We’re back on track and continuing on through Mark (4:21-25 — skipped were the Parable of the Sower and the purpose of the parables — check these out on your own at the beginning of chapter four).  Here Jesus is speaking to His disciples about the importance of their actions.  They (and we) are told that nothing we do (or fail to do) is hidden from God.  So in the actions we take we should be light to others and generous in our words and deeds for “[t]he measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.” (v. 24b)  So the good that we do for others will be rewarded manifold by the Lord, in this life, hopefully, if nothing else, with the satisfaction of loving our neighbor as we are required to do, and in the next life with eternal happiness.  Being mindful of this makes it easier to do the right thing even when it is difficult.

Today we take a diversion from our course of readings because it is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.  The Church, mindful of this, gives us the last words of Jesus recorded by Mark (16:15-18) (see the title of this post for the beginning of Jesus’ short exhortation before His Ascension).  Who better proclaimed the Gospel than Paul?  Yet, aren’t we called to do the same?  Jesus was speaking to the remaining eleven apostles here, but all of us, by our baptism, are empowered to spread the Word:

“By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light.’ (1 Pet 2:9) Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers.” — CCC 1268

Today’s short reading (Mk 3:31-35) has Jesus’ mother and other relatives trying to get through a crowd to speak with Him.  Jesus uses this as an opportunity to tell all His listeners what is required to be close to Him.  It is sometimes said that in this passage Jesus minimizes, or worse, denigrates His mother by deflecting their desire to see Him by telling everyone that they too can be His mother or sibling.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  What is required?  Doing the will of God.  Who did this most perfectly?  The sinless ever-Virgin Mary.  She is not cast aside by Jesus; she is the template.  Full of grace, she said “Yes” to God at Jesus’ conception, in birthing Jesus, in raising Jesus, in His passion and death, at Pentecost, and at her Assumption.  This is the model we are to follow.  A complete openness and unhesitating “Fiat!” to all that the Lord asks of us and has in store for us.  Hail Mary, Full of Grace, pray for us sinners.

As we continue along in Mark (3:22-30), Jesus continues to be abused by the religious leaders — this time the Jerusalem scribes.  His is accused of being possessed by a demon, but not just any evil spirit, Satan Himself.  Jesus goes on to say that it makes no sense that the devil would work against himself.  Worse yet, Jesus accuses His persecutors of the unforgivable sin: Calling the Holy Spirit Lucifer.  We are grateful to know that there is no sin that cannot be forgiven if we are truly contrite and trust in the mercy of Jesus and the efficacy of the Holy Spirit.  Hopefully these scribes repented of their grave sin.  The grace to do so is available to all persons — but we must be open to humbly accepting it.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation can also be called Confession or Penance.  These are important terms because each emphasizes an aspect of renewing a right relationship with God.  Because of contrition (“sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again” — CCC 1451) we seek reconciliation with God by confession of our sins and doing penance for them.  Take advantage of it often!

This Sunday’s gospel goes back to the beginning of Mark (1:14-20) and presents us with the first words of Jesus that Mark records.  Exactly one week ago we read John’s account of the calling of the first apostles (see Jan 15 post).  Today, two sets of brothers (Simon and Andrew, James and John) quit their day jobs (fishing)  to follow Jesus immediately simply at His beckoning.  A bold and, some surely thought, a silly and reckless move.  Giving up everything for this itinerant preacher who had only recently started His public ministry?  But we know from last week’s gospel that Andrew and John were disciples of John the Baptist.  They knew what John had to say about Jesus.  They were convinced that Jesus was the one for whom they had been waiting and their witness convicted their brothers as well.  Our challenge is to have this same attitude, regardless of our walk of life.  Quitting a job and leaving loved ones is likely not prudent for most persons.  But dropping those things (i.e., sins) that are a barrier to our relationship with Jesus and proclaiming Christ is our constant calling.  Each is gifted in different ways to do this, but we must be willing to cease iniquity and expose and use our talents (cf. Mt 25:14-30; Lk 19:12-28) for the furthering of His Kingdom.

