 istening
to the Spirit:
Reflections for
January 10-16, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010 - Baptism of Jesus
Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11; Psalm 104; Titus 2: 11-14, 3: 4-7; Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22
Just as every Eucharist celebrates and makes present the dying and rising of Christ, so every moment of Christian life, thanks to our baptism, reveals the Beloved. Christmas continues day after day, grace upon grace. “The glory of the Lord will be revealed,” Isaiah promises. Yes, always and everywhere. In Titus we hear that “God our Savior…saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” The gospel depicts Jesus being renewed by the same Spirit, and claimed, as we are, “the Beloved.”
How has Christmas continued in your life, into this new year of grace? How has the Spirit been renewing you during this holy season? As Jesus was manifested to the magi, now he is manifested to those with repentant hearts gathered at the Jordan. How has be been manifested in your life these last few weeks? How will you respond?
You are God’s beloved, and ours, Lord Jesus. May your love seep into the most destitute and anguished parts of our human race. We can never thank you enough for becoming one of us.
Monday, January 11, 2010
1 Samuel 1: 1-8; Psalm 116; Mark 1: 14-20
Today we begin a continuous reading of Mark’s gospel, the opening of Jesus’ ministry. Paralleling that, we have a fairly continuous reading of Samuel’s growth in wisdom, age and grace, which prepares him for his ministry as the last judge of Israel and its first prophet. His mother, Hannah, is featured today. She weeps bitterly as she prays to have a child. Her husband responds: “Am I not more to you than ten sons?” In the gospel Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John to come along with him, to fish for people. Jesus doesn’t want sons, but he does want brothers and sisters to be with him.
Who is worth more to you than ten sons? Whom do you really value? Share that love and appreciation with Jesus. Ask to hear his call to you, and to those whom you cherish. Be quiet and just listen. Listen all day long. How is he calling you?
We offer to you, God of compassion, the tears of all parents who cannot have children, who have suffered their children’s death, whose children are estranged.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
1 Samuel 1:9-20; canticle of Hannah, 1 Sam 2; Mark 1: 21-28
Hannah’s weeping continues today, so dramatically that the priest Eli believes she is drunk. Hannah responds, “I am a woman deeply troubled…I have been pouring out my heart before the Lord…I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Eli tells her to go in peace for God will hear her plea. The canticle is Hannah’s song of joy when she births Samuel. There is another kind of outcry in the synagogue. Jesus teaches with authority, but when a demoniac begins to cry out, Jesus rebukes the loud and violent spirit. “Even unclean spirits obey him”—and Jesus’ fame spread.
Remember your own experience of being deeply troubled, of pouring out your heart. Where was peace and promise then? Do you have any unfinished business with God? Have you ever felt possessed? Perhaps by irritation, unkind words that you can’t seem to stop, nasty or haughty glares that shame you when you catch yourself. “Who will save me from this body of death,” Paul cries in Romans 7 – these obsession and compulsions that torment us, and others? Only Christ Jesus. Ask for inner peace for yourself and your loved ones, and peace among families and nations.
For freedom you have set us free, Lord Jesus. You are the savior of the world. We need saving too. We need inner peace so that we might be instruments of your peace.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20; Psalm 40; Mark 1: 29-39
Today we have the famous threefold call of God to Samuel, just a boy. Eli instructs him to respond: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” The passage ends by asserting that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet. A prophet is one so close to the mind and heart of God that he/she speaks in God’s name. Jesus and two other men enter the house of Peter and Andrew where Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. She too must have said, “Your servant is listening,” for, cured of fever, she gets up to serve all these guests.
The whole of Capernaum crowds the doorway, so Jesus slips off to a deserted place to pray. When Peter urges him in the early morning to come to heal, Jesus has been listening too, and wants to move on to other towns.
When you say, “Speak, for your servant is listening,” what happens? How do you serve physically like the mother-in-law? How do you serve by proclaiming good news?
