1. --
Lanie
LeBlanc OP
2. -- Carol & Dennis Keller
3. -- Brian Gleeson CP
4. -- Paul O'Reilly SJ
5. --(Your reflection can be here!)
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1.
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Sun. 4B
Our readings this Sunday are about the authority of the
prophets and the outstanding authority demonstrated by the
Greatest Prophet of them all, Jesus. Jesus spoke with the
kind of authority that is innate and undeniable. In our
ever-questioning world, do you know of anyone who speaks
with a similar voice of authority, like the prophets or even
seemingly like Jesus?
My understanding of a prophet is not of a person who
predicts the future, but rather one who reveals what is
somewhat obscure in the present and then what needs to be
changed to align the future with the will of God. I believe
that there are prophets in families, work places, churches,
communities, and hidden in world events. With so much noise
and mis-information swirling around our present day world,
how can we hear, listen, and heed the authentic prophets of
our time?
In my opinion, I think we really do need to carve out
personal quiet time, time to "just think". I frequently
refer to my activities these days as similar to an in-house
air traffic controller! Quiet, personal time, really? YES!
It has to be. We need time to be, to think, to pray, to
become attuned once again to the authentic voices within us
and around us. If we don't make this time, we will miss the
words and direction of the prophets of old, of Jesus, and of
today's prophets among us. The Lord knows, we surely need to
listen to and heed the prophets of today!
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie LeBlanc OP
Southern Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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2.
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Fourth Sunday of Ordered Time January 31 2021
Deuteronomy
18:15-20; Responsorial Psalm 95; 1st Corinthians 7:32-38;
Gospel Acclamation Matthew 4:16; Matthew 1:21-28
The most
difficult reading for this Sunday is from Paul’s first
letter to the Corinthians. Paul’s reading begins with “I
should like you to be free of anxieties.” He then goes on to
speak about marriage in terms of anxiety for those married
being about the matters of the world. It seems Paul is
telling us that marriage is a lesser state than
non-marriage. It seems that Paul is attempting to free the
body of all passion. But it is no part of Christian duty to
eliminate natural instincts implanted in human psyche by the
Creator. Paul’s comments are not meant to make religion a
stress and a strain so that human life is haunted rather
than helped by religion. Christianity is not to teach
humanity how to eliminate material instincts created by God
in humanity, but how to use those instincts in such a way
that passion is pure and human love is the most ennobling
thing in God’s world. As much as I would like to claim these
thoughts as my one, I must give credit to the pen of William
Barclay’s commentary of the Letters to the Corinthians (page
68).
Paul, in this first letter to the Corinthians, believed that
the Christ was returning at any moment. Thus, his writing
focusing the human heart on communion with God who is coming
now or tomorrow. Many preachers and teachers of Christian
faith have used these teachings of Paul to insist that the
celibate life in the clerical state or consecrated state
higher and more perfect than the married or single state. So
much so has this been, that vocation directors fail to
consider the married or single state of life a vocation. How
sad that we fail to see the commitment, the dedication, the
sacrifices, and the anxieties of family life as pleasing in
God’s eyes. All vocations are truly consecrated for the
Christian. To lord it over those living in a non-celibate
life is an error of faith. Even though this reading from
Paul is how we begin this reflection, we should not overlook
what we discover in selection from the book of Deuteronomy
and from Mark’s gospel. The truth of the matter is that the
Christian’s vocation comes to each person in the sacrament
that initiates to a living of what we become because of the
preaching, healing, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In
baptism we are all called – another word for “called” is
vocation – to be priests, prophets, and kings/queens in the
work of completing the Kingdom of God. What a huge army of
evangelists, healers, prophets, sanctifiers, and shepherds
we truly are!
Moses is the greatest prophet of the Hebrew tribes. It was
through him that God is revealed. What an enormous
difference between the faith of the Israelites and pagan
religions. In pagan religions, the linkage between the
people and their made-up gods was an effort to control and
leverage the deity for the deity’s favor. In our
contemporary times, we still apply the religion of the
pagans. We think we can benefit our financial security, our
health, our relationships by appealing to god, thinking that
our petitions will have god enter onto our team and do our
work for us. In fact, it is God standing at our shoulders,
extending us energy, wisdom, and insight to learn from and
grow from the contingencies that threaten and endanger our
living. What Moses tells us in this reading is that prophets
will continue to come to the people. This until there comes
the final prophet who will reveal all that is in God’s heart
for us. It was the hope and expectation of the Jews –
especially following the release from Babylon – that there
was coming a Messiah who would release the people from all
that holds them captive. Addictions, allegiances with the
evil ones, succumbing to passions, and evil that resides in
the human heart would be overcome. We should be especially
attentive to the last line of Moses’ statement this Sunday.
