Mark 10 (vv. 2-16) has Jesus again being confronted by Pharisees — this time on the matter of divorce.  Jesus asks them what Moses had to say about the matter.  They tell Him that Moses allowed it.  Jesus tells them that he did this only because of hard-heartedness on the part of the people, but it was not meant to be that way from the beginning.  When man and woman come together in marriage God joins them together and man has no right to separate them.  In private, upon further questioning from the disciples, Jesus calls it adultery when married couples divorce and remarry.  The next scene has the disciples shooing away children who were brought to Jesus to be blessed by Him.  Jesus becomes indignant at the disciples’ actions telling them what appears in the headline and indicating that it is a childlike disposition that will get them to heaven.  And then He blesses all the children.  It is again worthwhile to be reminded of the importance of raising children properly and not giving scandal to them.  We are wise to remember Jesus’ strong words to those who don’t adhere to this: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Mt 18:6).  We first think of those who abuse children and the permanent scars they give to these little ones.  But in less egregious ways we can turn youngsters against God and the Church, bad example being primary among these.  How we as adult Christians conduct ourselves has a profound impact on those little ones who look up to us.  Whether we like it or not, we are all role models.  As has been written here many times before, we must reform our own lives first.  Prayer, sacraments, and forming a truly Catholic conscience are required to root sin and vice out of our lives.  Then when our faith permeates us we will not have concern of giving scandal since all we do is in conformity with God’s will.  We must be vigilant, though, regularly examining our conscience to become better at serving the Lord by serving others.  May we never be the cause of giving scandal to anyone, particularly the young who are the ones most influenced by our behavior.

The next scene in Luke (10:17-24) jumps immediately to the return of the seventy-two.  They rejoice in the fact they can exorcise demons, but Jesus tells them that what is important is that their names are written in heaven.  Jesus then speaks to the Father, rejoicing that these things have been hidden from the learned and revealed to the childlike.  He closes this prayer with the words at top.  Jesus closes The end of the passage has Jesus privately telling the disciples how blessed they are to be with Him, a desire that so many before them had had.  The headline provides important notice to us that it is only through the Son, Jesus, the Word that we have some idea of the inner workings of the Godhead.  We can know of the existence of God through reason, but His Trinitarian nature and His plan for salvation history comes through the divine revealer, the Word who was from the beginning, begotten not made.  In working to bring others to the Faith, it is important to realize who is active in the process: Jesus.  Cooperating with His will, being His instruments, we bring Jesus to others; it is He alone who converts hearts and makes Himself and His Father fully and truly known.  In all humility we must always be sure to acknowledge this and to thank God for His working in us.

Jesus continues His preparation of the disciples He is sending out ahead of Him (Lk 10:13-16).  The passage begins with Jesus condemning three towns to which the message has already come and which have rejected it.  They face destruction.  Jesus closes with the words above and what follows automatically from that: Rejection of Jesus means rejection of the Father as well.  We should want everyone to listen to the Lord.  And we are called to be instruments of Jesus in getting His message out.  So when we do this faithfully and are ignored, despised, attacked, or ostracized for our efforts, our hurt or sadness should not be focused on ourselves (remember Mt 5:10-12) but rather on the occasion of a person loved infinitely by his creator snubbing that awesome God.  So we should always conform to the will of God in our lives so that we are always an example of Christian living and never a scandal to it.  If our living of the gospel causes us to be rejected along with — infinitely more importantly — Christ our reaction must be to continue to love that person and pray for his conversion.  Says the Lord God: “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked…? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?”  Through prayer and action we are to cooperate with God’s desire.

