2nd Sunday of Lent Year B (Gospel: Mark 9:2-10) God speaks in the cloud

 

 

I have often heard people say that the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son is so horrific that maybe it shouldn’t be read at all. It is meant to be horrific. The point is that God asks the unthinkable of Abraham, but more importantly Abraham trusts God even though it makes no sense to him. Child sacrifice was common at that time. Not only was it horrific that he should be asked to sacrifice his child, but it was also through this only child that God had promised him many offspring. So, nothing at all made sense. Not only that, but it was a three-day journey to where he was to make the sacrifice, so he had three days to think it over. It wasn’t a spontaneous response. Abraham suddenly finds himself in a situation of complete darkness, where nothing was right, nothing made sense, but Abraham trusts God and then everything changes at the last minute. God put Abraham ‘to the test’ not in the sense of seeing if he was good enough—God knew how much faith Abraham had to begin with—but because He wanted to stretch that faith to its full capacity. It also shows that human sacrifice is not acceptable to God.

 

An athlete won’t reach his or her full potential unless they are pushed to their limit. A good trainer should see the potential in them that they are probably unaware of themselves and if they are a good trainer, they will push them so that they will reach their full potential. Sometimes God does the same with us. He knows what we are capable of, more than we do ourselves and sometimes He stretches, or pushes us to the limit, because God wants us to reach our full potential as human beings. The more we remain open to God, the more He will draw us to himself, bringing us deeper and deeper in our faith, but that always happens through times of crisis.

 

Did you ever notice that sometimes when you pray for a situation to get better, it gets worse first? There is a temptation to panic and not pray any more, but if we believe that God is listening to us and helping us—and Jesus tells us that God always hears and always answer us (Matt 7:7-8)—then we persevere in prayer and we try to trust that the Lord will bring the best out of the situation, even though it often doesn’t make sense to us. That requires faith, and it’s not easy, but that is how faith grows.

 

Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, but in the end he didn’t have to go through with it. Because he was willing to do anything that God asked him and because he showed his remarkable trust in God, the Lord said that He would bless him greatly:

I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore.

 

2000 years later God sends his Son, who takes on human flesh and allows him to be sacrificed for the human race. The Father allowed his Son to be sacrificed. He did go through with it. It says in the second reading that because Jesus went through with it, the Father would not refuse him anything. That is why we can have such confidence when we pray to Jesus. It says in the second reading that Jesus now intercedes for us before the Father in heaven. If Jesus, the Son of God, is interceding for us before the Father, then what could we be afraid of as long as we remain open to God? Not only that, but we also have Our Lady interceding for us. Is Jesus going to refuse his mother anything? Is the Father going to refuse Jesus anything? And these are the ones who are interceding for us.

 

In the Gospel the three disciples Peter, James and John are granted this wonderful and terrifying vision of Jesus, the Son of God, in all his glory. Try and picture Jesus with his garments suddenly becoming bright as light and his face like the sun. You can’t even look at the sun, but this is what they saw. Moses and Elijah were also there. How did they know it was them? Because they were given infused knowledge at that moment. They symbolised everything in the Old Testament, as we know it. Moses represented the Law, the Ten Commandments and all the teachings that came with those Commandments and Elijah represented all the prophets and all they taught. It was showing that Jesus was the fulfilment of everything that had been taught/revealed up to that point.

 

Why were they given this privilege when none of the others were? This happened just before the Passion, when Jesus would be tortured and killed before their eyes. Peter, James and John were also the three who would be with him in the Garden of Gethsemane watching him fall apart with fear. They were going to need great strength not to despair themselves, but what is especially worth noting is that after the vision was over they suddenly found themselves in a cloud where they could not see anything. Only then did they hear the voice of the Father speaking to them: 

‘This is my Son the Beloved.  Listen to him.’

 

God spoke to them when they were in a cloud. Have you ever been on a mountain when a cloud suddenly descended? It’s quite frightening because you cannot see anything. You have to stop and wait. Sometimes it is only when we are in a ‘cloud’ or darkness/confusion that God will speak to us most powerfully. When we cannot see the way forward, and we cannot get any clarity on what to do, then God will show us what the next step is, but often He will only show us the next step, not the whole path ahead. This brings us back to the need to trust that God knows what God is doing when He leaves us in the dark. We are often left in the dark, especially with regard to our faith. That just seems to be how it works. Think of when someone dies. We are left with so many questions and so few answers. We don’t understand, but God asks us to trust. God asked Abraham to trust him, because God knew he would be able to, even though He seemed to be asking the impossible. We are only shown one step at a time, if even that.  If He doesn’t show us the path it is because we don’t need to see it, only the next step.

