Mark 3:1-6

Holy Spirit help me stretch out my withered hand(s) to you for healing and saving Grace…
 
It must have been amazing, even startling, and inspiring – as a memory that would instantly restore faith in those who witnessed this miracle -for every witness to Jesus’ healing of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue that day.  What we forget is that Jesus is still ‘around’ today by the power of the Holy Spirit, saying to us, “Come forward … stretch out your hand”.  But both of my hands are wholly functional, you say. But what about the ‘hands of your heart’ that are so tightly gripping griefs, fears or resentments that they are small and cramped? Or those memories shriveled by disappointments or oppressive emotional baggage? Or those wizened relationships in your life, held so tightly by your unforgiveness that that you are crippled in mind and spirit? These ‘withered hands’ are no less the object of Christ’s love as the hand of the man attending synagogue with Jesus. Do you have the courage and the will to come forward to the Master Healer and stretch out your memory, your intellect and your will so that He can restore your withered soul?  Do I have the courage and the will to go forward to the Master Healer and stretch out my memory, my intellect and my will so that He can restore my withered BE-ing? Holy Spirit, help me stretch out my withered hand(s) to you for healing and saving Grace.
 
 
Let me know again the joy of your help, and with a spirt of fervor enliven me, that I might teach transgressors your ways, and sinners might return to you.  (Psalm 51:12,13)
 
Few people understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to God, and allow God’s grace to mold (that is in-form and transform) them accordingly.
St. Ignatius of Loyola
 
Let us not be dumbstruck by the evil around us, but rather
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Mark 2:1-12 & John 2:1-12
Holy Spirit of Jesus help me reach out to you for healing and saving Grace …
 
Two stories, one from Mark 2:1-2, the other from John 2:1-12, illustrate people reaching out to Jesus for God’s healing and saving Grace.  Both show us how accessible the Grace of God is to us, and how creative we are meant to be in obtaining true healing and redemption. In Mark’s story, a group of friends pull away the thatch and dig through the mud of a roof to drop their buddy down into the presence of Christ Jesus; the result is a deep inner healing from sin and the relief of paralysis of body and mind, not only for the man on the pallet, but also to some degree for all who witnessed this miracle. Likewise in John’s story of the wedding at Cana, Mother Mary used creative means to heal a pending social ‘disaster’ and ‘save the day’ for a young couple and their community at a wedding feast. As a friend of the parents of the young couple providing the feast, it would have been Mary, not Jesus, who found out about the lack of wine for the remainder of the wedding ceremonies. It was she who by Grace tipped off the only One, her son Jesus, who could step into the breach to heal the lack of provisions, and save the feast by exercising his ability to turn any water into wine, anything ordinary into the extraordinary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is clear from these two incidents, as well as all the events of the four Gospels, that Father God with his Son, through the workings of the Holy Spirt is able to heal and to save no matter what the circumstances. Let us not be dumbstruck by the evil of any one man, or of the situations around us, but rather reach out to Father God through Christ Jesus for his healing and saving Grace. Do I really know that God longs to heal and to save us by his Grace? Will I do what it takes to reach out to God through Christ Jesus for healing and saving? Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me reach out to you for healing and saving Grace. 
 
 
Let me know again the joy of your help, and with a spirt of fervor enliven me, that I might teach transgressors your ways, and sinners might return to you.  (Psalm 51:12,13)
 
The power of God is capable of finding hope where hope no longer exists, and a way where the way is impossible.
St. Gregory of Nyssa
 
Let us not be dumbstruck by the evil around us, but rather
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 

 
Hebrews 3:7-14 & Psalm 95

 
The deceitfulness of sin is very tricky to identify, let alone manage in my life. Wildcard temptations, like greed, envy, passions, and the sneakiest of all, acedia – a despondency about life in general and all things holy in particular – creep around and into our lives in a wide variety of ways, making friends with us and leading us into ways and days that are not true to the Truth of God’s Mercy and ‘righteousness’. They lure us with minimizing their effect, “Just a little bit won’t hurt, just this once. It’ll make me feel better…” And cloud our hearts and minds with the false assumptions of mainstream ways,  “You have a right to be comfortable, happy, secure, and successful, no matter what the cost to others, and to your own integrity…” All of these feel good attitudes eventually waive our understanding of the right path that God would lead us on, expressed by Jesus in the Be-attitudes. They harden our hearts and understanding so that we no longer recognize right from wrong, let alone allow God’s Truth and Love to guide our thoughts, words, and deeds. Small lies lead to big lies and hearts softened to be open to God’s tenderness become hardened hour by hour, day by day and year by year. Will I be distracted by all the deceits vying for my attention in our current social milieu, or will I listen to the voice of God, small and still in my heart -  a heart attuned to receive and give Mercy?  Holy Spirit of God, help my heart not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.    
 
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26-17)
 
The power of God is capable of finding hope where hope no longer exists, and a way where the way is impossible.
St. Gregory of Nyssa
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Luke 4:14-22 & Titus 2:11- 3:7

 
As we head into this new year of Grace, it is good to consider by what power we proceed. There are all kinds of spirits afoot in the world - spirits of culture and customs, of greed and money, and of privilege and control, to name but a few. But it is the Holy Spirit of God that transcends all early powers - and for which we, as human beings made in the image of God as we are, are designed. As his ministry of Jesus unfolded, Luke notes that ‘he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit’. Jesus was not notable as a public speaker, an advocate for Jewish culture in the midst of Roman colonialism, or as an activist. To the contrary, he healed lepers, taught his disciples, worked beside fishermen on their boats, preached to the poor and asked the rich to reconsider their motives in life – always inspired by the Holy and Creative Grace of his Father, of God.  What spirit will fill me this year? Will I allow the Holy Spirit of God to fill me as it did Jesus, and inspire and direct my thoughts, words and actions? Holy Spirit of God, fill me, like Jesus, with the power of your Holy Spirit.    
 
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
 
The power of God is capable of finding hope where hope no longer exists, and a way where the way is impossible.
St. Gregory of Nyssa
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca