Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, January 31, 2024

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.

“Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.”  St. Mark’s account of the Lord’s return to Nazareth follows his account of the raising of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader, which evidently took place in Capernaum.  On a map, Capernaum and Nazareth are separated by about thirty miles.  It probably would have taken the Lord two days to walk there.  He seems to have made the journey alone since none of the three records we have of his time in Nazareth mention them.  On the other hand, St. Luke’s placement of this visit before the Lord’s settling in Nazareth makes more sense and explains at least in part why Jesus moved from there.  In this case, he returned to Nazareth after he had begun preaching and performing miracles in other places in Galilee and before he called his Apostles.

“When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished.”  When the Lord came to a town, he began teaching not in the streets or marketplaces but in the local synagogue.  After astonishing the congregation with his wisdom and authority, crowds would seek him out so that he would teach them within the town, if there was room, or outside on the hills or at the seashore.  The people of Nazareth “were astonished”: the tense is imperfect so we should understand: “they were being thunderstruck”.  They were “overwhelmed” and almost “driven out of their minds”.  There is an element of surprise or shock as well.  “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!”  Mark gives us a picture of the synagogue congregation convulsing.  Mark described a different reaction at the synagogue in Capernaum: “They were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1, 22).  Those also knew that he was a carpenter from the negligible town of Nazareth and that he had no education, but his teaching amazed them; it did not throw them into a crisis.  Perhaps the differences in the reactions comes from those in Nazareth remembering him growing up amongst them.  Perhaps he had kept to himself and said little to anyone so that his neighbors had thought of him as slow of mind.  Or perhaps this merely reflected how dull they were, which might be confirmed by Nathanael’s saying, “Can anything could come out of Nazareth?” which sounds like a commonly quoted proverb.  “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?”  It is, of course, curious that they said “son of Mary” and not “son of Joseph”.  This could reflect the fact that Joseph had been dead for a time while Mary still lived among them.  The two pairs of brothers, James and Joseph, and, Judas and Simon, were of other mothers.  A woman also named Mary is given as the mother of the first two (cf. Mark 15, 40).  Judas and Simon were either of this same mother or of another woman again named Mary.  The first Mary was married to a man named Alpheus and the second was probably the wife of Cleopas, one of the two men the Risen Christ met on the way to Emmaus.

“And they took offense at him.”  The Greek text has, “This was causing them to stumble”.  “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”  This saying has the flavor of a proverb.  St. Luke adds here that the Lord remonstrated with the crowd, addressing the question of why he had not done any mighty works in Nazareth as he had elsewhere, and quoting another proverb, “Physician, heal yourself”.

“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.”  Mark does not recount, as Matthew and Luke do, how the townspeople rose up, seized him, and attempted to throw him off the slope of the hill on which their town was built.  This may be that for Mark the great climax to the incident was the confusion into which the people were thrown because of their lack of faith, their crass obstinacy.  The unruly mob at Nazareth stands compared to the enormous and enthusiastic crowds of people who come to listen to Jesus throughout Mark’s telling of the Gospel.  Mark says that Jesus healed only a few sick people while there.  Probably he healed them in the days before the Sabbath meeting.  Jesus offers health and salvation to all, but few respond with faith.

 Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, January 30, 2024

Mark 5, 21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him and a large crowd followed him.  There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, Who touched me?” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”  While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

“One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.”  Very seldom are we told by the Evangelists the names of the people Jesus helped.  Mark does give us names such as that of Bartimaeus, the blind man whom Jesus cures at Jericho; and Zacchaeus, the repentant tax collector who climbs a tree to see Jesus, and we can surmise that these men became important figures in the early Church in Israel.  We can do the same with Jairus, for there is no other reason for Mark to mention his name, or even for him to know it.  

