“Let them keep in mind, therefore, that there can be no humility without reproaches and mockery and anyone who feels ashamed of them …may as well abandon all hope, of being able to achieve perfection.” St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502-1539)

How often we seek to be humble, but complain about the opportunities in our path that enables us to grow in humility! We don't have to seek humility, it will find us. A word, an affront, a slight, being passed over, and many other ways contribute to our growth or decline in humility. Ask for the grace to recognize the situation and to embrace  it in silence in imitation of the suffering Lord.  He was innocent. We are not. He humbly embraced the will of the Father even death by crucifixion for our sake. We are asked to do much less.

 “Jesus is with me. I have nothing to fear.” Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

How often does Jesus tells the disciples and us, "Fear not, for I am with y0u till the end of the ages."? How often does Jesus connect fear with lack of faith? If we truly put our faith and trust in Jesus, then fear is useless. It saps our strength. But if faith is our foundation, then we know that we can do all things in Jesus. Fear (we are not talking about natural fear) is from the devil, who wants us to take our eyes off Jesus and put it on ourselves. In this way, fear is a bondage. But if we believe that we  have been set free by the death and resurrection of Jesus, then, by putting our eyes on him, we can move forward in life.

 

Homily Fourteenth Sunday Year B

Reading 1: Ezekiel was given a difficult task by God. He was called to be a prophet, a spokesperson, for God’s words. He was sent to speak this word to the Chosen People in exile for their infidelity to their covenant with God. God called them rebels like their ancestors. The difficult task was to speak God’s word to a people, who will reject the message because of the hardness of their hearts.

 

The role of the prophet is to speak God’s words, not to force them to accept or act on that word. Many of the prophets of the Old Testament suffered because they faithfully relayed God’s message but were rejected, persecuted and even killed, because the people did not want to hear the message of the Lord. It is only afterwards, when the message was fulfilled, that later generations would acknowledge the person as truly a prophet of God.

 

Like those in Ezekiel’s time, we don’t always like to hear the words spoken prophetically to us. At times, they are encouraging. But at other times they are words calling us to repent and return to the Lord. Even though God knows we may reject his word, God will still speak his word to us. The power of the word of God was expressed by Jesus. He said that he would not judge us, but his word would. Did we hear it, received it and acted on it or did we reject it? Even Isaiah reflected the same message about the power of God’s word. He said, it is like rain. It falls on the good and the bad. But it will not return to me empty.

 

Gospel: Last Sunday we reflected on the faith of the woman, who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. We followed that with the faith of Jairus, who heard the testimony of the woman and put his trust in Jesus in spite of the message about the death of his daughter.  Because of this trust and faith, he witnessed the restoration to life in his daughter.

 

Today, we heard the lack of faith of the people of Nazareth in the person of Jesus. Like Ezekiel, Jesus is also a prophet. He had been sent by God to proclaim a message of forgiveness of sins and salvation to the world. As he said, he came to set captives free, preach Glad tidings to the poor and heal the sick.

When Jesus returned to his home town of Nazareth, maybe for some R & R with his disciples, he was asked to share a word in the synagogue on the Sabbath. He shared what God had done for him at the time of his baptism and what God was doing through him in signs and wonders.

 

Their first response was a sense of wonder. “Where did he get all this?” Then they turned to question his identity, which is a theme in Mark’s Gospel: Who is Jesus? They knew him growing up; they knew his family; they knew him as a carpenter.  Their questions led to doubt and rejection. They could not and would not accept that he was anything other than their past knowledge of him. They could not accept that God had chosen him to speak his words. As a result, they refused to believe in him or to be open to any ministry, even when a few people were healed. Their minds were made up and closed. This saddened Jesus, because of their lack of faith and openness.

 

How open are we to the Word of God? Do we box God in by accepting what we want to hear and reject what we don’t want to hear?  Have we settled into a comfort zone in our relationship with God? Is our faith in Jesus active or static?