In today’s gospel (Lk 10:1-12) Jesus appoints seventy-two disciples to go ahead of Him to the various towns He intended to visit.  Jesus begins His send-off with the words above, asking that they pray for more help.  Then He gives them their instructions: take nothing with you, greet no one along the way, stay at a peaceable man’s house the entire time taking what is offered, cure the sick, and proclaim the Kingdom.  Any town that doesn’t accept them they are to reject and leave while that town awaits a worse punishment than Sodom when the Kingdom comes.  The headline is often quoted when prayers for religious vocations are said or encouraged.  And that’s a very good thing.  With the number of priests and religious declining we should ask God to inspire men and women to prayerfully discern if they are being called to the consecrated life.  But we are not to leave it there.  Christ calls us all to be “laborers in the vineyard” of the world.  A life devoted to prayer, good works, and evangelization is meant for all of us.  We don’t compartmentalize our beliefs but they should completely penetrate us and then exude from us.  When not explicitly praying, we must strive to make every moment an implicit prayer through doing all things well and with love.  Honest and honorable behavior, treating every person with dignity and putting others first, should be a part of life at home, in the workplace, in public, and in private.  Our evangelization may primarily consist of this.  Then when people ask from where this behavior comes , we can “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for [our] hope” (1 Pt 3:15).  Through this we may reap many souls for the harvest, not least of all our own.

Continuing on in Luke (9:57-62), Jesus has encounters with several different disciples: One says he will follow Him but first he needs to take care of his father until the latter’s death; the other says he must go back to wish his family goodbye before returning to follow Jesus.  The closing line (above) answers the latter’s excuse.  But not only does it address the hesitation of all His disciples there, it also speaks to all those who claim to follow Jesus but find illegitimate reasons to not throw themselves wholeheartedly into the effort.  How committed we are to the Lord is worth regular, even daily, reflection.  What things do we do, while not necessarily bad, consume time better used for building up the kingdom (prayer, Bible reading, study, assisting those in need, sharing the Good News, defending the Faith, etc.)?  What faults or habitual sins hurt our relationship with God and pull us away from Him?  And considering Jesus’ “left behind” comment, what grudge, regret, or confessed sin do we still hold onto that prevents us from completely embracing God’s mission for us?  Let us take full advantage of those ordinary means of divine grace, the sacraments, to repair our relationship with the Lord so that by throwing ourselves with total faith and without hesitation into the ocean of Divine Mercy (St. Faustina, pray for us!) we may more readily and faithfully follow the Lord’s will in our lives.

For the Memorial of the Guardian Angels we read of Jesus referring to just such creatures (Mt 18:1-5, 10).  This is prompted by the disciples asking Jesus who is the greatest in heaven.  In reply, Jesus calls over a child and tells them they should become like children in humility to be great in the Kingdom.  They are to receive and not despise these little ones because of the fact relayed in the headline.  Hebrews 1:14 says: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent to serve, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”  The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to say: “This is the function of the guardian angels; they are to lead us, if we wish it, to the Kingdom of Heaven.”  CCC 336 confirms Catholic belief in these angels.  Yet they are too little considered or employed these days.  Maybe we heard about them as children and dismissed them as a childish belief of made-up tale.  As we have just seen, this is far from the truth.  As our constant companions and ones who are perpetually in God’s presence, we should enlist their help often.  Asking for the intercession and protection of these “messengers” of God should be a daily part of our morning offering (“Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”)  Far from being childish these mighty and terrible beings are given to us for our help and protection and can be asked to intercede for loved ones to whom we wish to be granted their special care.  Guardian Angels, pray for your protégés.

The gospel (Lk 9:46-50) finds the disciples arguing amongst themselves about who is the greatest.  Jesus, in response, takes a child and tells them that he who receives the child in Jesus’ name receives Him and in turn the Father.  He follows with the line above. John then tells Jesus how he and his comrades tried to stop an exorcist because he was unknown to them.  Jesus tells John to let the man be, because he is for their cause and thus cannot be against it.  Jesus never tires of talking about the importance of humility.  And He demonstrates it in every breath He takes.  God becomes His creature, eventually being tortured and killed by them for them.  The Master became the servant of all.  To this day, Jesus’ humility is on display at every Mass and in every tabernacle in the world.  There are times when we might be tempted to say: “If I had the power, I would do” x, y and z to fix things.  Well, Jesus had the power.  He was even tempted by the devil himself to use it.  Yet, He “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-8).  We are not equal to God, but we are called to emulate Him.  Jesus is the perfect exemplar.  We are to make His disposition our own.  As creatures we have no reason to exalt ourselves. Yet we find true humility difficult.  Let us pray for the gift of a meek and humble heart, emulating our Lord and Savior (Mt 11:29).