In today’s Gospel Reading we are presented with a story of a great miracle, and also with a story within that story.  In both stories the Lord Jesus touches or is touched by someone or something considered ritually unclean.  He behaves indifferently to this prohibition of the Law and in doing so fulfills or completes the purity laws: they recognized certain exterior things as impure and ordered that Jews keep clear from them, and this functioned as a sign of how those who hope to please God should keep away from any kind of inner impurity, any sin.  By doing this he also shows that the (unclean) Gentiles were to be saved as well as the (clean) Jewish believers: “In Christ Jesus, you [Gentiles], who for some time were afar off, are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both [Jews and Gentiles] one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his Flesh, making void the law of commandments contained in decrees that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace” (Ephesians 2:13–15).  The question as to whether the Gentiles could be saved and if they could, whether they needed to follow the Jewish Law, was hotly debated by the Jewish Christians at the time.  Mark’s relating these miracles to the Gentile Christians would have reassured them of their election in Christ.

“One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him.”  Jairus acts as a slave before his master, or as a human before his God.  He knows that Jesus can heal his daughter, and pleads with him that he might lower himself to come and save her.  It is a touching scene.  The synagogue official, who would have been a wealthy man, now pathetically on his face lying in the muck on the ground before the Lord, with tears begging him to save the daughter whom he loved.  “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.”  If Jesus does not intervene, there is no hope for her.   Now, the way St. Matthew tells the story, the official knows that his daughter has died: “Lord, my daughter is even now dead” (Matthew 9, 18).  This seems confirmed since, in a few minutes, people will come up from the official’s house and say very coldly, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”  This would seem to make sense only if the man knew she was dead, and that she had been dead for some time, which itself is confirmed by the fact that organized mourning was going on outside the house where the girl’s body lay.  Mark’s quoting the official as seeming to say she is only at the point of death may reflect an idiom for the Roman Christians for whom he is writing that she has died but that her body has not yet been prepared for burial.

“She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.”  The unnamed woman, suffering terribly in this way for twelve years, the age of the daughter of Jairus, seeks the anonymity of the crowd to be healed, thinking that the Lord Jesus, a righteous man, would not lay his hand upon her due to her ritual impurity.  But what we see is her faith: she truly believes Jesus can heal her, even if she can only touch the tassel of his cloak.  Power will flow into her even through his clothes, even despite his (as she thinks) being unconscious of her.  “Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him.”  That is, he knew that the woman had touched him but now asks who has done so in order to get her to voluntarily present herself so that others might learn of this manifestation of his power.  “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”  Fearful that she would be exposed as vile and ridiculed, she shakes with terror before the Lord.  But he calls her “daughter”, as in “his own daughter”, commends her faith, and sends her away healed and in peace.  

“Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” These words smack of irritation, as though the man’s daughter had been dead for some hours, that it was getting time to bury her (before sunset), and that he was in denial about what had happened.  We can imagine him trying to convince himself and others as he knelt before his daughter’s body that she was only sleeping.  This seems confirmed by the Lord’s words, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”  That is, his fear that she truly was dead.  “When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.”  St. Matthew adds a little more detail: “And when Jesus was come into the house of the ruler, and saw the flute-players and the multitude making a rout” (Matthew 9, 23).  The verb Matthew uses literally means “to make a great disturbance”, and “to terrify”.  This is the noise of chaos, not of faith.  “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”  Supposing the girl’s father had been telling people that she only slept, Jesus confirms this, consoling him and also contradicting the chaos which signifies death without hope.  “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”  Mark gives us the Aramaic words that Jesus actually said to her, a clear memory in St. Peter’s mind.  We can think of her  being raised as signifying how the Lord will raise each of the dead: he enters through the chaos of death itself into the tomb (the house where her body lay), takes her by the hand, and calls her to rise up.  “The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.”  She does not take time to recover; she gets up immediately and walks around, more conscious than if she had indeed been asleep and woken up.  “At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.”  Only Jesus, the girl, three Apostles,  the and the father were present.  Mark does not mention the presence of the mother, though Luke 8, 56 mentions “parents”.  The Lord solicitude for the child does not end with bringing her back to life: he orders that she be given something to eat, much as he will lead those whom he raises into heaven from their graves to the eternal feast in heaven.  He also instructs that no news of this miracle should be made known.  As far as anyone else was concerned, she was asleep, just as the father might have been insisting all along.  The Lord tells demons not to make him known because he will not accept their testimony; he does not let other humans speak of their healings because they would distort what had happened.  He does not let the parents make this known because the news could be set off a riot.  He does this to protect the family and also the people in the crowd.

