion.   But then He adds to this quote from Deuteronomy a quote from Leviticus 19:18 —the verse about loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

Jesus incorporated these two commandments into His own life and taught His disciples to do the same.  For Jesus, there can be no true love of God unless it expresses itself in love of neighbor.

In today’s texts Jesus tells us not only that we should love both God and neighbor, but He also tells us how.  We must love God with our whole being— heart, mind, soul and strength.  We must love our neighbor as ourself.

If we love God with our whole being, then we will worship Him even while we work;  pray to Him whenever we have an opportunity; read His word and listen to His voice just as much as we listen to various news media on our phones, our radios or television sets.

From loving God with our whole being will follow loving our neighbor as ourselves.  We will look on their needs, feel their hurts and identify with their dreams as if they were our own.

By reaching out to love our neighbor as ourselves we will find that the Kingdom of God is very near.

For in loving our neighbor we will find wisdom, peace, and God.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

 

30th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

Mark’s story about Bartimaeus can be read as a story of how God deals with His people.  In the same way that Jesus calls to this blind man, He also calls to us.

Here is Jesus on His way to die, and He stops to help this man, who many would see as a nobody.  Perhaps Jesus takes time to stop to show that this blind beggar is really a somebody, a person worthy of our respect and care.

Jesus says to Bartimaeus what He also says to each of us:  “What do you want me to do for you?”  It is a key question that is asked of all of us whenever we approach Jesus in prayer.  May our answer always be: “Lord, that we may see in areas where we are blind because of selfishness; and hear where we are deaf to the cries of pain around us.”

When Jesus confirms the blind man’s faith with a cure, Bartimaeus, instead of going his own way as Jesus instructed, follows Jesus up the road.   This is a challenge to us.  When we receive a gift from the Lord, do we go our own way and use it only for ourselves, or do we sometimes go up the road with Jesus to share it with other people who may need more help than we do?

Many are the times Jesus has stopped to take notice of us and to transform us.  When we were nobodies, He made us somebodies.  When we were sick spiritually, he made us whole.  When we were down, he lifted us up.

As disciples of Jesus, we need to stop more often to ask people: “What can I do for you?  How can I be of help?”

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

29th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

We all aspire to greatness in some form or other.  It is this desire that our Lord addresses in today’s gospel.

James and John approach Jesus with their own idea of greatness— to sit at His right hand and His left when He comes into His glory.  However, Jesus has other ideas about greatness.  For Jesus, greatness begins with a cup of suffering and a baptism of pain.  Greatness is achieved through service.

We have here another reversal of values for which Jesus is famous.  “The first shall be the last.” “He who loses his life shall save it,” and “He who humbles himself shall be exalted” are other examples of how Jesus often reverses our values.

If we are aspiring greatness in some area,  we have to be able to suffer sometimes, put up with pain, whether physical or emotional, and overcome obstacles.  Moreover, if we aspire to higher forms of greatness in terms of what makes us truly human and holy, then we have to be willing to serve others and even lay down our lives for them.

The sense in which Jesus uses the term service includes any act that is noble and unselfish, any gesture that affirms and encourages someone, and any deed that is done with kindness and generosity.

Understood in this way, people who are achieving greatness in God’s eyes are: parents who raise their children according to Christian values.  Teachers who inspire students to high ideals; doctors and nurses who heal and care for the sick;  volunteers who visit the shut-ins; neighbors whom we call in an emergency.

Pray that we may be men and women who aspire to genuine greatness— a greatness that has a willingness to be of service and even give our lives for others.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell