First Sunday of Lent

Link  to today's readings
Genesis 9: 8-15 + Psalm 25: 4-9 + 1 Peter 3: 18-22 + Mark 1: 12-15

Click here to listen to this homily
Delivered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, OK

In the Synoptic Gospels—the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke—the tempting of Jesus in the desert happens immediately after his baptism by John the Baptist. There is a natural connection between the baptism of Jesus and what follows—40 days in the desert being tested by Satan. Jesus of Nazareth, as the Fully Human One, aligns himself completely with sinful humanity by embracing John’s baptism, which is a baptism for sinners.

The sinless one, Jesus, becomes one with the brokenness of every human being
by being washed in the waters of the Jordan River. Then he does what every human being does daily—he enters into battle with the Father of Lies. The same Spirit which descends upon him at his baptism propels him into the desert to do battle with the powers of evil. It is the same Spirit which strengthens him during his time of testing by reminding him of the Heavenly Father’s words at his baptism:  “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”

The Gospel accounts of the temptation in the desert in Matthew and Luke are explicit in their account of Satan tempting Jesus around his identity as beloved son. Even though Mark’s Gospel does not mention these temptations specifically, it stands to reason that Jesus, who recently heard his Heavenly Father’s voice speak these powerful words of love and pleasure in him, would find Satan attacking that which is most important---his identity as Beloved Son.

During this intense time of testing in the desert, Jesus’ identity as Beloved Son
deepens and grows as he resists the Tempter and Father of Lies. When he is hungry, the Spirit whispers, “Let your Father’s words be your daily bread.”
When he is thirsty, the Spirit reminds him, “Drink from the living water of God’s love.” When he is tired and feels like not persevering, the Spirit sustains Jesus,
assuring him that he can do all things in the Father who strengthens him. So, with the help of the angels sent by His Father to assist him during this time of testing, and by the sustaining power of the Spirit, Jesus emerges from the desert overflowing with the Good News of the Father’s faithful love. Thus, the first words out of his mouth are, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Jesus has great good news to share of God’s faithful, enduring love, but before this news can be received, repentance needs to occur. Before we can give ourselves fully to the Gospel and to the one who speaks the words of truth, we must turn away from the lies we live by. What prevents us from receiving the Good News Jesus brings—we yield to the temptation to believe in something else. Repentance demands finding and letting go of the beliefs which contradict
the Good News, which are opposed to the gospel Jesus preaches and lives.
We must identify and reject the lies on which these beliefs are built.

Because Satan is the Father of Lies, he tempts us into building our lives on beliefs that are contrary to what Jesus teaches. What are some of these lies on which these destructive beliefs are built? “If you are suffering from sickness, God does not love you. You are no longer God’s beloved son or daughter.”
“If you have lost someone you love to death, God does not love you. You are no longer God’s beloved child.” Other lies whispered in our ears by the Father of Lies: “Health and beauty are necessary for happiness OR money and lots of material stuff make life worth living.” Or, “My welfare is more important than yours,” and its corollary, “There is not enough for all of us, so I need to grab and hold onto whatever I can.” “No one can be trusted.” “You hurt me, so I have a right to revenge, or at the very least to nurture resentment toward you for the rest of my life.”

We are often not aware that we build our belief system on these lies, and other lies, which contradict the good news that we are God’s beloved children at all times and in all places.

What we are invited to believe in first of all, and last of all, and everywhere in-between, is in the Good News that we are beloved sons and daughters of God. As we turn away from the false beliefs which drain the love and life out of us, we turn toward the Great Good News of our dignity in God’s eyes. God takes pleasure in us, delights in us, calls us His beloved daughter, his beloved son,
because by baptism that is what we have become. This is our deepest identity.

We give ourselves not only to this Good News and allow it to shape and form our life, but even more importantly, we give ourselves to the One who enfleshes the Good News of God’s saving love, Jesus himself. In doing so, we “believe” in the fullest sense of that term, for the Greek word for “believe” in the Gospel is “pistouen,” which means “to give one’s heart to.” So, when we believe in Jesus, we give our hearts to him, we turn toward Him and enter into a life-long relationship with Him. 