We see the importance of faith for those who are cured, in the two cases in this Reading and with the paralyzed man let down on a mat.  This is a sign of the faith we must have in order for our souls to be saved.

 The Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, January 28, 2024

Mark 1, 21–28

Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

“Then they came to Capernaum.”  St. Mark pits the order of the Lord’s early ministry this way: He is baptized; he is with the beasts for forty days and nights; then, after John the Baptist was arrested “Jesus came in Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark 1, 14).  Next, as he is passing along the Sea of Galilee he sees four young fishermen whom he calls to follow him.  And it is after this that Mark tells us they went into Capernaum.  It may have been the home town for James and John, among the future Apostles he had called, but it was the adopted home of Simon and Andrew, who hailed from Bethsaida.  Mark does not tell us what they did in the hours between the dawn of the Sabbath day and the synagogue service.  Perhaps they slept.  But then came the time for the service and “Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.”  Attendants in the synagogue would have handed Jesus the scroll he asked for, containing the words of the Law or of the Prophets, and he would have chosen a portion of it to read and to comment on.  Usually a discussion involving members of the congregation would have ensued.  But not on this occasion, for the Lord held everyone spellbound: “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.”  Jesus spoke as the very author of the Law and as the One who put his words in the mouths of the Prophets.  And he would have put it to his hearers very simply so they could all understand.

“In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit.”  Mark’s Greek text says, And immediately there was in their synagogue, etc.”  one of the characteristics of his Gospel is the repeated use of the word “immediately”, so it is no surprise to see it here.  The text indicates that one moment the man was not there and then suddenly he was.  He may have come from outside or he may have been huddling unseen in some corner of the synagogue.  “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”  But the unclean spirit did not know who he was, and the devil may have sent this motion of his to find out.  “The holy one of God” can mean any number of things, and to this point Jesus had performed the single miracle at Cana, had preached in the cities, and had refused to succumb to the devil’s temptations in the desert.  None of this pointed to his identity as the only-begotten Son of God, clothed with a human nature.  It may be that the devil did not know for sure who he was until the Lord’s Death on the Cross: “ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2, 7-8) — not because they feared God but because they did not want men to be saved.

“Quiet! Come out of him!”  The Lord who taught the Scriptures with authority now shows his authority over the demons.  “The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.”  The Lord permitted the demon to convulse the man in order to show the power demons can have over humans, and so warn those witnessing this to avoid evil at all costs.  “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”  Jewish exorcists had used complex rituals in their attempts to exorcise but ultimately they failed.  Here, the Lord of power and might casts out this demon with a single, short command.  The congregation was thunderstruck.  No one could do what this man had done.  Not even the Prophets did this.

“His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.”  Mark again uses the word “immediately” here: “His fame spread immediately”, as though the witnesses burst down the doors of the synagogue and poured out into the countryside telling the news.  

 Saturday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 27, 2024

Mark 4, 35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

The events St. Mark puts in order previous to that which which takes in today’s Gospel Reading all have to do with faith.  Going back as far as Mark 3, 20 the Evangelist tells us of how his relatives sought to lay hold of him because they thought he was mad; of how the scribes from Jerusalem tried to discredit him by accusing him of being possessed; of the Parable of the Seed and the Sower, which explains why not all who heard the Gospel accepted it or persevered in faith; and of the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which tells how faith grows through grace when properly nourished.  The account of the storm on the sea in today’s Gospel Reading and the report of the demoniac that follows immediately after shows a hint of the magnitude of the power over both nature and the supernatural that the Lord Jesus possessed, assuring us that our faith is well-placed in him.

