yet a little while

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 10:32-39 Psalm 37:3-6, 23-24, 39-40 Mark 4:26-34

Hebrews 10:37  "For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry;

If you tell someone that what you are going to do is far off and will take many years, even decades, they probably will not put much hope in what you say.

We have to have a sense that what is promised is coming soon.  This is a weakness of the human condition.  We can believe in long term results,but we have to see short term results to keep us engaged.

The Lord gives us short term results and signs to keep us going if we are willing to look for them.  That is what faith is all about.  Keeping hope alive and seeing the signs that our hope will be realized.

Father, help me to not lose hope.  Continue to give me signs of your grace so that I can rest in the promise that it will all work out in the end.

Amen

clean hands and a pure heart

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 10:19-25 Psalm 24:1-6 Mark 4:21-25

Psalm 24:4  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.

How well do we really trust our friends and acquaintances to keep their word, to do what they say, to have completely pure intentions?

God's mountain is not easily ascended, but to get close to God we must be pure, our intentions must be honest and we must not think that we can deceive him.  I think that honesty may be one of the toughest things to accomplish since it means total transparency. Most of us don't intend to lie or mislead, but because we have hidden sin we find ourselves doing that which we do not want to do.  To confess our sins is not simply a matter of telling someone about them, but it is becoming total transparent.  It means that we have nothing to hide.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to become clean.  Help me to always seek to be honest and truthful to not fear the consequences of my sin knowing that you have my best interest in mind.

Amen

the secret of the kingdom

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 10:11-18 Psalm 110:1-4 Mark 4:1-20

Mark 4:11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;

To them (the Apostles) the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven has been revealed, but to the others it has not. Does this mean that Jesus didn't teach or share with the non- initiated? No, but he did speak in parables.

There are ways to share the Gospel and to teach using examples of this world. We can do it in art, music, literature ... We can do it using examples in business and sports etc... We can share the message of the Gospel in all kinds of ways with non- believers.

There are many Christians who frown on giving a message that doesn't identify Jesus and the explicit plan of salvation. They would say that this stuff, this art, this music, is not valuable since the message is hidden as best, though many would say it not even there. But, to the uninitiated, this may be the best way to soften them, and then perhaps they will repent and turn from their evil ways and seek God's forgiveness. And for us, let us not assume that we are not blind and have no need of this humble and gracious means of God's grace.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to know the mystery of the Kingdom and to live in it's truth, but help me to understand that everybody doesn't know it and that I can share with them through parables as you did through Christ Jesus.

Amen

offering of the body

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 10:1-10 Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 10-11 Mark 3:31-35

Hebrews 10:10  And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We often get hung up on defining what it means to be a Christian, how we are to act and what it means to be justified and sanctified.  Well, the scriptures are quite clear here.  We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.  So, how shall we worship and how shall we participate in that sanctification?  Where is the body of Christ to be found?  The church and even in the bread and the wine.  His offering is found there.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to be able to see you gift of grace as it is embodied in the Eucharist and in the Church.  Help me to be a participant in the body and in your grace.

Amen

a kingdom is divided

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5 Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10 Mark 3:22-30

Mark 3:24  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

Well, we have a new president and now the media and the politicians in power are all saying how more united we are than ever.  The fact is 46% of the people did not vote for this man.  we aren't any more united than we have been, i is just the other party is now in power.  It is a lie, and that is scary.

Jesus calls us to be united in his name.  There are many different denominations of Christians though.  Now that doesn't mean that we can't be united, but truth be told, we aren't very united at all.  In fact there are some relationships between denominations that are actually very hostile.

We must strive for unity, not for the sake of unity, but for the honor of Jesus' name.  We must stand up for truth, but truth in love.  We too often stand up for our own truth in pride.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to seek to be united for your sake and not to stand up for my own pride.

Amen

Faithfulness will spring up

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 8:6-13 Psalm 85:8,10-14 Mark 3:13-19

Psalms 85:11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.

God said he will make a new covenant with his people, that he will write his law on their hearts and they will not need to be led by force or coercion.

This is where we are today. It isn't a matter of the law conforming us to the will of God but desiring it. True faith springs up from the earth. It comes from our hearts and minds.

God's righteousness is what we depend on and is our only hope, but faith can't be forced.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to learn to be faithful through my heart and not depend on rulers and law to be a crutch for me.

Amen

according to the pattern

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 7:25 -- 8:6 Psalm 40:7-10, 17 Mark 3:7-12

Hebrews 8:5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain."

There is always a tension between following the ritual laws and freely expressing our faith. I think that this tension is settled by doing both. There are times and places where we should keep what God has shown us sacred and do it as he has said. But we also have liberty to express our faith in ways that are more meaningful to us. We must be careful, however, not to go too far one way or the other.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to be able, without pride, to express worship to you as you desire, keeping your words where they should be and expressing faith in my own words when appropriate.