TURN AWAY FROM GREED, TURN TOWARD THE ONE WHO BECAME POOR
SO WE MIGHT BECOME RICH IN GOD’S MERCY.
TURN AWAY FROM ANGER, TURN TOWARD THE PRINCE OF PEACE.
TURN AWAY FROM ENVY, TURN TOWARD THE ONE IN WHOM WE POSSESS EVERYTHING OF LASTING VALUE.
TURN AWAY FROM PRIDE, TURN TOWARD THE SUFFERING SERVANT
WHO WASHES YOUR FEET.
TURN AWAY FROM LUST, TURN TOWARD THE ONE IN WHOM ALL THE BEAUTY OF GOD’S LOVE RESIDES.
TURN AWAY FROM SLOTH, TURN TOWARDS THE ONE WHO IS YOUR STRENGTH.
TURN AWAY FROM GLUTTONY, AND BE FILLED WITH THE ONE
WHO SATISFIES THE DEEPEST HUNGER YOU HAVE FOR LOVE.
TURN AWAY FROM SIN, AND TURN TOWARD THE ONE WHO ENFLESHES THE GOSPEL.

When we repent, what we discover is that not only are we beloved sons and daughters of the Father in heaven, but we are also beloved brothers and sisters of the Son of God. Joined to Him by the power of his Spirit, we have the power to reject every lie. Joined to Him, our brother in all things but sin, we have the strength to overcome every temptation. He has won the victory for us over the Tempter in the desert, he has won the victory for us by his life daily poured out in love, he has won the victory for us from the cross.

He is our brother who is also our Savior, so that even when we yield to temptation and fall into sin, he saves us there. From the wood of his cross a new ark has been built, which carries us through the floodwaters of sin and death into new life.

Fr. Joseph A. Jacobi

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Link to today's readings
Lev. 13: 1-2, 44-46 +  Psalm 32: 1-2, 5,11 + 1 Cor. 10:31-11:1 + Mark 1:40-45

Click here to listen to this homily
Delivered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, OK  

“If you wish, you can make me clean.” The cry of the leper pierces Jesus’ heart, and in that cry, Jesus hears immense pain. Not just the physical pain the leper feels from this disease that eats away at his body, but a deeper pain. For this man has been cut off from his loved ones, his contagious disease isolating him from the very ones he loves. He lives outside of town with the other lepers, no longer able to feel the caring touch of his spouse nor to hold his children in his arms. Such overwhelming sorrow issues forth in this cry of despair to Jesus, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” No one in town comes within touching distance of this man, who has been commanded to keep people at a distance by shouting out, whenever he sees another human being, “Unclean. Unclean.” Stay Away! Stay Away!  

But there is even a deeper hurt, for this leper, a suffering which he probably does not even want to face, and this is feeling cut off from God. For by the Jewish purity laws no leper can step into the temple to offer sacrifice to God, no leper can fulfill their religious duties to God. The leper is unclean in the harshest sense of the word—he is not even worthy of being touched by God, he feels abandoned by God. The sight of this broken man, the sound of pain in his voice, the awareness of all these crushing levels of pain, affects Jesus physically. 

“Moved with pity” are the words used to express Jesus’ reaction, but the original Greek word— “splagchnizomai”—conveys much better what happens to Jesus. “Splagchnizomai” means to be moved in one’s inmost parts, literally in one’s bowels. In other words, Jesus felt compassion in his guts, he is physically moved in the depth of his being by feeling the pain of the leper within himself. Jesus is physically moved to do something for the leper in love. So Jesus stretches out his hand and touches this man who no one touches. 

In doing so, the leper who has felt cut off from others and from God, is re-connected and made whole, in body, mind, and spirit. By touching someone who is unclean, Jesus not only cleanses his body of the leprosy but also grants him a deeper healing—communion once again with others and with God. By touching the untouchable one, Jesus assures the leper that no one, no matter what they have done or what illness they carry, that no one is beyond the loving touch of God.  