“Let us cross to the other side.”  Jesus says this to his Apostles following a day spent teaching the sizable crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that has required him to have a boat ready from which to preach.  At the end of the day the Lord avails himself of the ship but wants to cross to the other side of the sea.  Now, many of the Apostles were skilled fishermen by profession and they knew how to launch into the sea late at night, and they also knew to stay within sight of the shore due to the inherent dangers of their work.  The Lord was telling them that he wanted to cross almost directly through the length of the sea, almost thirteen miles if their starting point was Capernaum, for he wanted to sail to the land of the Gadarenes.  This would put them out of sight of the shore for most of the trip, making it a risky undertaking.  Still, the Apostles dutifully put out for the destination he has chosen.  “Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.”  That is, they took him in the boat, fully clothed.  Those in the boat would not have worn their mantles.  At most, they would have worn their linen tunics, perhaps bound up in their belts to allow greater freedom of movement for their legs.  That Jesus went into the boat “as he was” would have indicated to the Apostles that he anticipated a smooth crossing.  “And other boats were with him.”  With this observation Mark is telling us that no one at that time expected a storm.  The sky must have been clear, and was lit up by the stars and the moon.

“A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.”  The literal translation from the Greek: “And there was a great sudden storm of wind and it hurled waves into the ship so that already it was being filled up.”  The picture is that of an evil force, a savage predator lying in wait and suddenly springing on the unaware victim and quickly overwhelming it.  This presages the confrontation with the demoniac possessed by Legion, to be described in the verses following those of this Reading.

“Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.”  Exhaustion had so depleted the Lord’s physical body that he slept through the wind, the waves, the rain, and the heaving of the little ship on the water.  He also sleeps in order to teach the Apostles an important lesson.  “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  That is to say, Teacher, do something!  It is unclear if they want him to help them bail or to cry out to Almighty God.  They have seen him perform miracles many times.  It may be that they thought he might somehow bring the ship close to the shore so they could get to dry land.  They certainly do not anticipate what he does do.  “He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “‘Quiet! Be still!’ ”  His command brings to mind Psalm 46, 10: “Be still and know that I am God.”  This verse follows the opening verses of this psalm: “Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly. Therefore we will not fear when the earth shall be troubled and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea” (Psalm 46, 1-2).  Surely the Apostles would have recalled at once these words, well-known to all Jews.  Another verse from the Scriptures may have suggested itself too, when Almighty God is speaking to the afflicted Job of how he is the Creator and Ruler of all things: “Thus far shall you come but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed!” (Job 38, 11).  For, this is what happened: “The wind ceased and there was great calm.”  The verb tense tells us that the storm ended immediately, abruptly.

“Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”  He poses these questions in order for the Apostles to understand how far they still must go before they have a full and mature faith.  They are still as infants learning to crawl, and this in the face of their leaving everything to follow him, their witness to the Lord’s humble lifestyle, and their observing his miracles.  Mark’s original readers as well as those who read his words today could feel reassured in that even the Apostles had to grow in their faith.

“They were filled with great awe.”  The Greek text has, “They were terrified with a great fear.”  Mark uses the same Greek word to describe the reaction of the Apostles to this work of the Lord as he will use in Mark 5, 15 for the reaction of the Gentile people to the news of the exorcism of the demoniac and the destruction of the herd of swine.  In both cases the Lord Jesus shows himself to possess and wield divine power, although to every appearance he seemed an ordinary man.  “And said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  They know the answer to their question but it will take some time before they can fully accept it.  Then they will be willing to go to the furthest end of the earth and to die for him.  But in the meantime, they have learned that he is eminently powerful and that he cares for those who trust him.

 Friday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 26, 2024

The Feast of St. Timothy and St. Titus

Mark 4, 21-25

Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lamp stand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.” He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Saint Timothy and Saint Titus were early converts of St. Paul from the Gentiles.  They accompanied him on various missionary journeys and he prized their assistance.  Paul appointed them the first bishops of Ephesus and Crete, respectively.  Both are considered martyrs by the Holy Church.

