Open All Hours

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Lk.5:29

Matthew's first act after committing his life to Jesus was to host a party. Jesus didn't "regretfully decline" the invitation. He turned up and joined in.

This event has a wonderful parallel with another tax collector, Zacchaeus. Again the tax collector joyfully welcomes Jesus into his home while the pious onlookers complain. There's a common theme here. The "sick" knew their need for the healer and welcomed him. The self righteous complained. 

When I've got a tooth ache, all I can think about is the dentist.  When my teeth are OK, the dentist is the last person I think of. I feel pity for those sitting in the waiting room, maybe even a bit judgmental. They should have cared for their teeth better.

The truth is, I'm constantly in need of the divine physician. And if I'm not a patient at the moment then I should be a stretcher bearer for others. The surgery is open all hours. There's no place for complaining bystanders in heaven.

Saint Matthew, please pray for me.

No Time to Mourn

‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them?'
Mt.9:15

Jesus explicitly refers to himself as the bridegroom, one whose presence brings great joy. If he is the bridegroom then who am I?  The bride.

Jesus the groom. Me the bride. This is a powerful metaphor. The relationship between groom and bride is readily recognised as one of deep intimacy, love and joy. 

Is the bridegroom still with me? Yes. So this is not a time for mourning. May that time never come! 

My fasting is to be of the type described in today's first reading. Free the oppressed. Break the yoke. Feed the hungry. Attend the poor. Clothe the naked. This is a joy-filled fasting directed to others.

Today I seek the face of the one whom my soul loves in those who my "fasting" touches.

Play Possum

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Lk.9:23

What is Jesus saying it takes to follow him and live? Death.

The expression "Take up your cross" is often taken to mean pick up your burden. I don't think Jesus' audience would have heard it that way. They knew all about the cross. It was a ghastly instrument of torture and death deliberately stationed outside the city walls for them to see. 

Jesus is saying to me, "Mike, put to death your old man of self-centered obsessions and compulsions. Be born anew and live, come follow me. Then do it again tomorrow and the day after that."

Jesus seems to underscore this by adding in the following verse that "Everyone who loses his life will save it."

This reminds me of a great scene in the animated movie, Over The Hedge, where the daughter is embarrassed by her dad's constant pretending to be dead when threatened;

DAUGHTER: Isn't playing dead a little... weak?
DAD:              Heather, how many times must I say it? Playing possum is what we do. We die so that we live!

I'm going to play possum this Lent... daily.

Feed the Hungry

He took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd. 
Mk.8:6

The miracle of the seven loaves and few fish feeding four thousand takes place not in Jesus' hands but in the hands of his disciples. It was Jesus compassion that desired the crowds be fed but it was the faithful obedience of the disciples that did the feeding.

Jesus' compassion for the hungry, both in body and in spirit, remains. My response is one of faithful obedience. If I'm not feeding the hungry in some way, what am I doing? 

It's time for another Alpha Course.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Kindle in us the fire of your love and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.

The Divine Physician

And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, 
Mk7:33-35

Once again the infirm are brought to Jesus for healing. His methods vary but the result is the same, people are set free.

Today's Gospel records one of the more complicated healing processes of Jesus. He takes the man aside. He places his fingers in the man's ears. He spits and touches the man's tongue. He prays. After these four steps the man is healed. 

On other occasions Jesus has simply made a proclamation and healing occurs for a person at a remote location (e.g. the centurion's servant). 

The lesson for me here is that Jesus can heal in many and varied ways. He can't be placed in a box. My role is simply to invite him into a person's life and then get out of the way. All glory then goes to God.

Jesus, you are the physician, I am the stretcher-bearer. I place my trust in you.

Guard My Heart

For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.
Mk.7:21-23

Jesus highlights that scrupulous piety over food laws is pointless. Regulation of what comes out from my heart is what matters most. 

I am a human. Nothing human is alien to me. All the evil intentions listed by Jesus I know reside within me. It is purely the grace of God that gives me any hope of restraining them. 

However, the converse is also true. I have within me things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; (Ph.4:8). It is purely the grace of God that gives me any hope of encouraging them.

Our Lady of Lourdes, please pray for me.

Love as Strong as Death

Set me as a seal on your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
     Song of Songs: 8:6

This is the cry of a lover for a responding unbreakable love. It's the cry of every believer.

Every child thrives in the knowledge of its father's love. Everything else may be falling in ruin but when the father's love is experienced and unquestionable, all is well. 

Lord, magnify my love today that I may better reflect your love.

Saint Scholastica,, please pray for me.