The Gospel according to Luke (9: 22-25) 

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to see your loving hand at work with me today. Draw me close when I am tempted to flee from your providential plan.

Encountering Christ: Today’s gospel is literally on of those “come to Jesus moments.”  He starts off by saying that he must suffer greatly, be rejected and killed. And, yes, I know I left something out, but hold that thought.  Then after he paints this dismal picture he invites us to come after him and to expect much of the same treatment.  This is not a very enticing proposition.

I remembered a story I heard a few years back thinking about one of the things Jesus invites us to do by taking up our daily cross.  It is titled “The Burden You Bear” by an unknown author submitted by Debra Stitt.  I will take the liberty of condensing and paraphrasing, but if you want to read the entire story, which is already short (six paragraphs) you can find it easily on the internet.

A man, troubled by many of life’s challenges, develops a habit in prayer of asking God to relieve him of his burdens.  After some time, continued complaining, and asking for relief Jesus comes to the man and says he is willing to help him.  He takes the troubled man to a room with one door.  Jesus says that beyond that door he will find a room full of crosses of many different sizes.  Jesus tells him these crosses represent the burdens, big and small, carried by people everywhere. He tells him to go in the room and find a cross that would better suit his desire for relief.  The man begins his search by looking for the smallest cross among many very large crosses.  He finds the smallest one in the room and with great delight tells Jesus he picks that one.  Jesus looks at him and says that he has chosen his own cross.

We can all fall into the pit of despair when we see only our own burdens and focus only on moving past our challenges.  I know I can, have, and will from time to time.  But this approach to our relationship with Christ is short sighted.  For one, we always have something to be thankful for.  Yes, this may take some searching, but it is not hard if we try. Also, there is the illusion that everyone else’s cross is smaller and lighter than our own.  That is obviously not true.  All we must do is lift our heads and open our eyes.  And, what of Jesus’ warning that gaining the whole world could cost us our very lives!  In chasing the comforts of this world, we could lose the rewards of the next.

So let’s go back to what I left out at the beginning.  After he says he must suffer greatly, be rejected and killed he also says “…and on the third day be raised.”  Yes, his invitation leads to suffering, rejection, and eventually death.  However, if we have the courage to follow him, we must deny ourselves, pick up our daily cross and follow HIM.  This is what will lead us to the celebration of Easter, resurrection, eternal life with Him.

This road, this choice will always present great challenges.  But we who have been on this journey also know it overflows with God’s grace.  This is so much more evident with the additional burden that we are all bearing in this pandemic, devastating illness, under and unemployment, separation, loneliness, and death.  Yet, through all of this we have also experienced, tenderness, compassion, companionship, fellowship, generosity, and so much love.

The road to resurrection is not solitary.  We have each other and we have the one who although was without sin came to be with us, to be one of us, to show us how, and ultimately to make it possible for us to share in his eternal inheritance.

Closing Prayer: Dear Lord we ask for the grace to pick up our cross and follow you daily.  In the process may we learn to love as you do so we may lose our lives for your sake and our brothers and sisters.

Action for the Day: In personal prayer, a quiet moment, or communal worship ask God for the strength you need to bear your cross.  Allow that grace to help you, in little and big ways, express that through one extra act of kindness or service.

MT. 6:1-6. Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, your church gives me this annual reminder that ‘right now’ is the best time to turn back to God, the right time to, not only seek, but also to give forgiveness, the most fitting moment to renew our devotion to the lives of faith, service, sacrifice and love. Fill my soul with your courage, so that I can make these resolutions truly an act of love to you.

Encountering Christ: 

Beginning in the Old Testament, ashes have been a sign of humility and repentance. In the book of Jonah, the whole city of Nineveh put on sackcloth and sat in ashes, hoping this would move God to mercy. Repentance begins with remembering who we are without God. The words of the priest when he is administering the ashes help us to recall our simple origins. God takes that dust and breathes life into it, with the unbelievable gift of the infused immortal soul. As we begin Lent, let us cultivate a deep humility, realizing that God’s gifts are the source of all things good, that we have, and who we are. 