 

At this time we are also hearing more and more voices pulling us in different directions, even within the Church. It can be distressing and give you the impression that everything is falling apart. It isn’t. It is sad to see disunity, but we don’t need to listen to those arguments, we only need to listen to what Jesus taught. That’s why we keep going back to the Scriptures and the official teachings of Jesus which come to us through our Church.

 

‘This is my Son, the Beloved.  Listen to him.’

 

1st Sunday of Lent. (Gospel: Mark 1:12-15) The temptations of Christ

 

Wilderness of Judea

 

Since I was ordained a priest almost 26 years ago, one of the temptations for me has been to wish that God would do more spectacular things through me, which would convince people of the presence of God. I believe that God does extraordinary things through the priesthood, most of all by becoming present in each mass when the bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood of Christ, but as you know it happens in a very humble and hidden way. It is not spectacular and if you don’t believe in it, then it just seems to be some kind of a strange religious ritual. So why doesn’t God do something more spectacular to help us believe?

 

The account of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness is an explanation as to why God doesn’t do more extraordinary signs and wonders to convince us of his presence. This is an extraordinary story because it must have come directly from Jesus himself, since no one was with him during this time of temptation. At some stage he must have told his apostles what happened there and what he had to go through. 

 

Jesus was about to embark on his public campaign to teach people about God and to win people over for God. For any campaign you must choose the weapons you are going to use. Jesus must have been aware that he had extraordinary powers, otherwise Satan wouldn’t have tempted him to use them. There would be no point in tempting any of us to turn stones into bread, because we know we couldn’t do it anyway. So this must have been a very real temptation for Jesus, to misuse his power.

 

The first thing Satan tempted him with, was to turn stones into bread. ‘If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread’ (Mat 4:3). Jesus was starving after having fasted for forty days. What harm would there be in doing this? He was being tempted to find satisfaction in material things. ‘Give people the material things that they want and they will love you.’ But Jesus said, ‘No. Man does not live on bread alone.’ The human being is not satisfied by material things alone. Jesus was saying, ‘I am not going to try and win people over by offering them just what they want.’ We are much deeper than that and we can only be fully satisfied by God because we are spiritual and not just physical.

 

The second temptation that Jesus was presented with, was to work signs and wonders for the people. Satan said to Jesus, ‘Throw yourself down from the temple since God will save you’ and he even quoted Scripture: ‘They will hold you upon their hands lest you hurt your foot against a stone’ (Mat 4:6). If Jesus started doing this then no doubt he would have thousands of followers in no time, as we are always intrigued by signs and wonders, but Jesus also rejected this, because he knew that the way he had to take was the way of service and the way of the cross, which would win people over heart by heart. You cannot buy love and that is why Jesus chose the humbler way, and left it open to us to see what God offers us and then to freely choose to follow him or not.

 

The third temptation was to compromise with evil: Satan said to Jesus, ‘Worship me and I will give you all this worldly power.’ This is a big temptation for most people. When you hear people say, ‘The Church needs to get with the times,’ they usually mean, the Church needs to ‘adapt’ (compromise) some of its teachings to meet the more difficult moral demands of our age. It is always a temptation for me as a priest to water down the teachings of God so that they are easier to hear. But that is not what we are asked to do and when Jesus was tempted this way, He rejected this too. He was being tempted to compromise with evil just a little bit, so that it would be easier for people to be convinced. But right is right and wrong is wrong. We must not compromise the ways of God. It is better to struggle with the truth, than to try and change it to suit ourselves. The teachings of God don’t need to change; we are the ones who need to change.

 

You can see at this time how groups within the Church are trying to compromise the Lord’s teaching, with accepting and blessing gay marriage and other ideas and incredibly the justification is that because of psychology and sociology ‘we know better now.’ To say we know better now, is saying that God’s word is wrong and that is a contradiction.

 

A lot of this started in Germany after many of the sexual abuse scandals, and they decided to look at what needed to change in the Church to win people back. Sadly, they started to do exactly what Jesus was tempted to do, that is, compromise with evil, change God’s teaching, so that it would be more appealing to people.  

 

One of the reasons why it is so important to keep reading Scripture each week, is to make sure we are not straying from the Lord’s teaching. God’s voice may seem to be quiet, but it is not, everything is spelt out for us in Scripture.

 

In St. John’s Gospel after Jesus worked the miracle of feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread, He then gave the teaching on the Eucharist and said, ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have life within you’ (Jn 6:53-56). It says that when He said this, many people stopped following him (Jn 6:66). What is interesting is Jesus’ reaction to the people walking away. He didn’t do anything. He let them walk away. He didn’t change anything He had said, because this was truth. The only thing He did was to ask the disciples if they were going to leave as well. No doubt the disciples didn’t understand it either, but they believed He was speaking truth and so they remained, but Jesus did not change anything He said.