Immediately after appointing the apostles, Jesus comes home with them (Mk 3:20-21).  Jesus’ relatives, noting His immense popularity, wanted to take Him away, saying: “He is out of his mind.”  But why did Jesus draw such big crowds?  Certainly the miracles, but more so because He preached the truth with authority, as we read earlier in Mark (1:22).  We must not be afraid to speak with the authority of the Church Jesus established.  It is not unusual to hear a conversion or reversion story of someone who had been leading a worldly lifestyle who was suddenly shunned or considered crazy because of a new fervor for Christ.  Are we concerned that speaking about the gospel, getting involved with our church, and otherwise changing our behavior for the better will put us in a bad light with some, even those very close to us?  Jesus was not afraid to lose everyone close to Him (cf. Jn 6:67) for the sake of the truth.  Following His example, we too must never shy away from the truth, but always proclaiming it with love.

Jesus appoints the Twelve Apostles in today’s gospel (Mark 3:13-19).  He does this that “he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”  Having just witnessed the pounding Jesus is taking from the Pharisees (the religious leaders), but also His immense popularity with the crowds (the regular folk), and His power to heal and exorcise, one wonders what these twelve men were thinking.  What were they getting themselves into?  They might have not thought much of the Pharisees, but they surely recognized their power and influence.  On the other hand, Jesus words and deeds led Him to be a sort of “rock star” of the day.  But surely the apostles had seen these kind rise and fall.  Regardless of any fears or concerns, they hear the call and follow.  Tradition says that all suffered greatly and eleven of the final twelve died martyr’s deaths.  Are we willing to put our names on the list?  To take on the joys and sufferings of any active apostle knowing that our reward might only come in heaven?  Will we follow Jesus and proclaim Him whatever the cost simply because He calls us to do so?

Today, Mark (3:7-12) has Jesus and His disciples withdrawing, but large numbers of people from all over the region follow Him.  Jesus orders a boat so He would not be crushed.  The sick came to be cured, the demons acknowledge Jesus as Son of God.  Here people came from great distances in difficult circumstance to see Jesus.  Today, so few “believers” can even be bothered to attend church once a week.  Tired?  Golf?  A football game on the tube?  “I can worship God just fine at home or outdoors”?  “Mass is boring”?  Two thousand years ago, Jesus was pressed on all sides by people who wished to see Him, hear Him, be healed by Him.  Jesus is still really present, so we can do the same today anytime we want.  Why don’t we?

We continue with Mark (3:1-6).  Here Jesus enters a synagogue on the sabbath.  Being watched closely by the Pharisees, He miraculously cures a man there with a withered hand.  The Pharisees (with the Herodians) immediately plan Jesus’ death.  As we’ve seen, Mark does not take long to introduce the Pharisees as antagonists of Jesus.  Not far into their interaction, the Pharisees begin plotting to kill Jesus.  Is it any wonder Jesus was angry?  The Pharisees had been on Jesus case already for several episodes in this gospel.  Now Jesus wants to help a crippled man, and all the Pharisees care about is finding something against which to hold Jesus.   As true man, Jesus shared all of our human emotions.  Against the way Jesus is often portrayed (sweet, gentle), we know that Jesus can get very fired up (think of the moneychangers in the temple in Matthew 21 or the mourners at Lazarus’s tomb in John 11:33).  We should not be afraid to share in this righteous indignation when we encounter or become aware of evil and injustice.  Being tepid on the hot button moral issues of the day recalls what Jesus had to say about the Laodiceans in Revelation (3:16): “because you are lukewarm…I will spit [i.e., vomit] you out of my mouth.”  Jesus was not afraid to decry and call out hypocrisy and immorality.  Are we?

Today we continue in Mark (2:23-28) where we left off yesterday.  Again Jesus and His disciples suffer the complaints of the Pharisees — this time for picking heads of grain and eating them on the Sabbath.  Jesus berates them for not recalling that David, considered by all Jews to be their greatest king, did something that would be far more egregious in their eyes: eating the bread of the presence reserved solely, by law, for the priests.  While Jesus certainly did not endear Himself to the Pharisees here, He taught them (and teaches us) an important lesson about reading scripture.  An important element of understanding divine revelation is an appreciation of the “content and unity of the whole of Scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out.” (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, 12)  The Pharisees were very comfortable in meticulously following the 613 laws they found in scripture.  But they did not appreciate the larger context into which these fell.  So to for us, we must be very careful of prooftexting or isolating certain scripture passages with which we are comfortable while downplaying or ignoring those that do not fit our understanding or liking.  Fortunately, Jesus established three legs of divine revelation on which we are to stand: Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the teaching office of the Church (the Magisterium).  Parse or ignore these at your own peril.