Amen

without father or mother or genealogy

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17 Psalm 110:1-4 Mark 3:1-6

Hebrews 7:3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever.

We tend to give value to people based on their human origins. Take for instance the inauguration of Obama yesterday. Why is this so significant? Is it because he is a hero? Has he stood up against oppression? Has he saved lives and healed the sick? I know of none of those. But he is a "black" man. It is because of his origins that the people are raising him up.
Christ, like Melchiz'edek is not a priest because of his earthly origins, but because of his heavenly origins.
Do we value earthly life or heavenly life? Can we see through the temporal to the eternal? Are our heroes men of lineage or men of faith?

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to see through the earthly values that trap us every day. Help me to value the heavenly life and all that points me to that.

Amen

made for man

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 6:10-20 Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10 Mark 2:23-28

Mark 2:27  And he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath;

We get hung up on rules, but we too often forget who is in charge.  The rules are to be maintained because they are given to us by Christ and through obedience we come to know him.  But there are times when rules interact with each other and we need to use our faith and character to decide what to do.  It is in these moments when we can see what we truly think.  How we are able to handle the ambiguity.  Do we resort to pride and jealousy?  Or do we act in the spirit of the law.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to follow the law but to be able to follow the spirit of the law.

Amen

what he suffered

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 5:1-10 Psalm 110:1-4 Mark 2:18-22

Hebrews 5:8  Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;

I am amazed at the Christian community that is putting their hope in Obama as president.  Our hope is to be in the Lord alone.  The people are celebrating how this man has risen to greatness and power and somehow this is to be a great day.  Christ Jesus said to take the chair at the foot of the table, in a sense the seat at the back of the bus.  Jesus says that the widows offering though worth little in human terms was more than all the others of great wealth have given.  Jesus learned obedience through suffering, not through an election or fund raising.

I think that we are losing the basic Christian values and with that the understanding of who Christ Jesus is and what he has called us to be.

If even Jesus had to suffer, what right do we have to celebrate some man's rise to power?

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to always be humble and to remember that you alone are my hope.

Amen

you will be hated

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 Corinthians 4:9-13 Psalm 126:1-6 Matthew 10:16-22

Matthew 10:22  and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

We are deluged with the gospel of tolerance and acceptance.  We must not be hated by anybody. But if we are not hated by anybody, even those who hate Jesus Christ, then who do we belong to?  If they hated him, shouldn't they hate us?

Point being, we must be faithful even if it means people will hate us.  Our reward is not of this world.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to keep the end in mind.  Help me to realize that the people hated you first.  They killed your prophets and apostles.  Who am I then if I give in to the threats of this world?

Amen

But he went out

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 3:7-14 Psalm 95:6-11 Mark 1:40-45

Mark 1:45  But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

We are people who think we have a good sense of what is right and what is true.  But sometimes that is exactly the wrong thing.  In the wilderness the people thought that Moses was not the one to follow even though God had chosen him.  The leper didn't obey Jesus' command and that prevented Jesus from preaching in certain areas.  That means because of this man's disobedience there were some who were potentially deprived of the Gospel.

How many times do we deprive others of hearing the truth because we think we know better?  Does our joy and exuberance prevent the Gospel from getting to some?  Are we willing to really obey Jesus?

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to always seek to obey you even when I think I know better.  Help me to trust you fully and realize that the world and your plan is far bigger than me.

Amen

Thou hast given

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 2:5-12 Psalm 8:2, 5-9 Mark 1:21-28

Psalm 8:6  Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet,

I always wondered if this verse was referring to mankind or to Christ specifically.

Well, I think the answer is yes, to both.  If we are in Christ we are united with him and we too then have this dominion. This was originally given to Adam but he didn't realize that it was only with God that this was his.  When he aspired to become more than he was he compromised this gift.

Today we are forgiven for Adam's sin and we have a second chance to be united with God in Christ.  We have a second chance to enjoy the benefits of a relationship with the creator of all things.  But Jesus shows us that it is through humility, suffering and obedience that we can obtain the gift that he offers.  We can't aspire to have it ourselves, it is only in and through Jesus Christ that we have this gift.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to always remember that it is in Christ alone that I have you favor.  Help me to be willing and able to be humble and faithful to bring honor and glory to this life from you.

Amen

one of you will betray me

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 1:1-6 Psalm 97:1-2, 6-7, 9 Mark 1:14-20

Mark 14:18  And as they were at table eating, Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me."

A couple of things are interesting about this verse.  First, the passover meal that is to become our Eucharist, of Communion meal is held in a private residence, not the Temple.  Second, the one who betrays Jesus is eating with him.  I think that the Lords Supper is one of the most divisive elements of our faith.  Yet, it is supposed to be the most unifying.  We do two things.  We try to make it too formal sometimes or we don't give it enough meaning.  And we tend to allow anybody to participate or we exclude those who may be "betrayers".