“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lamp stand?”. We really should marvel at how the Lord Jesus uses the commonplace to explain spiritual mysteries.  Just as the Son of God became man in order for us to hear his teachings in our words, so he takes eternal truths and puts them in terms any of us can easily understand.  In this verse he asks a question with a perfectly obvious answer.  A child could give the right answer: No, a lamp is brought in to be placed on a lamp stand so that it can give light to all.  This saying is set by St. Mark directly after the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, explaining why not everyone accepts or perseveres in the Gospel, with the last line speaking about those who do accept it and persevere in it who will bear fruit thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold.  Placing this saying here, Mark shows that Jesus is teaching that this fruit, the good works wrought through faith, is meant to be seen.  They are meant to give light so that all may see not just the doer of the deeds, but the One for whom these deeds were done.  “For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light.”  A person’s good deeds, even if not recognized in their time, will be recognized later, and likewise one’s wicked deeds.  All will be made visible in order for God’s perfect justice to be made manifest.  At the end of the world no one will be left wondering why a certain person was saved or another lost.

“The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.”  We increase our capacity for God’s gifts by exercising our ability to give gifts of our own to others, doing good for them by forgiving them, being patient with them, assisting them in their need — the whole range of corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  Thus, if we show mercy to others in some way, we extend our capacity for receiving God’s mercy and, even so, it will abound more than we can contain it.  “To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”  This saying refers to faith, returning to the theme of the parable Jesus has just told.  A person who has faith and prays to be strong in it and who exercises it in daily life will grow in faith.  He will have “more” faith.  But one who has faith but who do not pray for be strong in it and who do not exercise it in daily life will lose it due to tribulations of some kind, to persecution, or to his own lust, worldly ambitions, or greed.

We ask Saint Timothy and Saint Titus to pray for us so that we may be bright shining lights in our time as they were in theirs, leading all to God.

 The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Thursday, January 25, 2024

Acts 22, 3-16

Paul addressed the people in these words: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison. Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment those there as well.  On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’ My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’ Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.  “A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the Law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’ ”

St. Luke reports on St. Paul’s return to Jerusalem after one of his missionary journeys to Asia Minor.  Paul knows that his return carries a certain amount of risk because the Jewish leaders think of him as a traitor to their religion.  Responding to those who begged him not to go there, he said, “I am ready not only to be bound, but to die also in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts of the Apostles 21, 13).  When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, as described by Luke, who accompanied him, he went to meet with St. James the Lesser, the bishop of the Christians in the city, and reported to him all that he had done.  He stayed in Jerusalem for a week and was not bothered by anyone.  But when he went into the Temple, one day, he was spotted by some Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem and who had persecuted him there.  A riot involving a great number of people broke out on the Temple grounds as a result of the accusations of sacrilege and heresy hurled at Paul, whom they began to beat.  Luke recalls that “the whole city was in an uproar” (Acts 21, 30).  The Roman tribune of the city sent his men to arrest Paul and find out why the people had rioted.  When the tribune learned that Paul spoke Greek and was a Roman citizen, he allowed him to speak to the crowd of the Jews, and he did so in Aramaic, the language of the people.  Paul then delivered this account of his own conversion which Luke has preserved for us.  

His conversion from the vicious Saul of Tarsus to the zealous, impassioned St. Paul marks a turning point in the history of the early Church.  Up to the time of his conversion, the Apostles lived and preached and guided the Church in Jerusalem.  With the persecution launched by the Jewish leadership after the martyrdom of St. Stephen, most of the Judean Christians fled, sometimes even going abroad.  While this often resulted in the slow growth of the Faith in Gentile lands, the Church became scattered.  Relatively few Christians remained in Jerusalem.  Paul, after his conversion, preached first to the Jewish communities in places like Damascus, Antioch, and then into Asia Minor, but found greater fruit among the Gentiles.  The outreach to the Gentiles resulted in a great many , conversions, paving the way for the spread of the Church throughout the world.  Paul accomplished this through his great and authentic love of Jesus Christ, through his skilled preaching, and through dogged perseverance in the service of Almighty God.  Besides this breakthrough into Gentile lands, Paul was the first great theologian of the Church.  Studying the teachings of the Lord as remembered by the Apostles, he was able to explain to his converts what it meant that Jesus was both God and man, that they became members of his Body and of each other through baptism, and that members of his Body shared spiritual goods with each other.  He taught about grace and the effect of grace on the human soul.  And he taught the Gentile Christians about how the world would end, though having to repeat himself several times to make this clear to them.

