Heart for Healing

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to reassess the situations where we have separated ourselves from others and petition the Spirit to guide us to a heart for healing.

Healing Together

The Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews is a warning against unbelief and a reminder of Israel’s Infidelity.

* [3:7–4:13] The author appeals for steadfastness of faith in Jesus, basing his warning on the experience of Israel during the Exodus. In the Old Testament the Exodus had been invoked as a symbol of the return of Israel from the Babylonian exile (Is 42:9; 43:16–21; 51:9–11). In the New Testament the redemption was similarly understood as a new exodus, both in the experience of Jesus himself (Lk 9:31) and in that of his followers (1 Cor 10:1–4). The author cites Ps 95:7–11, a salutary example of hardness of heart, as a warning against the danger of growing weary and giving up the journey. To call God living (Heb 3:12) means that he reveals himself in his works (cf. Jos 3:10; Jer 10:11). The rest (Heb 3:11) into which Israel was to enter was only a foreshadowing of that rest to which Christians are called. They are to remember the example of Israel’s revolt in the desert that cost a whole generation the loss of the promised land (Heb 3:15–19; cf. Nm 14:20–29). In Heb 4:1–11, the symbol of rest is seen in deeper dimension: because the promise to the ancient Hebrews foreshadowed that given to Christians, it is good news; and because the promised land was the place of rest that God provided for his people, it was a share in his own rest, which he enjoyed after he had finished his creative work (Heb 3:3–4; cf. Gn 2:2). The author attempts to read this meaning of God’s rest into Ps 95:7–11 (Heb 3:6–9). The Greek form of the name of Joshua, who led Israel into the promised land, is Jesus (Heb 3:8). The author plays upon the name but stresses the superiority of Jesus, who leads his followers into heavenly rest. Heb 3:12, 13 are meant as a continuation of the warning, for the word of God brings judgment as well as salvation. Some would capitalize the word of God and see it as a personal title of Jesus, comparable to that of Jn 1:1–18. (Hebrews, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 95 is a Call to Worship and Obedience.

* [Psalm 95] Twice the Psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Ps 95:1–2, 6), the king of all creatures (Ps 95:3–5) and shepherd of the flock (Ps 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Ps 95:7c–11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours. (Psalms, PSALM 95 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus Cleanses a Leper.

* [1:40] A leper: for the various forms of skin disease, see Lv 13:1–50 and the note on Lv 13:2–4. There are only two instances in the Old Testament in which God is shown to have cured a leper (Nm 12:10–15; 2 Kgs 5:1–14). The law of Moses provided for the ritual purification of a leper. In curing the leper, Jesus assumes that the priests will reinstate the cured man into the religious community. See also note on Lk 5:14. (Mark, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reflection from Angela Maynard Of Creighton University's Online Ministries was not available at publication time.

Don Schwager quotes “Why did Jesus touch the leper,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)

And why did [Jesus] touch him, since the law forbade the touching of a leper? He touched him to show that 'all things are clean to the clean' (Titus 1:15). Because the filth that is in one person does not adhere to others, nor does external uncleanness defile the clean of heart. So he touches him in his untouchability, that he might instruct us in humility; that he might teach us that we should despise no one, or abhor them, or regard them as pitiable, because of some wound of their body or some blemish for which they might be called to render an account... So, stretching forth his hand to touch, the leprosy immediately departs. The hand of the Lord is found to have touched not a leper, but a body made clean! Let us consider here, beloved, if there be anyone here that has the taint of leprosy in his soul, or the contamination of guilt in his heart? If he has, instantly adoring God, let him say: 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' (excerpt from FRAGMENTS ON MATTHEW 2.2-3) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Hebrews 3:7-14 comments that today’s passage from Hebrews makes an observation about our lives as Christians. We must “hold . . . firm” by pushing against the tides of temptation and discouragement so that we end up where God wants us to be (Hebrews 3:14). So how do we hold firm?

Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today” (Hebrews 3:13). We all need to be encouraged—each day, if necessary—to persevere in our life with the Lord. So be open to receiving the encouragement of your brothers and sisters in Christ. And be ready to encourage them as well. Walk beside someone who is doubting. Be a friend who listens. Remind them of God’s love. Above all, reassure them that it’s worth swimming against the tide in order to arrive at a place of freedom and peace!