The context of today’s Gospel has a valuable warning. It is heard in the midst of a public assembly that begins our Lenten journey as a people united by the very visible display of ashes worn on our forehead as an act of penance. An occupational hazard for Christians is hypocrisy. We fall into hypocrisy when appearances are cultivated but the heart remains unconverted. We reduce the act of receiving ashes to an empty rite if we don’t embrace their meaning with our whole heart. May our humble and considerate love of others speak louder than even the ashes on our foreheads.

In the end, our deeds must be for God and not for others. During this Lent, we have an amazing opportunity to make resolutions and offer sacrifices of various kinds, but above all, let us also go to our inner room to pray. We need to connect to the Father who sees us always and wants us to put all our love and effort into our relationship with him. Jesus speaks, too, about a reward: “Your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” There is no greater reward than to simply be closer to Him!

Jesus instructs his disciples on the importance of performing acts of charity and justice for the sake of God’s future blessings and not for some temporal reward in the here and now. The disciplines of almsgiving, fasting, and prayer must always be focused on God and a future joy. We are tempted to start out on the first day of Lent with an agenda for personal improvements and challenges of changing the world. Remember that it is not about trying to appear worthy before God, but more about living selflessly for others, something that, lately in our world, has been lost if not forgotten. When all of our acts of almsgiving, and prayer are conducted in such a way as to lose oneself for others, then they are pointed in God’s direction. 

Jesus, I thank you for these ashes, a reminder today of my humbleness. May they stir in my soul feelings of remorse for my sins and faults, but with a total confidence that you are giving me the grace of your forgiveness. Lord, cleanse my heart and make it more like yours!

Closing Prayer. Father in heaven; protect us in our struggle against evil. As we begin the discipline of Lent, make this season holy by our self-denial. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel according to Mark (8:14-21) 

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.” 
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

Opening Prayer: Jesus, please help me to be more receptive to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit, that I may see You moving in my life, and strive with all I am to be one who sees, hears, and understands Your love and Your truth.  Teach me to love more like You!  Amen.

Encountering Christ:

One comment we can make right off from today’s Gospel is that it is clear that the Apostles did not understand much of what Jesus was trying to teach them.  We can take heart in that, as they were learning from the very source of life itself: Jesus Himself.  And yet, they still missed much of what Jesus taught.  Now, we might say that was because the Apostles were mostly illiterate fisherman, not learned scholars in the Mosaic law.  Truly, though, they missed understanding because they were bound by their own human perspective.  Jesus was trying to get them to see things from God’s perspective, and they had a long way to go to have any chance of doing that.

Jesus also warns the Apostles about the “leaven of the Pharisees” and the “leaven of Herod”.  He wasn’t talking about the yeast in the bread that they forgot to bring.  He was telling them that their way on earth as His followers was not about strict, mindless following of the hundreds of laws of Judaism, or thinking that the corrupt laws of King Herod were the way, either.  He was trying to get them to see that they needed to depend on the love and providence of God.

In my “pre-Catholic” days, I was a Protestant Christian, and I like to think that I knew my Bible pretty well.  We had these competitions at Christian summer camp that were called “sword drills”.  Basically, the leader would call out a Scripture reference and we would try to find it as quickly as possible, and read out the first few words.  I won an award for one of those “sword drills”, so I must have at least known something about the order of the books in the Bible. 

But the truth is that the knowledge was all intellectual, and didn’t really change me from the inside.  My faith was all in my head, not in my heart.  For whatever good feeling I had from winning the “sword drill”, I had far to go to truly live my faith from the heart. 

Jesus’ remark to his Apostles was to caution them not to try to collect in their mind the various rules and laws and think that was enough.  Jesus went beyond the law, as He knew that what God wanted was for people to treat each other with love and care, not to act solely because the law said to do this or that.  That was the “leaven” that Jesus spoke of.  Jesus knew that His time to teach His Apostles and all His disciples was limited.  He couldn’t just fill their minds with knowledge.  He had to teach them to try to love as He did and as His Father did.

The Apostles were concerned that they did not have enough bread, even though Jesus had worked two amazing miracles, feeding thousands from almost nothing.  He was upset because they missed that lesson, namely, that God will provide if we only have faith.  They thought it was all up to them, but that was missing the point entirely.  God is the one who can do anything.  Our responsibility is to give ourselves totally to His will, and to sincerely ask Him to show us what it is we need to do, and to trust Him that He will give us the tools necessary to do His work that He has assigned to us.  God could do it all without us, but He longs for us to share in His work. 

