Meditation

Arriving to Bethsaida Jesus is asked to touch a blind man who is brought to him. It is significant that Jesus takes him outside the village; is that not an indication that to listen to the word of God, to discover the faith and see the reality of Christ, we have to get out of ourselves, out of the noisy spaces and times that asphyxiate and blind us, to receive the authentic enlightenment?
 

The Kingdom of God expands in our World just as the yeast grows in the dough, without our knowing why. The authentic faith must be like that, a faith that grows in our love for God. Let nothing and nobody, therefore, befuddle us of the encounter with our Lord and His redeemable message. 

Today, it looks like the Gospel does not say too much about Jesus or about us. “Why does this generation seek a sign?” (Mk 8, 12). Commenting on this episode of Jesus' life, Pope John Paul II says: “Jesus invites us to discern between the words and the deeds testimony of (or a “sign of”) the arrival of God's Kingdom.”

The example of Jesus invites us to that perfection of Christian life in which we practice with actions what we preach with words.
 

As St. Gregory of Nyssa says: “He who splits his bread with the poor becomes a part of He who, for us, wanted to be poor. The Lord was poor; do not be afraid of poverty.”
 

Why don't you also try to leave everything ready now: your prayers; treating your family and other people; your work; the apostolate; your diligence to develop yourself both spiritually and professionally... Be demanding with yourself, and be also demanding, softly, but demanding, with those depending upon you. 

Our Lord wants us to use insistently the petition prayer or prayer of faith. There are, indeed, other kinds of prayers —worship, salvation, prayer of thanks—, but Jesus insists very much on our often using the petition prayer.
 

The Lord wants all our activities to be carried out well: He expects us to show in them intensity, method, science, know-how, eagerness for perfection, not looking for anything else but reinstating God's plan for Creation. For God made everything for man's benefit: “Purity of intention. —You will always have it if, in everything you do, you only look forward to pleasing God” (Saint Josemaria).
 

Today, we are given to see how some late traditions of the Masters of the Law had actually manipulated the true meaning of the Fourth Commandment of God's Law. Those scribes taught that sons offering money and goods to the Temple were doing well. But, according to these teachings, parents could no longer ask or dispose of these goods. 

This passage can help us reflect on how we receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. Do we do so with faith that this contact with Christ can work miracles our lives? More than merely touching the “fringe of his cloak”, we receive Christ’s very Body into our bodies. 

We are all called to be salt and light. For over 30 years of his hidden life in Nazareth, Jesus himself was also “salt”. It is being said that, once, while he was playing, someone asked St. Aloysius Gonzaga what would he do if he knew that within a few minutes he would die. "I would keep on playing", he answered. 
 

Jesus tells them: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (Mk 6, 31). In God's plans there is a place of rest! But there is more, as our whole existence, with all that entails, must rest in God. An anxious saint Augustine claims: “You made us for you and our heart is restless while not resting with You.” God's rest is creative; not “anesthetic”: bumping into God's love focus on our heart and our thoughts.
 

Experience teaches us, once more, that each virtue has to be always joined to all the others, and all together have to grow organically like the fingers of the hand. And, by the same token, when one incurs in some vice, soon others will follow.
 

Now, he realizes with surprise that no preparation has been made, no flags, garlands, damasks or shields can be seen anywhere, just Joseph and Mary, crossing the esplanade, and bringing the Child Jesus in their arms. “Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.” (Ps 24:), claims the psalmist.
 

The text of the Gospel ends with the words: “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there… He was amazed at their lack of faith” (Mk 6,5-6). Today also our Lord demands more faith in Him to carry out things that overpower our human possibilities. Miracles show God's power and our need for daily dependence on God.
 

Two great lessons in faith for us. Jairus and the woman suffering a serious bleeding, along with so many others, from the Gospel pages, speak to us of the need to have an unmovable faith. We can make ours that beautiful evangelic exclamation: "O Lord, I believe; help my unbelief" (Mk 9, 24).
 

Today, we find a fragment of the Gospel that might induce someone to smile. Imagining a herd of some two thousand pigs rushing down a cliff and into a lake, is a sort of funny image. But the truth is that those herdsmen did not find any fun in what had happened; they were very angry and begged Jesus to leave their neighborhood immediately.
 

This message by the Lord is addressed to those who want to live a life of unselfishness, of meekness, of desire for justice, of preoccupation and interest for the problems of their fellow men, and cast aside all the rest.
 

We have received the Holy Spirit, which, if we always do our best to obey the Father's will, lets us see beyond doubt and fear that our Lord is positively guiding us in our walk of faith through life. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we have no reason to fear anything. Jesus is the one and only Lord of the Universe, because “even the wind and sea obey him?” (Mk 4, 41),...

The seed begins very small, “It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” (Mk 4,31-32). 
 

“‘Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.’ He also told them, ‘Take care what you hear’” (Mk 4,23-24). But, what does it mean “to hear”? What are we to hear? This is the great question we have to ask ourselves. It is an attitude of sincerity towards God that demands to know what we really want to do. 

St. Paul's conversion is a great event: from persecuting Jesus' followers he converted into a servant and defender of the cause of Christ. Quite often, perhaps, we have also been “persecutors”: and, as St. Paul, we need to convert from “persecutors” into servants and defenders of Jesus Christ.
 

Is Jesus trying to tell us his only relatives are those who listen to him attentively? Of course not! His relatives are not those who listen to him but those who listen to and abide by God's will: it is those who are his brother, his sister, his mother...
 

Today, when we read about this event in the Gospel we are more than a little surprised when “The scribes who had come from Jerusalem” recognize Jesus' compassion for the oppressed and witness the divine miracles with which He blesses them, but then say, “He is possessed by Beelzebul”, and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” (Mk 3, 22).

Unwavering, fearlessly, without looking for any excuses to postpone for “to-morrow” our apostolic action. They say, "“to-morrow” is the adverb of the defeated". This is why St. Josemaría recommended "Here is a recipe to make your apostolic spirit effective: make definite plans, not for the whole week but for the day ahead, for this moment and the next".
 

Once again, the old proverb “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house” (Mt 13, 57), is seen to be true. It is unnecessary to say this complaint does not “taint” the Blessed Virgin Mary, because from the beginning to the last moment —when she was at the foot of the Cross— she always kept her immovable faith and trust towards her Son.
 

This is how we learn of our apostolic mission of taking Christ to others. First, having him ourselves so that we can share him. Today, and every day, we must meditate upon the true nature of our call to vocation, answering his call with an increased love, born of our increased understanding of what He calls us to do and to be.
 

Let us remember that, the unity of the Assembly must be manifested as a fruit of the Eucharist —as well as the union of each one with Jesus— since we feed on the same Bread to be one body. Therefore, what the sacraments stand for, and the graces they contain, demand we work towards communion with all people.
 

Today, Jesus tells us we must always do good: There is no such thing as a time to do good and a time to overlook our love for others. The love we receive through God brings us to the supreme Law that Jesus left us in the new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13, 34). 
 

Saint Augustine also said: “Love and do as you please.” Do we understand this as saying, or do we allow lesser things to overrule the love we have to place on whatever we do? To work, forgive, correct, attend Mass on Sundays, take care of sick people, abide by the commandments...