“Lord, soften my heart so that I can hear your voice and stay close to you each day!” (Meditation on Hebrews 3:7-14, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the theme in the Letter to the Hebrews that the Hebrew Testament is a prefiguring of the time of Jesus. The rebellion that prohibited the entry of the ancestors to the Holy Land reappears in the rejection of Jesus. Today is the day to respond to the Lord and enter into his rest. Friar Jude reminds us of Jesus' desire to maintain the messianic secret so as to avoid treatment as a wonderworker.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Sikh activist Valarie Kaur who tells a brief story of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), founder of the Sikh faith.

Guru Nanak’s followers were called Sikhs, seekers or students…. Sikhs believed that people of all castes, genders, faiths, races, and places were equal…. It was a radical experiment that rebelled against the caste hierarchy and feudal order of the era, a mysticism that inspired revolutionary social change…. The ideal archetype in the Sikh tradition became the sant sipahi: the sage warrior. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)

We contemplate the healing power of our relationship with Jesus and seek the support of the Spirit as we encounter the people on our journey.

References

Hebrews, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/3?7 

Mark, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/1?40 

Meditation on Hebrews 3:7-14. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/01/16/1181104/ 

Psalms, PSALM 95 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/95?6 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Guru Nanak: A Sage Warrior. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/guru-nanak-a-sage-warrior/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). The Lord Jesus Can Make Me Clean. The Lord Jesus Can Make Me Clean. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jan16 

Wisdom in speaking

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of the practices we need to bring Wisdom guided by the Spirit to our daily witness.

Speaking for justice

The reading from the Book of Daniel tell of the writing on the wall interpreted by Daniel during Belshazzar’s feast.

* [5:26–28] Daniel interprets these three terms by a play on the words: MENE, connected with the verb meaning to number; TEKEL, with the verb meaning to weigh; PERES, with the verb meaning to divide. There is also a play on the last term with the word for Persians.1

The prayer of Azariah from the Book of Daniel is the response today.

* [3:24–90] These verses are additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel, translated from the Greek form of the book. They were probably first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but are no longer extant in the original language. The Roman Catholic Church has always regarded them as part of the canonical Scriptures.2 

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus assures that by our endurance we will gain your souls.

* [21:15] A wisdom in speaking: literally, “a mouth and wisdom.”3 

Chas Kestermeier, S.J. comments in making our choices for God, we are witnessing to ourselves, and while we learn the tricks which we play on ourselves to avoid the gift of giving ourselves constantly and totally to God we also learn what our serious, loving attempts to turn ourselves completely over to God do to us.

And in that transformation that God works in us as we seek Him comes a difference also in that witnessing to those others in our daily lives: the gifts of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, and everything in between make us filled with inner peace, patience, generosity, purity, gentleness, and all the rest, and others can see how God is at work in us.4 

Don Schwager quotes “The faithful Christian is recognized by belief in the resurrection of the body,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"We should have no doubt that our mortal flesh also will rise again at the end of the world... This is the Christian faith. This is the Catholic faith. This is the apostolic faith. Believe Christ when he says, 'Not a hair of your head shall perish.' Putting aside all unbelief, consider how valuable you are. How can our Redeemer despise any person when he cannot despise a hair of that person's head? How are we going to doubt that he intends to give eternal life to our soul and body? He took on a soul and body in which to die for us, which he laid down for us when he died and which he took up again that we might not fear death." (excerpt from Sermon 214.11-12)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28 notes that throughout all of his trials, Daniel is depicted as a humble, wise, and righteous man... From the day his stories were written, Daniel has stood as the best of the best, a hero’s hero, someone every eager young believer should aspire to be like.

We will never face a den of lions or a fiery furnace, but we do face cultural pressure to become like everyone else, even if it means denying our faith. Daniel’s example reminds us that God will reward and protect us if we stay strong and hold fast to what we know is right and good.
“Lord, help me to stay strong in my faith like Daniel. Give me Daniel’s courage and wisdom to follow you, no matter what.”6 

Friar Jude Winkler describes the desecration of the Temple vessels during Belshazzar’s feast. The prediction of Daniel about the fall of Babylon is referring to the collapse of the Seleucid Empire who were persecuting Israel at the time the text was written. Friar Jude reminds us of ongoing persecution referring to St Theresa of Lisieux persecution of pin pricks.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, is not going to say capitalism is wrong in all aspects; it does some very real and significant good. But we must be able to offer an honest critique of a system if we want to find a better way forward. In this excerpt, Arthur Simon, a Lutheran minister, deals fairly with capitalism, praising what it does well and encouraging us—especially those of us with power and privilege—to do better.