After today, we leave the season of Ordinary Time until after the Easter Season.  In the season of Lent, which we begin tomorrow, we have an opportunity to look at how we are acting as Jesus’ followers, and to try to change course, so that we follow Him more closely.  Jesus longs to work miracles in our lives, but He can’t do it if we don’t understand the importance of loving because it is God’s call to us, not that it is in some rule or another that we must follow.  May we look ahead at this season of grace, and see that we can be instruments of God’s goodness, and all we have to do is be open, be willing, and to take that step in faith to respond to that call.

Trust that God has the plan, and that it’s not how smart I am that matters.  It is that I am one who loves, who prays, and who seeks to serve those whom I meet.  Let us go forth into Lent committed to love, to pray and to serve more, because doing so helps me to see more from God’s perspective, and to love more as God loves.

Closing Prayer: Loving Father, my prayer is that I reflect Your love and light into this world which has so much darkness.  Let me shine that light, that others may see it and be drawn closer to You, the source of all light.  Let me love like You do, and to give kindness, comfort and blessing to those whom I meet.  Let me start with those with whom I live, that they may see You in my actions.  Amen.

Action for the Day: Do something for someone else out of love, just out of love.  If that person should ask why you are doing that action, just say to that person, “I’m doing this, to shine the light!”

The Gospel according to Mark (8:11-13) The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.

Opening Prayer: Lord, I come to you today with my empty hands. I need everything from you! I need your love, your guidance, your perseverance. Help me in these trying times to be a light for others!

Encountering Christ: It is in our culture and our way of life to have signs and symbols. All of us are trained to look and follow these signs. For example, most of us, if we don’t have street signs then we would get lost; or imagine what traffic would be like if there were no STOP signs? We also look for signs of love and compassion with our family, friends and even strangers. We look for signs of illness, (especially today), so if you are at the supermarket and some coughs or sneezes …. we automatically think they’re sick with COVID. Signs and symbols are the basis of our culture. A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else with no natural relationship that is culturally defined. Everything one does throughout their life is based and organized through cultural symbolism. Cultural symbols can also be religious or spiritual, or they can represent the ideology or philosophy of a culture’s language, values and traditions. Cultural symbols include signs, emblems, hand gestures, hugs, kisses on the cheek, flags, animals and much more.

In my younger years, I recall making deals with God. “God, if you allow XXXX, then I will YYYY.” Or I think many of us have said, “Jesus, please give me a sign, so I can make a decision”. But if we are disciples of Faith and Truly Believe in Jesus’ mission, then why do we need a sign? All we have to do is Pray; Believe and Trust. Simple right … maybe not. It may not be the outcome that you would have anticipated or liked, or it didn’t happen in your prescribed time, but it happened in God’s time and in God’s way. “Thy Will be done” … right?! We pray it every day.

In today’s scripture, the Pharisee were asking Jesus yet, for ANOTHER sign. When I read this, all I could think of, if Jesus was asked this in today’s world, Jesus would roll his eyes and say “OMG (Oh My God)”! In today’s culture, we have a tendency to ask but rarely give. Think about it! Imagine God asking YOU for signs. Imagine Him asking You to do something for Him. Imagine God trying to make deals with YOU, and YOU won’t answer. Imagine what He is probably asking YOU to do? The Lenten season is here in two days, what does God want you to do? Step outside your norm and do something extra challenging this year. Yes, it’s hard to give up things you enjoy but is it really that hard if you do it every year? Click on this link for some ideas you can “do” (not just ‘give up”) for Lent. CLICK HERE

Jesus had performed many, many miracles and probably more than we know about. But even after all of that, the Pharisees came to argue with Jesus and demanded a sign from Heaven. The response of Jesus is quite unique. “He sighed from the depth of his spirit…” This sigh was an expression of His holy sorrow over the hardness of hearts of the Pharisees. If they had the eyes of faith, they would have no need for yet another miracle. And if Jesus would have performed a “sign from heaven” for them, even that would not have helped them. And so, Jesus does the only thing He can—He sighed (hence, rolling the eyes).