 

Reading 2: Paul was a prophet, who also was rejected, persecuted and eventually killed, because he spoke God’s message to a people, who did not want to hear it. Here, Paul is dealing with a personal issue which affects his mission as a prophet. Though he had received many spiritual experiences, revelations and visions, he suffered from what he calls a thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it was. He indicated he had a speech impediment; he had other physical ailments as well.

 

It could be he was haunted by his past persecution of the followers of the Way. But whatever it was, it seemed to hamper his work as a prophet. Yet God used this situation to teach Paul a valuable lesson. In his weakness and imperfections, God can still work. His grace is sufficient, transforming weaknesses into power. Paul came to the point of embracing his weaknesses and circumstances and use them for the sake of Christ and the furthering of the Kingdom.

 

 “In ancient times before the divine sojourn of the Savior took place, even to the saints death was terrible; all wept for the dead as though they perished. But now that the Savior has raised his body, death is no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ trample on it as it were nothing and choose rather to die than deny their faith in Christ. And that devil that once maliciously exulted in death, now that its pains were loosed, remained the only one truly dead.” St. Athanasius of Alexandria

Before Christ, dead seemed final, at least that was what the devil convinced people.  Since Christ, for those who believe in him, death is a passageway to a new life. The only ones truly dead are those who die away from Christ, like the devil. Though they live, they live in alienation from God, which is the eternal second death. But those who die in Christ, continue to live eternally with God, sharing his glorious, eternal life. Given these two states after death, which do you choose?

 Fourteenth Sunday Gospel Year B

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. 

Jesus retuned to Nazareth, possibly to visit him mother Mary.

 When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished.  

Being a faithful observant of the Covenant, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. People had heard about him and so he was asked to teach after the readings from the scriptures.

We don’t know from Mark what he taught, but whatever he said, astonished the people. No one has taught like this before. He taught with authority not quoting other Rabbis. 

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 Joses and Judas and Simon?  And are not his sisters here with us?”  And they took offense at him. 

Their astonishment turned quickly to questioning, doubting and taking offense at a home town son having spoken so well.

They could not accept that he was of God. They knew him as one like them. They knew his background and his extended family. Was he not merely a carpenter by trade?  Calling him the son of Mary and not of Joseph may have been a slur against him? 

When they indicate his “brothers and sisters” these were probably cousins in his extended family. For we believe Mary had no other children.

They were trying to box him in and, in a sense, to try to control and harness 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.

It saddened Jesus to feel the rejection by his own townspeople and extended family. But he knew historically that this was the life of a prophet.

What saddened most was that, though he wanted to minister God’s love to them through signs and wonders, he could not because of their lack of faith. Only a few were open to his ministry. But seeing this did not change the closed mindset of the people.

Do we at times have a lack of faith in the person of Jesus Christ?

Do we sometimes put him in a box of our own making? 

 "I have no desire for the honors of this world but solely for the glory of God and the salvation of my soul." Saint Bernardino Realino

Is this our thought? Is our life directed to the glory of God, so that one day we may share in his glory? The honors of this world, as we know, pass away like dust in the wind. What lasts beyond the grave is our relationship with God, not the accolades of the world. Many people spend their whole life chasing the honors of the world, rather than seeking to become saints, only to find to their eternal despair, their hands are empty in the moment of judgment. Don't waste your time on what is frivolous, but invest yourself in becoming a saint.

 "The greatest gift we can give is forgiveness, for it sets free both the giver and the receiver." St. Junipero Serra

The power of non-forgiveness is bondage for both the offender and the offended. It is another lie of the Evil One that says the other person does not deserve forgiveness and you have a right to harbor anger and resentment for what was done to you. But the irony of our actions is that while we choose to refuse forgiveness to the other, we cry out for God in his mercy to forgive us. While God's forgiveness is unconditional, we block it by our refusal to forgive another. Recall the words of Jesus. "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." (Mt 6:14-15) Forgiveness is not a one-way street. For you to be free, you must first free the other.