Jesus does this throughout Mark’s Gospel, reaches out to touch the untouchable ones in love, bringing them out of isolation, reconnecting them to others and to God. Last week we saw Jesus do this with Simon’s mother-in-law, knocked off her feet by a fever, cut off from others by her sickness, unable to welcome Jesus to her home. When the disciples tell Jesus about her sickness, Jesus goes immediately to her bedside, and grasps her hand, and lifts her up, and the fever leaves her. No one wants to touch others who are sick for fear of catching what they have---Jesus, on the other hand, reaches out to these ones who suffer in isolation, and touches them. 

Or take the encounter Jesus has with the deaf & mute man later in Mark’s Gospel. (Ch.7) This man has been cut off from others and the world in general, because he is unable to hear, and because he cannot hear, he cannot speak of the desires of his heart. Jesus takes this man away from the crowd and touches him, putting his fingers in his ears, and spitting, touching his tongue. The very body parts that are broken are made whole by Jesus’ touch, and this man, cut off from others because of his disease, can now hear for the first time the words, “I love you” and speak those words in return.  

Pope Francis, throughout his almost two years as our spiritual leader, has been challenging us to touch the untouchable ones, to feel their pain, and to be moved to do something to ease their pain. In his homily addressed to the 20 newest Cardinals of our Church, Pope Francis challenged them to go out to those whom the world shuns, to those living on the outskirts of society. Last year on Holy Thursday Pope Francis went to a detention center where juvenile offenders were being held, cut off from the world and their loved ones, and he washed their feet. In doing so, the Pope said by his actions, “If I can touch you in such a loving way, imagine how God wants to touch you in love and heal your deepest hurts.”   

As missionary disciples of Jesus Christ, we are invited by Him to reach out and touch others who feel cut off from the human community and from God. To recognize that we have the power within us, by the Spirit given to us, to be instruments of His healing touch. 

This past Sunday afternoon, four of our Communion Ministers to the Homebound, Deacon Paul, and I visited our fellow parishioners who are confined to their homes because of illness or advancing age. We celebrated the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick with them. Part of that Sacrament is the laying on of hands, when the priest places his hands on the person’s head and prays in silence. At that time I invited those who had come with me on these visits, as well as family members of the homebound, to step forward and touch the person. As we together stretched forth our hands and touched our sister or brother who felt cut off from others because of their sickness, something palpable and powerful happened. A healing connection took place between them and us, as we, the Body of Christ, reached out in compassion to touch the suffering Body of Christ in them.

During the upcoming Lenten Season, we are called to such acts of charity, so that our hearts may expand in love of others. We need to go before God in prayer and ask God to reveal to us who we are being called to touch in compassion, who God wants us to touch as an instrument of His Son’s healing love. 

There are people in nursing homes and hospitals and prisons who feel beyond the touch of God who are crying out to us, “If you wish, you can make me clean. You can be my connection to God, the bridge over these troubled waters of my life.”  There are people on the streets of Oklahoma City who need more than food and shelter—they need one person to place a hand on their shoulder and listen to their story in love. There are members of our own families and of this parish family who have chosen to isolate themselves, who have made the decision to cut themselves off from this community of faith or from our own particular families. 

What would happen if we made the effort to reach out to them? Even if they rejected such an act of love, at the very least they would know they are not forgotten. 

We can be moved to love in such a life-giving, healing way because we are touched by God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist. Here we are touched by God in a bodily way as we consume the Lord’s body and blood. By doing so, we experiencing healing physically, emotionally, and spiritually—on all levels of who we are the Lord comes to us in love and touches whatever parts of us we consider unclean, beyond the touch of God.

The message is loud and clear---the Lord Jesus Christ wills our healing, longs to assure us that though we may feel alone or abandoned by God, He is always with us.

Fr. Joseph A. Jacobi

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Link to today's readings

Job 7:1-4, 6-7 + Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 + 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 + Mark 1:29-39

Click here to listen this homily

Delivered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, OK by Deacon Paul Lewis

I think all of us, lector included, had a particularly challenging job today.

Those closing lines of that first reading from Job…My days happiness again.

