1st Sunday of Lent (B)

1st Sunday of Lent, Year B

First reading: Genesis 9:8-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25
Second reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Gospel reading: Mark 1:12-15

"He stayed in the wasteland forty days, put to test there by
Satan."

Bible scholars tell us that certain numbers in the text of the
Scriptures have special meaning. Like the number forty. In the
gospel for the 1st Sunday of Lent, we will hear proclaimed to us
that Jesus stayed in the wasteland "for forty days, put to the
test there by Satan." When we look to the other passages of the
Bible, especially in the Old Testament, when God destroyed the
world by flood, He let it rain for "forty days and forty
nights". And also, when Israel as a people, escaped from their
slavery in Egypt, they had to journey in the desert for about
"forty" years. Forty in the Bible is a number that may be
associated with testing, trial, purification, and purgation.
That is why it is also in the Lenten tradition of our Catholic
faith that forty days are designated as a holy season for us
to engage in spiritual exercises that purify and purge us from
our sins.

The gospel of Mark is very brief and concise. It does not give
a graphic description of how Jesus was tempted. It just says
that Jesus "stayed in the wasteland for forty days, put to the
test there by Satan". It is the gospel of Luke which describes
to us in more detail how Jesus was tempted. We will learn more
in Luke's account how Jesus three times was victorious over the
temptations of Satan. But in Mark, what was simply stated was
that Jesus was with "the wild beasts, and angels waited on him."
It is implied in Mark that Jesus passed the test, for God's
angels looked after Him."

Lent is a time for us to follow the example of Jesus - to seek
solitude and and spend more time in prayer. Prayer and solitude
are in themselves occasions for the Evil One to tempt us. He
will tempt us to abandon the time for silence and solitude and
to seek the company of others - thereby destroying the
opportunity for us to strengthen our personal relationship with
God. And also, the discomfort of emptiness, of waiting, of
long prayers or liturgical services, may be the occasion for the
Evil One to distract our focus - making us instead think of
other things to fill the emptiness we feel deep inside us. But
we can triumph over these temptations if we place our focus on
Christ and the example that He gives. He will help us to
persevere and not to give up on our prayer. If we follow Jesus
in His commitment to obey the Father's will by committing
ourselves also to serve God, to follow His will, and to seek His
Wisdom in all things, we will be able to prioritize God above
all other things in our life. So, if ever strong temptations
assail us from our environment or from within us, let us not
trust in our own strength, but let us humble ourselves,
acknowledge our weakness, and trust in the strength of God to
conquer evil. Let us not be tempted to seek ourselves but to
be faithful to our commitments made in God - as we serve and
love Him through our family, in the tasks and responsibilities
of our work, and through the parish community in which we may
have the opportunity to be part of.

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

7th Sunday of the Year, Year B

First reading: Is 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25 -
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 41 -
Second reading: 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 -
Gospel reading: Mark 2:1-12

"That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins."

In the previous Sundays, when we had learned of Jesus' healing
miracles, his reputation grew rapidly. But, with all the good
news that was spread about Him, He did not yet get into conflict
with the scribes of the community. It was because his healing of
the sick and the possessed were purely healings of the body's
infirmities. This Sunday, there is something new He adds to His
healing ministry: the healing also of the paralytic man's sins.
He said to the paralytic man: "My son, your sins are forgiven."
Jesus had brought His healing ministry also to the level of the
human soul and spirit - making His healing a total process of
recovery, both body and soul. However, by performing this miracle
on the paralytic, the scribes judged it as an act of blasphemy,
because in Jewish religious belief, it is God alone who can
forgive sins. But Jesus proved to these scribes that He was sent
by the Father with the authority to forgive sins. So when Jesus
healed the paralytic from his infirmity and forgave the man's
sins, the man amazingly stood up and walked - making everyone
awestruck and exclaiming their praises to God.

The healing ministry of Jesus is a total healing process - it is
a healing of physical infirmity and the purification of the soul.
Jesus knew very well that some human ailments are also linked
with the sickness of the soul. And so, He performed his healing
miracles also with a word telling the one who is sick, that his
sins are also forgiven. The man who experiences the healing
miracle of Jesus was totally renewed - his recovery is a full
recovery. This is something not anymore familiar to our times,
because we go to the doctor for our ailments, and we go to the
priest-confessor for our sins. But in the person of Jesus, we
have both doctor and priest-confessor combined - making the
healing event truly an amazing event, one that has great positive
impact on all those who believe in Jesus.

The key to receive the healing graces of Jesus is faith. It was
great faith that led the paralytic man to have his four friends
open up the roof on the spot where Jesus was, and bring him
directly in front of Jesus. Just like this paralytic man, it will
be our faith in Christ that will heal us of all physical ills and
purge our soul of its sins. As we now approach the Lenten season
(with Ash Wednesday on February 25), maybe it would be opportune
to examine ourselves and see if the level of our faith in Christ
has grown or regressed. If it has regressed or weakened, then
let us take the opportunity to direct ourselves to pray for an
increase of faith by taking more time to strengthen our personal
relationship with Jesus. If however, our faith has grown, then
perhaps we can also help others in their faith journey by sharing
with them how our faith in Jesus has deepened and increased.