The apostle John tells Jesus of a man he and others observed exorcising in Jesus’ name (Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48).  He says they tried to stop him.  Jesus tells John that they should not hinder those working in His name because whoever is with them can and will not be against them.  Then Jesus switches gears and speaks of those who, on the other hand, give scandal.  He starts with the words above.  He goes on to say that it is better to lose body parts that cause one to sin rather than go whole to hell.  Giving scandal is something of which we should constantly be aware.  It starts with leading an upright life and continuously praying and working toward eliminating sin from our lives.  An important key to not falling into scandalous behavior is that there should not be a dichotomy between how we live our lives when others are present and how we behave when we think we are alone (remember: God is everywhere).  We shouldn’t have to “worry” about this because our actions should constantly reflect our Christian values.  If we follow the Lord’s teaching in what we think, the way we speak, the things we view, and the attitudes we espouse, this will penetrate our lives so that in all situations we behave according to our beliefs.  On the other hand, if we fall prey to sinful thoughts and actions when we are not with other persons, this will seep through into our interactions as well.  We do well to think of Nathanael from yesterday who had no duplicity in him.  A single-minded focus on the Lord will avoid the possibility of giving scandal and thus prevent the danger of being cast into Gehenna when we give an account of our lives.

Yesterday’s gospel passage (Jn 1:47-51) for the Feast of the Archangels was chosen because it has Jesus speaking of angels.  It is the call of the apostle Nathanael.  Jesus exclaims the headline to Nathanael as he approaches.  Nathanael asks how Jesus knows him and Jesus tells him that He saw him under a fig tree earlier.  This causes Nathanael to cry out a confession of faith in Jesus as Son of God and King of Israel.  Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see greater things, like the angels ascending and descending on Jesus.  There are various speculations as to why Nathanael answered the way he did to Jesus’ telling him of seeing him under the tree.  One that seems particularly appropriate is that he may have been pondering or dreaming about the coming of the Messiah.  Merriam-Webster defines duplicity as “contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action.”  Nathanael, being single-minded in belief and “a true child of Israel,” was focused on the fulfillment of the promise of a coming redeemer.  Undoubtedly he thought of this often, but maybe spoke of it little.  When Jesus recognizes and exposes this devotion to Nathanael, Nathanael’s eyes are opened to the realization of Jesus as that fulfillment.  May Jesus also be able to call us non-duplicitous due to the fact that we think of Him often, we are always aware of Jesus working in our lives and through others, and we follow Him with single-minded devotion.

After prayer, Jesus asks the disciples who people say that He is (Lk 9:18-22).  The answers come: John the Baptist, Elijah, an ancient prophet.  When Jesus asks them directly who they think He is, Peter pipes up that He is the Christ of God.  Jesus tells them not to tell anyone, then goes on to talk about His forthcoming rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection.  It is common to focus on Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?”  And this is worth considering, not only from a doctrinal perspective but also a personal perspective (i.e., Who is Jesus to you at this time, place, and situation in your life?).  But, per the headline, consider those in Jesus’ day and in our day who reject Jesus and would prefer Him eliminated.  Under cover of academia, intellectual ability, or a certain standing in society or in their faith community, it is not uncommon — even for those who claim to be Christians — to reject Jesus the Truth (Jn 14:6; cf. Jn 17:17) entirely or for a version that is more suitable to their own worldviews.  When Jesus is inconvenient, or disturbing, or too challenging, or harsh, or uncompromising, or difficult, it is not He who has to change, it is we who have to change.  “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do” (Lk 5:31).  Well, we are all sick with sin to a greater or lesser degree.  There is no justification to reject the true Jesus (who we know through His Body the Church) outright or for a twisted replica.  Even worse is when this flawed representation is presented to others as authentic.  Jesus was rejected in His life and has been rejected often throughout the centuries.  Let us help to stop, through prayer and action, the rejection and the suffering His Body the Church continues to endure to this day.