“But if a prophet presumed to speak in my name an oracle
that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the
name of other gods, he shall die.” So those who speak
untruth, who speak in the name of the gods of the world,
these shall die in their lies and untruths.
The gospel selection this week is the final step in Jesus
beginning of his ministry, his campaign to establish the
Kingdom of God. The work of John the Baptizer was a herald
to Jesus, calling him to action. At his baptism, Jesus in
the gospel of Mark hears God’s certain approval. Jesus was
then tested by the devil to use the ways of the world to
achieve God’s mission for him. In response, Jesus uses God’s
word from the book of Deuteronomy to combat the devil’s
wiles. Then Jesus chose a group of kindred spirits on whom
to impress and reveal his mission. In this Sunday’s gospel,
Jesus launches his campaign to establish the Kingdom of God
on earth. He does this in the Jewish place of instruction
and teaching, the synagogue. In villages and towns where
Jews lived, when there were ten Jewish families in that
place, a synagogue was required to be established. There was
no established cleric or homilist. There were scribes who
were learned in the writings of the Law of Moses. They
studied the word of God and interpreted the revelations of
God given through Moses to every condition and aspect of
human life. They began their explanations and instructions
with the phrase, “It is written.” Apparently, Jesus omitted
that phrase and instead intoned his message of the reading
with something like, “Hear what I say.” Jesus presented
himself as a prophet of the Lord, speaking directly for God.
And what he spoke was the Word of God, that creative,
healing, and truth about reality created by God. His choice
of words exposed him as the prophet.
Thus, the person enslaved by evil spirits could shouted out
in the synagogue, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are –
the Holy One of God.”
The evil spirit convulsed the man and left him. All present
wondered at what they experienced. Here was a prophet who
spoke God’s Word. Here was a prophet who evil spirits
feared. Here was one whose very presence would overwhelm
evil that took possession of humanity.
The Scriptures are the revelation of God to us. The Words
bring us truth. The evil ones - spirits and persons - would
attempt to twist and knot those truths, making them lies
that lead people and nations into darkness.
Truth is often an ethereal thing. What is presented as truth
may well be the work of demagogues who manipulate truth to
suit their purposes. Truth is always about unity, about
hope, about mercy, about compassion, and the abiding
presence of the Love of God for his creation. That is a good
measure to determine the truthfulness of persons.
In this first public speaking of Jesus at the synagogue in
Capernaum, Jesus is recognized as the promised prophet
speaking truth. He begins the work of his mission. He begins
showing the Way, the Truth, and the Life that makes the
Kingdom of God present among us. He is, indeed, the Way, the
Truth, and the Life that shows us how to relate to reality,
that presents real reality, and demonstrates what it means
to be living in fulfillment of the possibilities in which we
are individually created.
Carol & Dennis Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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3.
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THE POWER OF JESUS AT WORK: 4TH SUNDAY B
When
praying the Lord’s Prayer, how confident do you feel, when
you ask God to ‘deliver us from evil’?
A lovely line in
the Book of Psalms says: ‘The earth is full of the goodness
of the Lord’ (33:5). It certainly is. The crops keep
producing food for our tables. The summer heat gives way to
cooling autumn breezes. Most diseases are now curable.
Tyrants are sometimes overthrown. Social reforms like
pensions for the needy are here to stay. Conflicts end in
reconciliation. Shaky marriages get patched up. Love
survives misunderstandings, thoughtlessness, insults, and
indifference. Wars come to an end. Enemies become friends.
We forgive others and are forgiven. Sport keeps contributing
to what is good, decent, and noble about human beings. A
striking example of exceptional goodness is a prayer
scrawled on a piece of wrapping paper found at the Nazi
Concentration Camp at Ravensbruck. This is what it prays:
Lord, remember not only the men and women of goodwill but
all those of ill-will. Do not only remember the suffering
they have subjected us to. Remember the fruits we brought
forth thanks to this suffering – our comradeship, our
loyalty, our humility, our courage and generosity, the
greatness of heart that all of this inspired. And when they
come to judgement, let all these fruits we have borne, be
their reward and their forgiveness. [from Anthony de Mello]
In short, there is goodness everywhere. But where there is
goodness, there too is God and the Kingdom of God. So, God’s
loving rule is still happening among us.
But so too is the anti-kingdom of evil. Its power and force
keep staring us in the face. Newspapers and news bulletins
report it daily in its ugliest manifestations. Our
consciences remind us of its hurtful and harmful influence.