I think the model here is what we should think about.  Yes it was private.  Not everybody was included.  And, yes someone who was a known betrayer was allowed to participate.  If you think about it, how could someone who was not one of them be a betrayer anyway.  Only when we come close to Jesus can we even be a betrayer.  If we are far from him we can not do much harm.  In that case we probably shouldn't even be at the meal.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to better understand your will regarding the covenant meal that you have provide for us to become united with you through your sacrificial act.

Amen

as Moses commanded

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 5:5-13 Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20 Luke 5:12-16

Luke 5:14 And he charged him to tell no one; but "go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to the people."

Jesus performed this miracle, as he did all his miracles, without the approval of the religious authorities. However, he instructed the man to make an offering as Moses commanded, thereby maintaining the ceremonial tradition. This was to be a witness to the people.
Today we tend to like the first part where God can deal with us personally without the church's participation, but we don't like the second part where we participate in the ceremonial ritual. But there is value in that. It is a witness to the people. The problem is when we keep the works of God in our personal space we never really have credibility to others. We must, therefore, be willing to participate publicly to be scrutinized and to participate in ritual.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to not only seek your presence personally, but to be willing to be obedient to show your presence publicly.

Amen

he first

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 4:19 -- 5:4 Psalm 72:1-2, 14-15, 17 Luke 4:14-22

1 John 4:19 We love, because loved us.

We have a tendancy as humans to want to measure and judge in order that we might have a better grasp of who we are and we hope and try to make that better than it probably is. But we can only love because God first loved us. That means that it is not us who are worthy of credit for love and good works, but God who loved us first enabling us to share his love with others.
When we get that I think the measuring and judging go away because we know that whatever love we have is from God, and who among us is willing to measure or judge God?

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to seek to share your love rather than attempt to take credit for what love I think that I have.

Amen

By this we know

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 4:11-18 Psalm 72:1-2, 10, 12-13 Mark 6:45-52

1 John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit.

We tend to devise all kinds of litmus tests to decide if we are "true" Christians or not, if we really know Jesus or not, if we are really saved or not. John makes it pretty clear what the test is though. If we love one another. I think that love is not so much an absolute as it is a relative thing. If we value something or someone above another we love that one more than the other. Do we love others more than ourselves? Do we value them above ourselves? Do we value Christ above ourselves? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves rather than do we have the absolute right doctrine. Nobody has aver seen God, so all we have to go on is our love for each other. In that we know if we love God.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to be able to love others and in that to know you.

Amen

You give them something to eat

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 4:7-10 Psalm 72:1-4, 7-8 Mark 6:34-44

Mark 6:37  But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?"

This verse has always troubled me.  Jesus tells his disciples to give the people something to eat when there clearly is not enough to eat.  He then does a miracle.  Did he expect them to do a miracle?  Or was this to show their dependancy on him?

In context it was a sign demonstrating that Jesus was the one to come, the one who would give his people bread as Moses did in the wilderness.  But it is the love of Christ that is at the core of this.  Perhaps the disciples could have done this if they had the love for the people that Jesus does.  But I think that it is clear that we are to love as God loves us.  The problem is we can't do that without God's love in Jesus Christ.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to see the needs of others and love them enough to be able to do something in your grace and to share your love with them.

Amen

have seen a great light

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 3:22 -- 4:6 Psalm 2:7-8, 10-12 Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

Matthew 4:16  the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

This is a very familiar passage.  The quote from Isaiah 9:1.  But who are the people that have seen a great light?  Is it the people of Israel, the religious form Jerusalem?  It is the people that have been overrun by gentiles.  The way of the sea as it is called.  These are people who have been in darkness, but not by their own choice.  Therefor they have an opportunity to repent now that they have seen a great light.

The people of Jerusalem have a bigger problem.  Jesus would die right in their midst and they would remain unrepentant even though they had all the knowledge and all the rudiments of the faith at their disposal.

Jesus call us to repentance, but are we too proud and "knowledgeable" to see our depravity?  Are we able to see this great light?

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to be able to see my sin and my need for you.  Help me to be humble and repentant in obedience to your words.

Amen

one whom you do not know

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 2:22-28 Psalm 98:1-4 John 1:19-28

John 1:26  John answered them, "I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know,

I think that this passage gives a clear indication that Christian baptism is more than just symbolic.  John only baptized with water, but there is one among us who is more than that.  He is divinity.  John isn't the Christ, nor the others that they asked him about, and his baptism was only with water, but baptism in Christ is beyond what anybody can claim.  It is then sacramental.  It is a mystery, the mystery entrance into the Kingdom of God.  It is by Christ, not by man, yet it still requires the water of baptism.  

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to respect and honor the sacraments.  Not the men and women who perform them, but Jesus the one who blesses them.

Amen