6th Sunday Year B

6th Sunday of the Year, Year B
First reading: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46Responsorial Psalm: Ps 32Second reading: 1 Corinthians 10:31 - 11,1Gospel reading: Mark 1:40-45

"I do will it. Be cured."

The gospel this Sunday presents to us another healing miracle ofJesus. Last Sunday, we learned about how Jesus healed Simon'smother-in-law from a fever, and also how he healed many who wereafflicted and possessed by evil spirits.  This time, it is a leperwho approaches Jesus.  The gospel describes the leper kneelingdown before Jesus and requesting him: "If You will to do so, Youcan cure me."  Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand,touched the leper and cured him from his leprosy.  Then Jesuswarned the cured leper not to make his healing story public, butonly to present to the priest what is prescribed by their Jewishreligious law.  Probably because the cured leper was so overjoyedby his experience of health being restored to him, he proclaimedhis healing story public.  As a result of this, people keptcoming to Jesus from all sides of the country.

According to Fr. Herman Hendrickx, in his book, "The MiracleStories", in the combined gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke,there are all in all about 76 passages which deal with Jesus'miracles.  Though the Old Testament prophets also performedmiracles, it is only Jesus whom the Bible ascribes with so manymiracles performed by a single person.  This researched detailemphasizes to us that these miracles of Jesus are signs of theKingdom He was proclaiming, and that the powers of God's loveand salvific power are at work.

In our present time, those who incur a serious sickness, wouldhave the natural decision to consult a doctor.  The doctor wouldprescribe the treatment according to what has been establishedby the medical sciences.  For some ailments and sickness, thereseems no cure, only maintenance medicines to prevent furtherdeterioration of health or to stabilize the vital signs of theperson's health (like pills to stabilize blood sugar for diabetes, medications to lessen cholesterol, pills for heart patients,medicines to lower high blood pressure, chemotherapy for cancerpatients, medications for those who suffer from arthritis, and so on).  Some however, believe that through those who have beengiven by the Holy Spirit the power to heal, they can be cured.In the Catholic Church, there are some who are officiallycommissioned for a healing ministry.  And some of these ministers(priests, nuns or lay persons), have worldwide missions where they are able to cure people through the power of Christ'shealing graces.  The healing ministry of Jesus still continuesto function through the healing mission of these ministers in the Church. Foremost among these ministers are those who give thesacraments of healing (penance and reconciliation and thesacrament for the sick), and then also through the healing ministries of charismatic religous leaders who perform miracles of healing.
Miracles are true.  They do happen.  It is our faith in Christ and His power to heal that we are saved from our ailments (both in the sickness of our soul, and in the ailments of our physical being).

If we, or a member of our family, has a serious ailment, letus continue to place our hope in Jesus. Let us take the humbleapproach of the leper, and kneel before Christ in prayer, andentreat Him for a cure to our ailment or the ailment of a lovedone. And as the gospel teaches us, in our humble approach, andwith prayer and faith in Jesus, Jesus will be moved with pity.He will cure us in time through the ministers of healing in theChurch.  Christ has healed so many in the past during His earthlyministry.  And He continues to heal in the present through themany ministers of healing following in His steps (includingsome doctors whom the Lord uses for His healing purposes).Through all these ministers, we will eventually discover thehealing presence of Christ in our midst, and be led to a processof wholeness and well-being.

5th Sunday of the Year, Year B

5th Sunday of the Year, Year B

First reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 147
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel reading: Mark 1:29-39

"That is what I have come to do."

This 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we continue learning about
Jesus and His ministry. The passage of the Gospel clearly speaks
of Him as a Healer: first, healing Simon's (Peter) mother-in-law
from fever; and then as evening drew on, He continued to heal the
ill and those possessed by demons. Rising the next morning, He
went off to the desert to pray. Simon sought Him, and when he
did, he reported that many people were intently looking for Him.
But Jesus replied by saying that they were to move to the
neighboring villages, to proclaim the Gospel there also. He said,
"that is what I have come to do."

The Lord reveals Himself to us as a Healer and Proclaimer of the
Good News. If we read the gospel again, we can learn a part of
what His Christian ministry is all about: healing, proclaiming
the Good News, and praying. Although Jesus was an active
missionary and an itinerant preacher, He never forgets to go off
to a lonely place in the desert to pray and relate with the
Father - from whom He gets His mission to heal and proclaim the
Good News and the coming of the Kingdom.

If this is what the Lord did in His life and ministry, then as
His followers and disciples, we are called to do the same: to
impart healing words and actions; to proclaim the Good News by
our good example in the family and our work environment; and
most important of all, never to forget to set some time for
solitude, silence, prayer, meditation, contemplation and
spiritual reading. It is in our life of prayer (in the manner
of Christ), that we can receive the Lord's Spirit as we follow
what He was called to do in our respective states of life,
professions, and parish communities. Let us not forget where
to receive fully Christ's Spirit for the mission: the
sacraments of the Church, especially Eucharist and the
sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.