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.

 

Homily: Monday 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: 1 Kgs 8:1-7,9-13; Ps 132; Mk 6:53-56

Solomon had fulfilled the hope of his father, David, and built a magnificent Temple that would stand for 400 years until the Babylonians destroyed it in 587 B.C. and carried God's people into exile. But then God delivered Israel from exile, and returning to Jerusalem they built a new Temple, which also stood for centuries until it was replaced by Herod's structure. It too was destroyed, but this time by the Romans.

Solomon Dedicating the Temple

But what a day that must have been in Jerusalem when that first Temple was consecrated, the culmination of long journey. The Lord God had freed His people from Egyptian slavery, and formed them into a holy nation as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. He led them into the land He had promised from the time of Abraham, but what a struggle it had been.

Is it any wonder that "All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon" [1 Kgs 8:2] to celebrate and offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the Lord God. The Ark of the Covenant was carried into the Temple and placed in the Holy of Holies where God made His Presence known. In the words of our psalm:

"Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might" [Ps 132:8]

 And the Presence of God filled the Temple, veiled by a dark cloud.

Yes, it was an awesome day, but a day that would have shocked us and our modern sensibilities. For few today could have stomached the noise, the sights, and the smells of the ritual slaughter and holocaust, the burning of thousands of sheep and oxen on the altar of sacrifice.

For us religion has become almost entirely spiritual; but the ancient Jew lived much closer to the messy realities of birth, life, and death, much closer to the reality of God's Creation. And on that altar, the priests sacrificed the best the people had, the fruit of their labor, the work of human hands. These sacrifices were offered for thanksgiving, for atonement of national and personal sin and sacrilege, for restitution, for the ransom of a newborn, for healing, for peace.

Like the Temple, the lives of the people were filled with God's Presence; and it is God's Presence that calls to mind their sins, their brokenness, and their need for healing. But God's presence in Solomon's Temple was a mere foreshadowing of His Presence in Jesus Christ, true God and true man. In the Person of Jesus, God's Presence is always a healing Presence, just as it was at Gennesaret as described by Mark in our Gospel passage.

Jesus Healing in Gennesaret

Like the people in Jerusalem a thousand years before, the people of Gennesaret could hardly contain themselves. How did Mark put it? They "scurried about the surrounding country" [Mk 6:55] 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.

They laid the sick in the marketplace

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. Indeed, Mark tells us that a mere touch of his clothing 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 brought them to Jesus.

St. Agatha, Virgin Martyr

It is the same deep faith we encounter in the third-century virgin martyr, St. Agatha, whose memorial we celebrate today. In fact, tradition tells us that St. Peter appeared to Agatha while she was imprisoned, and healed the wounds resulting from the torture she had already suffered. How fitting, for Peter knew all about healing since he had witnessed so many during Jesus' ministry.

But how about us? How about you and me? Do we have that depth of faith?

Are our hearts filled with joy because of the Real Presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ? He gave us the gift of the Eucharist, the gift of His Presence when He promised "I am with you always, until the end of the age" [Mt 28:20]. Christ's Eucharistic Presence is a unique Presence, a Presence of Communion in which He becomes one with us, as we become one with each other.

And we must always remember that the Eucharist 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" looking for others in need of healing, telling them about Jesus' Eucharistic Presence, His healing Presence?

I don't know about you, but I think it's time I did some scurrying.