Psalm 1 & Luke 6:36-38

 
There are many more people, it seems, who sit in the seat of scoffers than delight in the law of the Lord, and humanity is all the poorer because of it.  Every time I complain, gossip, scheme, criticize and slander or  worry issues and accusations to the bone, I too have turned my back on the Mercy seat of God, and have chosen instead to sit in the congregation of scoffers – a human ‘murder’ of crows – chirping* away at others. Think of the Israelites ‘chirping’ Moses and Aaron on their circuitous and a-maze-ing 400 Kilometer journey through the desert that took forty years. Or think of Job’s Friends who flocked to Job when he was at his lowest and told him that his troubles were his own doing and that all was hopeless. Or consider the crowd scoffing at Christ Jesus and condemning him to death on Good Friday. But there is a remedy for all of this chirping and heckling. The Law of the Lord which is Mercy was the delight of Moses of Job and of Jesus and guided them through the places that ‘looked like death, but really led to life’ (cf. Ronald Rohlheiser). When I find myself (again) sitting in the chair of a scoffer, I do have a choice. I can follow the current of scoffing hopelessness, and continue to turn away from God, or I can repent of my foolishness, get up off the chair of contention and begin again to delight in the law of the Lord, in the company of holy people of all ages. Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me not sit in the seat of scoffers, but delight in the law of the Lord.
 
What right have you to recite my statues, or take my covenant on your lips?  For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. .. Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God.  (Psalm 50: 16,23)
“He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.” St. Alphonsus Liguori
 
chirping* - Canadian slang. As in opposing mean-spirited hockey players slandering, swearing at, and checking each other
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Mark 8:14-21
  
Yeasts of all kinds populate our environment and our bodies. Some yeast plants are helpful, raising dough to make delicious breads. But yeast infections of the body are often ‘silent’ and go undetected as minor discomforts until great damage has been done to skin and ear cells or to other organs of the body. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were like yeast – they were ubiquitous, and some did great good.  But many of the Pharisees became self-righteous, critical and anything but holy, infecting individuals, families and groups of their communities because they appeared to be religious and were ‘successful’ – if only in powering over the common folk. As a member of the Church, I can still live like a Pharisee today, feasting on the goods of our present culture and then become infected with ‘yeast’ of stimulating events, delicious foods, tantalizing media bites, self-fashioned habits or the acquisition or production of ‘the arts’ working more to my own agenda and plans than seeking the will of God. Then, like all the other ‘Pharisees’ of ages past and present who posed as religious ‘authorities’ and success stories, my soul’s skin will become raw and inflamed and it will be difficult to find, let alone rest within, the holy peace and love of God.  As these 40 days of Lent unfold, will I ‘feast’ with the Pharisees and contract the infections of yeast that affect those who follow the way of false religion? Or will I be wary of the yeasts – and the feasts – of the Pharisees, choosing instead to fast from the small and almost undetectable infections of self-will and self-empowerment?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.     
 
Happy are those whom you discipline, Lord, and whom you teach out of your law. (Psalm 94)
 
A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.
G.K. Chesterton
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Mark 7:24-30

How did the Gentile woman of Syrophoenician origin know that her daughter had a demon and what made her seek out Jesus? And what made her so persistent when Jesus at first side-lined her request? Jesus himself identifies the force within her that resulted in her daughter being healed of demon possession. It was the woman’s faith. By faith she realized that it was not OK for her daughter to remain imprisoned by a demon that was playing with her. By faith the woman received information about Jesus, and recognized him to be the Saviour of all, including those from a non-Jewish cultural background.  By faith, the woman did not take Jesus’ initial rebuttal to heart, but continued to ask for his help for her daughter’s condition.  This account of a mother petitioning Christ Jesus to cast the demons out of her daughter’s life, calls each of us to similar perceptive and persevering faith. Will I continue to tolerate the influence of demons in my own family, or will I bring them to Jesus for healing?  No matter what barriers I perceive, will I simply and persistently petition Christ Jesus to cast out the demons from my family members – because, by faith, I know He can heal them! -? Holy Spirit of Jesus, give me faith to seek your help with life’s demons.    
 