Left to its own devices, free enterprise capitalism would ruin the environment and let people starve. As a result, no nation leaves free enterprise entirely on its own. Every country will devise policies that, at least to some extent, guide free enterprise toward serving the wider public good, in this way acknowledging that while free enterprise may be a remarkable engine for driving economic growth, an engine is not the same as a steering wheel.7 

Reflecting on Simon’s message, Fr Richard considers: How do Gospel values like justice, compassion, and generosity make their way into our economic decisions?

Greed or good

Do they carry the same weight as our desire for material things? Persecution persists for those following Jesus Way. Our call is to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us to the patient endurance necessary in these tribulations.

References

1	(n.d.). Daniel, chapter 5. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/daniel/5
2	(n.d.). Daniel, chapter 3. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/daniel/3
3	(n.d.). Luke, chapter 21 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/21
4	(n.d.). Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries .... Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
6	(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/11/27/
7	(2019, November 27). Moral Capitalism — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://cac.org/moral-capitalism-2019-11-27/

Mission and ministry of life

The Texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for Canada Day challenge our understanding of our relationship to God and the consequence of that relationship for our actions in our society and politics.

The pursuit of a Good Life

In the passage from the Book of Wisdom, the Jewish sage urges us to consider the death that results from spiritual separation from God.

* [1:12] Death: as will become clear, the author is not speaking of physical death but of spiritual death, the eternal separation from God.

Paul addresses the community in Second Corinthians about our Christian call to Generosity in Giving.

* [8:12–15] Paul introduces the principle of equality into the discussion. The goal is not impoverishment but sharing of resources; balance is achieved at least over the course of time. In 2 Cor 8:15 Paul grounds his argument unexpectedly in the experience of Israel gathering manna in the desert: equality was achieved, independently of personal exertion, by God, who gave with an even hand according to need. Paul touches briefly here on the theme of “living from God.”

In the Gospel from Mark, faith in Jesus brings healing and reanimation to a long suffering woman and a young girl.

* [5:28] Both in the case of Jairus and his daughter (Mk 5:23) and in the case of the hemorrhage victim, the inner conviction that physical contact (Mk 5:30) accompanied by faith in Jesus’ saving power could effect a cure was rewarded.

Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that today is a good day to express thanks, to enjoy the full gift of eucharistic life – that is a life of thanksgiving and sharing with others - so that they also might have life.

The first reading today insists that humans are made imperishable for God.  We enter death because of sin – and to bring about the death of others engages in sin.  The Gospel for today discloses Jesus, at the height of his missionary work, raising the dead and healing the sick.  The reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians asserts that humans have been given the gifts we need to care for and supply for one another’s needs as well as our own.  Our God lavishly pours out the bounty of creation and we must be willing to share that bounty so that all may have life to the full. Taken together, this rich bounty at the table of the word would be enough to feast on throughout the whole summer, even in the face of all the dilemmas of sin and selfishness that seem to surround us and sap our energies.  If we fail to love and respect our lives, the lives of the littlest and most vulnerable in the wombs of their mothers or in the arms of their fathers, in hospital beds, detention centers or nursing homes; if we neglect the dignity of those who have been deprived of their share of the bounty of the harvest by the devastation of wars, the molestation of gangs, government tariffs, or the pure greed of land and water rights locked away for the wealthy and politically powerful, we are engaging in “the dirty work of death,” as Pope Francis challenges us.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that very often we want a God who reflects and even confirms our culture, our biases, our economic, political, and security systems.

Normally we find it very difficult to let God be greater than our culture, our immediate needs, and our projections. The human ego wants to keep things firmly in its grasp; so, we’ve created a God who fits into our small systems and our understanding of God. Thus, we’ve produced a God who requires expensive churches and robes, a God who likes to go to war just as much as we do, and a domineering God because we like to dominate. We’ve almost completely forgotten and ignored what Jesus revealed about the nature of the God he knew. If Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (see Colossians 1:15) then God is nothing like we expected. Jesus is in no sense a potentate or a patriarch, but the very opposite, one whom John the Baptist calls “a lamb of a God” (see John 1:29). We seem to prefer a lion.

The call of Jesus is for us to see the image of God, often presented as a Lamb, in ourselves and others.

References

(n.d.). Wisdom, chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/1

(n.d.). 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/8 

(n.d.). Mark, chapter 5 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/5

(2018, June 25). Pope Francis: Support life at all stages, avoid 'dirty work of death .... Retrieved July 1, 2018, from https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-support-life-all-stages-avoid-dirty-work-death

(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from https://cac.org/richard-rohr/daily-meditations/daily-meditations-archive/