Homily: Monday 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Gn 1:1-19 • Ps 104 • Mk 6:53-56

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I was all grumbly for a few weeks because they ran out of vaccine and canceled my vaccine date. Diane looked at me, shook her head and said, “And you’re the one always telling others not to worry, so let’s just pray that God’s will be done.” That's what we did and within a week they told us to pick a date, and we got our shots last Wednesday.

God is present, folks, always present, always here with us. We certainly see this in today's readings -- readings that cover it all.

First, we’re taken back to the very beginning of time and space: “In the beginning, God…”

Yes, those four words that begin the Book of Genesis are really enough, and tell us that in the beginning it was only God. He needed nothing. He certainly didn’t need creation. His creative act resulted from His free will, a will that desired to make creatures who would share in His divine life. Quite simply, the world was made in an act of love for the glory of God. As we read in the Book of Revelation:

“Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created” [Rev 4:11].

Creation, then, is a remarkable act of love that sets the stage for all that follows. God speaks His Word and Creation happens. Have you ever considered how Eucharistic that is?

That’s right, when Jesus, the Incarnate Word,  speaks, “This is my Body…This is my Blood,” wonderful things happen…and He is here, in a very Real Presence, another manifestation of God’s ongoing creative love.

And it’s in the Gospel where we encounter that Incarnational love in a very personal way. There we see the Word bringing His healing power to us, awakening us to the reality of God’s Presence, for it’s always a healing Presence.

Mark takes us along the Sea of Galilee to Gennesaret where we encounter a people who could hardly contain themselves. How did Mark put it? Having recognized Jesus, they “scurried about the surrounding country” to bring the sick to Jesus, wherever He was.

Can you picture that? Dozens of people, perhaps hundreds, carrying the sick and disabled, leading the blind and the deaf, the roads and footpaths filled with those in need of healing. Wherever he went – every town, every little village – He found the sick laid out in the town square, just waiting for His healing Presence – a word, a touch.

According to Mark the ill sought only to touch his clothing -- this was enough to bring healing. Their faith, their trust in Jesus’ healing Presence was all it took. That and the infectious faith of those who carried them to Jesus.

It is the same deep faith we encounter in the 20^th century saint, St. Josephine Bakhita, whose memorial we celebrate today. A remarkable woman – an African from the Sudan, she was born in 1869, kidnapped at 12 by Arab slave traders. She spent years in slavery, bought and sold frequently, and often treated horribly by those who enslaved her.

A long torturous path led her to Italy and the convent of the Canossian Daughters of Charity in the town of Schio, near Venice. From the sisters she learned of Jesus Christ, and was baptized, received First Communion and Confirmation, all on the same day by Cardinal Sarto of Venice, who would go on to become Pope St. Pius X.

Lovingly known by the people of Schio as their Black Mother, she often prayed for her kidnappers, and thanked them publicly. Had she not been kidnapped, she might never have come to know Jesus Christ and entered His Church. In World War II, the townspeople regarded her as their protector, and although bombs fell on their village, not one citizen died.

During her painful, final illness she remained ever cheerful, happy to suffer for the good of others: “As the Master desires,” she would say. She knew exactly what Paul means when he said, “All things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” [Rom 8:28] She died on this day in 1947, so she’s a kind of contemporary to many of us who were born while she was still alive.

I think of St. Josephine and the people of Gennesaret and my own petty troubles just melt away into insignificance. 

Like St. Josephine, are we filled with joy because of the Real Presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ? The Eucharist, too, is a healing Presence, just like Jesus’ Presence in the towns of Galilee. Do you come here today with the assurance that God will heal you in ways you can never imagine?

Do you “scurry about” like the people of Gennesaret looking for others in need of healing, telling them about Jesus’ Eucharistic Presence, His healing Presence?

Maybe it’s time we all did a little scurrying, and a lot less worrying.