The Word of the Lord.

And our response…Thanks be to God!

One could rightfully ask…After hearing that, what am I thankful for?

Is that really “The Word of the Lord”? ...are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see We don’t hear from Job much in our Sunday readings.

In fact, I researched it...over the normal three year rotation…twice.

Job is one of the most interesting books of the Bible. It begins by describing Job as an upright man who fears the Lord. Job is a man of many riches. He has seven sons and three daughters… He has seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, a thousand oxen, five hundred donkeys and enough servants to take care of all of this.

There is a dialogue between God and Satan. God says, "Have you seen Job? There is nobody like him. He possesses fear of Lord, is a good and upright man,

and he avoids evil." Satan's response... "Well yeah! Of course he is! Look at all of his riches. Take his riches away, and he'll curse you.

God puts his faith in Job and gives Satan the ability to inflict misery on Job's life.

Job's children, his possessions, his servants, and eventually his good health, is taken from him.

This dialogue in Job, between God and Satan, has been interpreted as evidence of a divinity who is cruel and permits the torture of creation. This fails to see the deep issues of the text that the author wants us to see. This dialogue is simply a technique to lead us to some of the deepest questions of the Bible... Do humans serve God for themselves and their own profit? Can God create one who truly worships freely?

In Old Testament times, wealth and success are seen as evidence of one's faithfulness to God. Poverty, disease, and calamity were seen as evidence of God's justice. Those that suffer must have offended God. We see evidence of this in the Gospels. When the man born blind is presented to Jesus, the question is asked, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Retributive justice is what we might call it.

We must always remember...God's ways are not our ways.

When I worked in the hospital I would hear family members referring to their sick loved ones as having “the patience of Job.” It puzzled me, because patience is not a virtue that I would ever associate with Job. Read Job sometime. He complains throughout. And who can blame him. He's lost everything. There is no such evidence that Job possessed any patience. It wasn’t until later, when it was pointed out to me that the King James version of the Letter of James, Chapter 5, verse 11, speaks of the “patience of Job.” The original Greek word is hypomonē. A better translation is steadfastness, perseverance, or endurance.

Job’s steadfastness, perseverance or endurance is without question. His patience…that’s questionable.

Despite his complaining, he holds steadfast to his love of God. When his friends try to convince him that God is punishing him for some wrong, when his wife tries to get Job to curse God for his misfortune, Job is persistent. "No! I may not understand all of this, but I know that this misery is not punishment, and I will not curse God."

Job's faithfulness, and our faithfulness, ultimately lead to God's good works,

whether that be in this life, or the next.

Job is a figure for the good and innocent sufferer. When evil people suffer we may reason, with that attitude of retributive justice, they are getting their just desserts. But when the innocent suffer we can’t come up with a reason to justify their pain. Job can find no rationale for what happened to him. He is overwhelmed by his loss, physical pain and mental anguish. What was worse was his confusion about how God seemed to be treating him. He voices his complaints to God, but he doesn’t give up on God. He won’t break his relationship with God. In fact, by the end of the book his relationship with God deepens and grows stronger. Like Job our faith is tested by unreasonable suffering. How can we justify it? Where is God when we are at our lowest points? Is God with us or against us? Is our suffering a sign that we have displeased God and are being punished?

G.K. Chesterton writes: “Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances

which we know to be desperate. … Exactly at the instant when hope ceases to be reasonable, it begins to be useful.”

It's interesting to note that Jesus wants to travel from town to town to preach.

Casting out demons, healing miracles, point to what is to come... life in the heavenly kingdom. With a profound faith, with a relationship with Jesus, all will eventually know healing.

The cross is something we will all bear, and it is the reminder that this life is not an end in itself, but a path to heaven. While there will be the joy of Christmas at many times in our life, the sorrow of the cross follows. Hope is the gift which allows us to enjoy the goods of life without depending on them, and endure the challenges in life without being consumed by them.

Despite what we might consider a gloomy passage, Job points us to hope, hope that we now know to be the person of Jesus. May Job's prayer be ours... Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

-Deacon Paul Lewis