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me. (Psalm 86: 6,7)
 
I know, more surely than I know anything, that any pang of healing or forgiveness or goodness I have ever felt comes solely from the grace of God.
Philip Yancey
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Mark 1:29-39
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Much of Jesus’ healing ministry included ‘casting out demons’  - and he instructed his disciples to do the same as they travelled the countryside and ministered to people in His Name.  Ridding people and their children of the evil spirits that had wormed their way into their lives was taken for granted as being part and parcel of the work the Jesus, the Holy One of God, and the Healer and the Saviour of human kind. How then are we disciples of Jesus so reticent to ‘drive out the demons’ from our families and homes, places of work and public spaces today? How indeed are we to do this?  Jesus, himself models what the casting our of demons looks like.  First of all, far from denying the existence of demons or shaking his head and turning away, Jesus witnessed the manifestation of demon activity himself, or listened to the information family members of someone experiencing demonic interference.  Secondly, Jesus called them what they were: malicious spirits that were destroying the person’s dignity, sanctity and sanity., for example, spirits of profanity, jealousy, spiritual blindness, self-contempt, lust, greed, malice or acedia (despondency) to name but a few of the demonic forces at work in the world. Finally we notice that ‘he Jesus would not permit [the demons] speak’. On this final point alone, in our present Age of Relativism, we so often err.  How often do we debate (with the forces of evil themselves) and try to decide for ourselves if a given behavior is evil or not – and craft all kinds of narratives for and against that result in our “letting it [the demons] be”?  In addition, how often do we let the demons speak, by repeating the ‘gorey stories’ , the tales and gossip of demons at work in our own or others’ lives – rather than by proclaiming the glory stories of life that show God’s work in our midst?  Any engagements with listening to demons, let alone repeating stories of demonic interference, are designed by the evil one to  take our attention away from Grace of God and the fact that as followers of Jesus we have the power to ‘cast out demons’ from ourselves and those we love – as much as we remain in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit of Jesus remains in us.  Will I have the clarity and courage to recognize, cast out and disengage demons from my own life, and from my family? Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me recognize and get rid of demons without engaging them.     
 
Sing praises to the Lord, who heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:1.3)
 
God is so great. There is such a difference between God and everything that is not.
St. Charles de Foucauld
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 

 
Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus raised the daughter of Jarius the Roman ruler who believed in Jesus of Nazareth, he did not say “Little girl, your parents need you so get up.” Nor did he require that her parents say a special prayer first or repeat his words. Instead we see this event of healing unfold in three simple steps. First, the girl’s father sought out Jesus and then prayed the Master to “come, and lay your hands upon her, so that she may be made well, and live”. Once he had the Master’s attention, Jarius accompanied Jesus as he made his way to the man’s house, urging him to hold onto his faith when naysayers met him to report that his daughter was dead. Finally Jarius walked with the Healer and Saviour of human kind into his home and to his daughter’s bedside accompanied by her mother to witness the healing of their 12 year old girl. Jesus simply touched their daughter’s hand and gently called her to arise from death – and she did and began walking around. So often I get in the way of the healing of myself or my loved ones by doing the exact opposite of what Jarius did.  I first talk to other people woefully about the illness – the dis-ease -  I am witnessing, and then cast around, researching a variety of other solutions. It is usually only when I have exhausted other possibilities that I turn to the Lord, and ask him for help, wondering what He might do this time. This is not the way of faith! Going forward, in the face of pain, injury, or disease will I ‘forget’ that Jesus is the Great Physician and turn first to the web and the folk solutions that this world has to offer? Or will I, like Jarius, prayerfully seek out Jesus to ask for his help, and then walk by faith with him, certain of Who He is, despite the naysayers and others running interference, as he comes into my experience and touches the place or person in my life that needs healing – and raises them up? Holy Spirit of God, help me (my loved one) simply be healed and arise at the behest of Jesus. 
 
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me. (Psalm 86: 6,7)
 
God is so great. There is such a difference between God and everything that is not.
St. Charles de Foucauld
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca