Mark 7:8:14 -21

 
When Jesus has his disciples ponder the significance of the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the subsequent Feeding of the Four Thousand, he presents these two events not simply as amazing provision for thousands of people at a time. Rather, Jesus is guiding those who became the Apostles of the Early Church, to deeply understand the underlying generosity and unique ‘intelligence’, or wisdom, of the Mercy of God. His message is that God’s Mercy is to be trusted – beyond the provision of bread for bellies or even supplies for the future; it is always not just scarcely enough but bountiful; and it is exactly what is needed. All we need do, like the disciples at the feedings, is to trust in the Holy – “Whole” – Mercy of God, and consistently bring to the Holy Spirit of Jesus what we have. When we bring the ‘little’ we have – and the littleness of what we are – to Christ Jesus, he blesses it with all his Light, Life, and Love, breaks it, and then distributes it to the hungry and needy around us. The point Jesus makes clearly to his disciples in this passage of Scripture, is that He is able to receive all that we (I) have (and all that we are (I am)), and that by trusting what we are and have into his hands, we will behold wondrous works of Mercy and provision beyond anything we can imagine. 
 
When I am drenched with the rain of grief, enraged by miscues of human conduct, or anxious about the next few hours or days of life, it is easy to let my hunger of heart, mind and strength hide me from God’s Mercy.  But, like the people who offered up their fish and bread, as much as I surrender what I have to Christ he is able to perform miracles of mercy, not only for me, but for the world in general.  It is this message of the generosity and ‘intelligence’ of God’s mercy, not the laws of the Pharisees, the power and success of someone like Herod, nor even food for the hungry, that is the real “Good News” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Will I take a deep dive into the Mercy of God?  Holy Spirit, help me continually live into your generous mercy.
 
I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let me live that I may praise you, and let your ordinances help me.  (Psalm 119:174-175)
 
Divine Mercy, incomprehensible mystery, I Trust in You.
Saint Faustina
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Mark 6, 14-29

 
King Herod craved what every  human being needs more than anything else -love and belonging and the affirmations and accolades that accompany human recognition. In his dance with sin in his life, Herod positioned himself to commit mortal sin, against his better judgement – killing John the Baptist and disrespecting his remains. I too, am capable of playing with sin, against my better judgement, and setting myself up for committing ‘murder’ with my mouth, or making ‘deadly’, evil-producing,  promises to others, for the sake of acceptance and belonging. Will I, like Herod, continue to turn to my temptations, and throw parties, to give me love and belonging? Will I continue to treat ‘sin’ so casually that I, like Herod no longer have the ability to choose the good, and kill the presence of God amongst us? Or will I seek the love and belonging and affirmation that I am designed for from my Creator in the face of, and despite, the disapproval of others? Holy Spirit help me hate sin and turn to You, not my temptations, for what I need.
 
The Lord loves those who hate evil.  He protects the lives of his people. He rescues them from the power of the wicked.   (Psalm 97:10)
 
Sin is believing the lie that you are self-created, self-dependent and self-sustained.
St. Augustine of Hippo,
 
Let us not be dumbstruck by the evil around us, but rather
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Hebrews 6:10 -20

 
It is beautiful how in the winter, one small glimmer of light from a thumbnail moon transforms the inky featurelessness of a dark night into a beautiful, though dimmed, landscape. Frost and snow outline tree branches that in the summer are hidden by leaves, and moon shadows on the snow and ice define the foot path I use for my nightly walks. So it is with hope. No matter how deep the ‘dark night’ of our souls, a glimmer of the ever present Light of the Mercy of God , - a verse from scripture, a line from a song, a smile from a friendly person - can send despair and despondency of heart away, and again trigger the Light and the Love of our Creator that calls our hearts, minds souls and strength to Life again. In this Year of Hope, let us all everyday ‘go for a nightly walk with Jesus’, confident that the glimmers of beauty we see around us in the ‘bones’ of the ‘trees’ outlined by the griefs, fears and longings of our hearts – and  the definition of the path before us in the shadows of ridges and wrinkles of our life – will in good season give way to the full ‘day light’ and Joy of Knowing the Fullness of  God’s Light, Love, and Life playing around, and through, our Be-ings. Holy Spirit of God, help me seize the hope to which we are called.
 
Let me know again the joy of your help, and with a spirt of fervor enliven me, that I might teach others your ways, and sinners might return to you. (Psalm 51:12,13)
 
“We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the nearer presence of God behind the curtain, where Jesus has entered before us.”
A writer of the book of Hebrews 6:20
 
"We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision."
Pope Francis, declaring 2025 The Jubilee Year of Hope
 
Let us not be dumbstruck by the evil around us …. St. Ignatius of Loyola
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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