It has been reliably reported recently, for instance, that
1% of the world’s population now owns 50% of the world’s
wealth. Too many persons work for less than a dollar a day,
and others are denied health and safety protection. Random
acts of terrorism are inflicted on defenseless people.
Refugees exercising their legal rights to seek asylum are
visited with systematic acts of cruelty, as deterrents to
others. Persons are being kidnapped and sold into slavery
and sexual degradation. Racism, consumerism, and devastation
of the earth’s natural resources, are still raging around
the world. In many places, large segments of the population
are involved in unrest and war. Violence is growing.
Individuals, high on drugs, smash their targets to the
ground. Bullying is everywhere. What we are facing, then,
are both the evil acts of individuals and evil social
structures.
In the days of Jesus on earth, people called different evil
forces demons. Jesus himself recognized one super-force
behind them all. He named it ‘the EVIL ONE’ - also known in
his day as ‘the Devil’, ‘Lucifer’, ‘the Enemy’, and
‘Beelzebub’. Today’s gospel is a striking example of his
confrontation with, and victory over, the ‘the Evil One’. As
the story has it, ‘the Evil One’ has taken possession of a
deranged man, who interrupts Jesus as he teaches, and
challenges his power and authority over evil. Jesus does not
answer the man’s taunts, but addresses ‘the Evil One’
sharply and directly: ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ Throwing
the sufferer into convulsions, and with a last loud and
desperate scream, ‘the Evil One’ wriggles out of him. At
long last, its victim is free from its torments.
More recently if less dramatically, followers of Jesus in a
particular parish, acting with the power of the Spirit of
Jesus, chased out evil from a disturbed man at Sunday Mass.
From the back of the church, he kept repeating the Mass
parts after the priest, softly at first but gradually more
loudly and belligerently, with profanities and mockery
thrown in. Although the man was irrational, some people
began to feel offended and angry. Then something wonderful
happened. At the Sign of Peace, a woman left her pew and
extended her hand to the man. He took it, and then another
person appeared behind the woman, then another. Soon dozens
gathered to offer peace to the troubled intruder, and then
the man began to weep openly. When he sat down, a small
child, touched by his tears, climbed onto his lap. The Mass
continued and the poor man never spoke another word. [from
Alice Camille]
In the presence of Jesus, then, Evil did not, and does not,
have the last word. So, to return to our leading question:
‘When praying the Lord’s Prayer, how confident do you feel,
when you ask God to ‘deliver us from evil’?”
"Brian Gleeson CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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4.
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Year B: 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time
“He taught
them with authority and not like their scribes.”
Just about this
time twenty years ago, my old French teacher died – Ted
Sammons, of Wimbledon College.
When we were boys of 13, religion really didn’t mean very
much to us. We had not yet experienced in our own lives any
real need for God. But Mr Sammons, our new French teacher,
insisted on starting our French course by teaching us the
Rosary in French. We found out that it was the first thing
he taught every class he took.
And he explained to us very simply why he did that – it was
because he believed that the most important thing he would
ever teach us was not how to communicate in French (which
was, as he freely admitted, a lost cause), but how to
communicate with God – how to pray when you are facing the
moments of great crisis that occur sooner or later in all
our lives.
For Ted Sammons, that crisis was during the Second World
War, when he was in North Africa. His army was being
regularly and heavily defeated – losing ground and men. Most
of his regiment - most of his friends – had already been
killed or injured. Every day, he faced terrible dangers. It
was at that time in his life that praying the Rosary became
the most important thing he ever did.
The Rosary celebrates the great moments of crisis in the
life of Jesus. By praying over these times and seeing how
Jesus continued to trust in the goodness and the power of
God, even at the most fearful moments in his life, Ted
Sammons was able to find the Faith to endure his own time of
great crisis.
I have long since forgotten nearly all of the French that he
taught me. But I have never forgotten his lesson on prayer.
Because he taught us with the authority of a man who had
been there – a man who had faced the desperate struggles of
life with Faith triumphant.
So, in his memory, I would like to say to you today,
“Bonjour, et Merci Beaucoup, Monsieur Ted Sammons”.
Notre Père, qui es aux cieux,
Que ton nom soit sanctifié,
Que ton règne vienne,
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offensés
Comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre-nous du mal,
car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire, aux siècles des siècles.
Amen.
And also in his
memory, let us pray that we too may face our own crises with
Faith and with Prayer.
And let us stand and profess our Faith in God in whom we
never walk alone.
Paul O'Reilly SJ <fatbaldnproud@opalityone.net>
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5.
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