We all stand as benefitted by St. Paul both through his modeling Christian virtue and through his teachings, and we recall how it all began at the time he was the fiercest of the Church’s persecutors.

 Wednesday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 24, 2024

Mark 4, 1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.  A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”  And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”  Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

One aspect of the Lord’s ministry that St. Mark emphasizes again and again is the stupendous size of the crowds that come to him.  In the first three chapters of his Gospel, Mark mentions four very large crowds: they crowd around the house he’s in, they nearly force him into the sea, they make it so that he cannot eat.  Mark mentions four occasions for such crowds, not including his description of the crowd drawn by John the Baptist.  Through pointing these out time and again he shows that the opposition to Jesus, though vigorous, came from a small group of people while the people who followed him amounted to vast numbers.  Mark knew that his original audience of Gentile Christians needed to hear this.

The present Gospel Reading adds yet another account of a huge crowd to the list: “A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.”  The Lord expects the numbers and so he has the Apostles keep a boat ready for him.  “And he taught them at length in parables.”  The Ancient Greek word translated as “parable” means a “comparison” or “similarity”.  Literally, it means “a laying beside”.  By using parables, interesting stories that illustrate the point he wishes to make, the Lord teaches the crowds the truth about God, faith, prayer, heaven, and themselves in ways they could understand,  but which would bear pondering to tease out the deeper meanings that are always present in the Lord’s words.  Now, the translation here says that he taught this crowd “at length” with parables but the Greek actually says, “with many parables”.  The Lord’s parables are not unbearably long.  They are just long enough for the average listener to take it all in.

“A sower went out to sow.”  This is a very familiar parable for those who attend Holy Mass and listen to the Gospel because it turns up every year.  All three of the Evangelists — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — who recount the Lord’s parables give us this one.  It is the only one which all three of these sacred writers give us, by which we understand its importance in the early Church especially for Gentile converts but also for the Jewish converts.  In this parable, which the Lord himself explains, the new or prospective Christian can learn the answer to a pressing question: Given the Lord’s powerful teaching and wondrous miracles, why did not all the Jews convert at the time and why was the faith often lost or rejected by the Gentiles?  The Lord provides not one but three reasons why this happens: hardness of heart; the trials of persecution or any tribulation; and attachment to the things of this world.

“But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”  The reader comes to the end of the parable and sees himself in its words: as the “rich soil” onto which the seed, the preaching of the Gospel, falls, and not only does a full-grown plant result, but this plant will produce abundant fruit.  We should understand grace as accompanying the hearing of the Lord’s preaching, for without grace nothing happens.  We might think of grace as the water that falls upon the seed that lay on the “rich soil”, the person who sincerely desires the truth and is open to it.  This plant is said to “bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold”.  Why does the Lord not simply say, “thirty-fold”, why these extra numbers?  Because believers have the varying levels of abilities, a limited number of years to exercise those abilities.  Some grow quickly in faith and virtue while others grow at a slower pace.  Some have greater zeal than others.  Some overcome obstacles more nimbly than others.  The main point is that all who would belong to Jesus Christ should bear fruit, bringing others to him through good example, opportune words, and especially prayer.