At times, this type of reaction is the only good one. We may all face situations in life where others confront us with harshness and stubbornness. When this happens, we will be tempted to argue with them, condemn them, try to convince them we are right, and the like. But sometimes one of the holiest reactions we can have to the hardness of our heart of another is to experience a deep and holy sorrow. We must also “sigh” from the depths of our spirits. Our hearts need to be softened and your deep sorrow, shared with compassion, may be one of the only responses that can help make a difference especially during Lent.

Closing Prayer: Lord, I need signs! I need to know that you are with me and that your loving providence is guiding my life. And I know that you provide signs! Please give me the grace to recognize your signs. I don’t need spectacular ones—just simple ones that point me in the direction of heaven.

Action of the Day: I will find a quiet place in my yard, home, car etc. and I will look for signs by using my sense of hearing (listening to God) and sight (look for the signs). What is God telling you?

The Gospel according to Mark (7:31-37)

Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Opening Prayer: Lord, thank you for this opportunity to reflect on these words today. I want to value this unique moment of grace you give me. Allow me to stay focused and prayerful so that I may grow in love for you more today than yesterday.

Encountering Christ:

Grace…. God freely gives it to us. Jesus demonstrates today, in this healing of the deaf man, his great love for each of us. We; you and I; are special in eyes of Jesus and the Father. Think about that for just a moment. Let it sink in. You are just as important to Jesus and the Father as the person you despise the most! We are equally loved by them! Crazy right? – BUT true. But let’s focus on God’s love for you and me.

Every night when we go to bed, we pray for a restful night and also ask for a peaceful death. How often do we say this night prayer not really thinking about the significance of the words and their meaning? We fully expect to wake up in the morning and start all over again, but do we stop and think about the gift of another day of life? The grace of a new day?

In today’s gospel Jesus cries out “Ephphatha”, which is calling for this deaf man to be opened to hear the good news and he also cures his speech impediment so that he could tell others about seeing and experiencing first hand the mercy and love of the Messiah.

Jesus worked this miracle away from most of the people gathered. It is generally thought this miracle occurred in an intimate moment with the deaf man and Jesus. This cure goes much deeper than the obvious cure of the deaf man. If we look inward and apply this healing to ourselves we can quickly see that Jesus does not allow us to be left alone – even when we think or feel we are isolated. Instead He shows us how much we are loved or “graced” by his compassion and caring. It is Jesus that initiates the contact with us, however we must be open to receiving the grace. So how do we do that?

We cannot start our day without being grateful for the grace and gift of life. We are called to immediate prayer when we awake – to thank God for such a privilege and gift. We then are called to LISTEN to what the Father and Son want to say to us. So do we really listen? It is hard because we fill our day with many obligations and distractions that cause us to quickly move on from or away from prayer.

I often think how smart God was in creating mornings – you might not agree if you are not a morning person but mornings are a quiet and peaceful time that follow a nights rest – and prepares us to hear the “message” AND assignment for the day.

The question this gospel squarely puts in front of us today is – do we open our hearts and minds to the will of God each day OR do we turn a deaf ear to His will? Do we work at deepening our relationship with God OR do we put our own agenda first. Simply put – do we have time for God FIRST?

Remember that we ARE God’s child and he supplies all the grace we could possibly need to get through another day. And by the way, when we are having one of those terrible – nothing goes right – kind of day….. If we would just stop for a moment and give God a chance to re-focus us – we will be far better off…. and more Christ centered to continue on.

In my opinion there is a profound poverty in many of our relationships with others – and sometimes even with God! We are reminded in this gospel today that Jesus continually offers himself to heal us and restore us and bring grace to our hearts and souls to brighten our lives. Open that door to your soul each day, just like today, and fill yourself with the grace to sustain you – just for today! Tomorrow you can start all over again fresh and renewed.

Closing Prayer: Lord, open my heart with your healing touch. I want to know and love you more deeply. In many areas of my life, I am deaf and mute. I cannot witness to your loving presence or participate fully in Christian community when I am in need of such restoration. Send your spirit and open my heart. Fill it with your GRACE!

Action for the Day: Begin your day after reading this reflection by sitting and listening to a quiet, meditational song. Close your eyes and as you listen to the music – see Jesus and the Father holding you with big smiles on their faces as they fill your soul with the needed grace for today. This will only take 6-7 minutes out of your day! Try it – Be bold! I think you are going to like the feeling!

Listen and feel God’s Love and Grace!

“Healing the Heart”