How to you grow ever closer to the mind and heart of God? Pray for that grace.
You made us prophets in our baptism, Holy Spirit. Inspire us now to come closer, to listen, and to speak your word of comfort to the hurting and challenge to the satisfied.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
1 Samuel 4: 1-11; Psalm 44; Mark 1:40-45
What folly! To think God does battle! At first Israel’s enemy is frightened when Israel brings the Ark of the Covenant into their military camp. These Philistines knew that God had struck down the Egyptians to set this people free, but decide to fight anyway. Israel’s Ark is captured during a very great slaughter. The psalmist cries, “Why do you forget us?” God would respond, because you forget me. No one forgets Jesus, who is building a widespread reputation. In his encounter today with a leper, who is supposed to stay away from the main roads, we might imagine Jesus still trying to walk the deserted places. This leper finds him and says, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” In most modern translations, Jesus is “moved with pity.” In an ancient (and more reliable) manuscript, Jesus is moved with anger.
“If you want to”, you might say to Jesus. And how would he respond to you? Of course he wants to give you every good thing! We know him as full of pity. From where might his anger come? That we would doubt his will, his powerful will, for our good? Or that this leper has been shunned and outcast? Ask for the grace to be angry at the way our church and our society label some as “lepers” and casts them away.
Keep us from using you, God, to fight our wars. Keep us, our church, our country from casting out anyone, when Jesus himself welcomes all to the table, especially sinners.
Friday, January 15, 2010
1 Samuel 8: 4-7, 10-22; Psalm 89; Mark 2: 1-12
Today we hear Israel clamoring for a king so that they might be like other nations.
God says: “They have rejected me from being king over them.” God, through Samuel, warns the people that their sons will be fodder for the war machine, their daughters enslaved to work for the king. The people insist on a king, a leader in battle, any way.
In the gospel four people carry their paralyzed friend to Jesus, but because of the crowd, they have to “dig through” the roof to let him down. Jesus tells him his sins are forgiven, which begins a grumble among the scribes. The people “get it” however, and glorify God
in their amazement.
When have you spontaneously glorified God in your amazement? What takes your breath away? And how do you respond? This can be named a moment of contemplation, when you are lifted out of yourself and caught up. Today’s story could provide a rich Ignatian contemplation. Who of us does not at times feel paralyzed? Who of us does not have a friend or six who need Christ’s healing? Join the scene.
Heal us, Jesus, our only leader. Heal us from a need to go to war, to enslave ourselves by fear, to be paralyzed when justice calls. Heal all leaders from revenge.
Saturday, January 16, 2009
1 Samuel 9: 1-4, 17-19, 10: 1; Psalm 21; Mark 2: 13-17
It is God who chooses Saul as Israel’s first king, a tall and handsome man whom we will learn later is moody and even vicious. Yet Samuel tells him, “The Lord has anointed you…” Psalm 21 rejoices in all the blessings the king receives. Jesus, on the other hand, chooses those not so blessed in the eyes of his co-religionists: tax collectors and sinners. When they question Jesus, he responds: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
You might examine your own attitude toward those who “have” versus the “have nots.” Are some more blessed than others? And yourself? Is Jesus calling you because you are righteous or because, as sinful, you have such a deep need for his mercy? Pray to know your need for God, and for our leaders in church and society to know how even more dependent they are on God’s mercy.
Jesus, thank you for eating with sinners, for eating with us. Help our church leaders to welcome all to the table of the Eucharist. Without everyone included, how can you yourself feel welcome?
Archives - January-June 2009 Archives - July-December 2009
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rayer
brings our whole religious life into focus; it supports the
rhythm of our lives emphasizing now the person, now the community,
now the world we serve.
ister
Rea McDonnell, SSND, offers daily reflections on the Liturgical
Readings for each day. If
you wish to share your own reflections or have comments or
questions, please feel free to