 Tuesday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 23, 2024

Mark 3, 31-35

The Mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass is preceded by Mark 3, 21: “And when his friends had heard of it [the Lord’s preaching and drawing enormous crowds], they went out to lay hold on him. For they said: He is become mad.”  Between that verse and this reading Mark has set his report of the accusations made by the scribes from Jerusalem contending that he was possessed.  Mark does this due to his understanding of the chronological order of the events (his relatives set out to find him, the scribes accuse him of being possessed, and his relatives arrive) but also to emphasize the breadth of the opposition Jesus aroused from both those who knew him and those who did not in response to his zeal for souls.  In Mark 6, 1-6, the Evangelist will tell how the Lord returned to these same relatives who tried to kill him.  We note that this opposition flies in the face of the miracles the Lord performed and, indeed, those who oppose him admit the mighty works which he carries out.  In this way, Mark points out to his original audience that their faith far exceeds that of those who actually knew him and had seen his works.  He also points out the sheer irrationality of those who refused to believe.

“The Mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.”  Mark does not inform us as to the location of this house.  Perhaps he is back again in Capernaum.  He identifies those who came to him as his Mother and his “brothers”.  The Greek word translated here as “brothers” may mean biological brothers but it also has a very general sense, as does the Hebrew word.  How can we tell if these were or were not his biological brothers?  St. Luke makes it very clear, quoting Mary’s own words, that she intended to remain a virgin her whole life (cf. Luke 1, 34).  There is no reason to think that her understanding of her vocation as a virgin changed after the Lord’s Birth.  Furthermore, the Church Fathers maintained her perpetual virginity.  No one challenged this until the fifth century, when the challenger was definitively slapped down by St. Jerome.  Rather, these “brothers” were various male relatives.  This becomes plain when we compare the names of those listed as “brothers” here as the children of other women.  For instance, two men named  James and Joseph are named as the Lord’s “brothers” in Mark 6, 3.  In Matthew 27, 56 we are told that “Mary the mother of James and Joseph” was a witness to the crucifixion.  

“Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.”  Luke 8, 19 tells us that “they could not reach him because of the crowd.”  This refers back to the proximate reason the relatives had come in the first place, that he was so swamped with people and their needs that he had no time to eat (cf. Mark 3, 20).  Likely, these male relatives, who did not believe in him — “For neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7, 5) — wanted to lure Jesus out into the open where they could lay their hands upon him and carry him back to Nazareth.  Had they pushed into the house and attempted to grab him the crowd would have rioted.

“Who are my mother and my brothers? . . . Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”  Jesus responds to the message relayed by the crowd in an unexpected way.  He does not send a message back to his relatives.  In fact, he seems to distance himself from them.  His statement that “whoever does the will of God” is his relation prepares us for his teaching that “I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law” (Matthew 10, 35).  The sign of the human family is completed or “fulfilled” by the Lord, making himself its center with God his Father as our Father and we as his adopted children.

“His Mother.”  We might wonder about the Virgin Mary’s role in this action.  Not all of the Lord’s relatives opposed him.  For example, St. James the Lesser, the son of Alphaeus, was identified by St. Paul in Galatians 1, 19 as “the brother of the Lord”, perhaps a cousin.  When Jesus departed for good from Nazareth, it is likely that his Mother followed him, accompanied by male family members who did believe in him.  Later, when other women began to follow him, those who helped him “out of their means” (Luke 8, 2-3), Mary would have stayed in their company.  The hostile male relatives then came from Nazareth without consulting her, and when she recognized them she naturally went to see them.  Finding out their intentions, she would have interceded on his behalf.  Mark simply includes her in his general statement: “They sent word to Jesus and called him” since she was with them then.

What are we to do with the Lord’s teachings that “whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”?  Is the Lord saying that his Mother did not do the will of his Father and that someone who did might take her place?  To the contrary, the Lord affirms the complete alignment of her will with that of his Father.  We first learn of this when she complies with God’s plan for her as announced by Gabriel, culminating with her humble declaration that she is “the hand,aid of the Lord”.  Now we see Jesus himself, whom she bore in obedience to the Father, confirm her Motherhood — not only through biology but also through faith.