 

At this time in history, we see so much of our society turning away from God and as a result our morals are slipping fast. This is the time for us to double down on what we believe is right and not give in to the temptations of our time. God’s truth is eternal and never changes. It does not need to change to make it easier for us to accept. We need to change to accept his truth. There is no middle ground when it comes to truth. We either accept it or reject it. Again and again Jesus said you are either with me, or against me. ‘Choose today life or death, blessing or curse.’

 

Moses said to the people, ‘This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live’ (Deut 30:19).

 

Recently I came across an article about a lady by the name of Dennita Miskimen, a teacher in Virginnia. She was just about to retire in 2022, having worked as a public school teacher for 23 years, when she once again met a drag queen walking down the corridor of her school. That was the final straw. She quit her job, which meant losing her pension, took out a loan and with great difficulty set up what is called the Little Red (Barn) Schoolhouse. It is a private nondenominational school, where they teach reading, writing and math. They say the pledge of allegiance, pray and teach the constitution and there is no LGBTQ or Critical Race Theory taught. Already their reading and writing standards are way ahead of public schools and there is a waiting list to get in. She is hoping to make it a franchise throughout the country. She felt God calling her to do this and she listened. (See the link below)

 

It is people like her, who refuse to give in to the immoral standards of so much of the public system, who will rebuild this country. She is a woman of faith and took a stand at a great risk to herself, just like all the people the Lord has called throughout the centuries. I wrote to her to thank her and sent her a donation.

 

The Lord is calling us to do the same. We must not compromise what we believe, or water down what God has taught us. What God teaches us is truth  and it is what works and we have to choose for or against it, just as Jesus taught.

 

Once again the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their magnificence. “Everything there I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

“Away with you Satan,” replied Jesus. “The scripture says, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve.’” (Mat 4:8-10).

 

 

Teacher Opens Own Schoolhouse, Teaches Bible, Reading, Math on Seeing Drag Queen in Public School | The Epoch Times

 

6th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 1:40-45) Beethoven and the mystery of suffering

 

One of the most difficult things that all of us have to face is the mystery of suffering. Why do people suffer? Why do good people, or children suffer? If God is all good and all powerful, then there shouldn’t be suffering. This is one of the most common arguments that people use to dismiss the existence of God. It is a mysterious thing and there is no simple answer, but there are different ways of looking at it.

 

Suffering was not God’s original intention for us, but because of the Fall, the initial rejection of God, suffering came into the world. But God in his goodness also uses it to help us grow. It seems to be one of the most powerful ways that we are purified, brought closer to God, grow in our spirit. It was the path that Jesus took to win heaven for us again, which means that it must have a value that we don’t understand. Padre Pio used to say that if we understood the value of suffering we would pray for it. Jesus says ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me’ (Matt 16:24).

 

We ask, ‘What good could possibly come from suffering?’ What good could possibly come from a man being illegally sentenced to death and crucified? And yet the suffering He went through changed the course of history forever.

 

The spiritual power that is in suffering is something that we can constantly offer to God, in atonement for our sins, for the conversion of others, for all the people we are praying for. Instead of complaining, offer it to God and I think we will be astonished what God did through the generosity of us offering our suffering.

 

Leprosy

Today we are given one of the many encounters of Jesus healing someone who had the terrible disease of leprosy. Apart from the fact that leprosy was physically so horrible, with a person’s flesh literally rotting on their body, it also had the added pain of excluding them from the community because of the fear of contamination. Anyone who had leprosy had to live outside the community. Notice how it says in the Gospel that when Jesus heals this man he ‘sternly warned him not to tell anyone,’ but in the man’s enthusiasm he couldn’t help himself and began talking about it everywhere.  Because of this people realised that Jesus had been in contact with a leper and so he could now be infected himself. It says that then Jesus had to stay outside the towns ‘in places where nobody lived.’ It’s possible this was because of the fear of infection, but probably also because so many people were coming to him.

 

I’m sure there were many thousands of people in Jesus’ time who also needed healing, but who didn’t ever get to meet Jesus.  Jesus healed those people who came to him and asked for help, but that would have been relatively few. Do you ever wonder why the Lord allowed so many others to remain sick, or why He allows us to be sick?  Is it possible that any good can come out of the sicknesses we have to go through?

 

There is a beautiful story about the composer Ludvig Von Beethoven (1770-1827). Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany and he had quite a sad life. He suffered from a great lack of affection, because his mother died when he was very young and his father was an alcoholic who used to beat him. His father eventually died as a drunk on the streets. His biological brother never helped him either and on top of it all, symptoms of deafness started to disturb him, leaving him nervous and irritable. There was however, a German prince who became his benefactor and was like a second father to him, but then the prince died and between his deafness and loneliness, he went into a terrible depression and eventually began to wonder whether there was any point in him going on living.

 

At that stage Beethoven could only hear using a kind of horn-shaped trumpet in his ear. He always carried with him a notebook, so that he could write and communicate with others, but many didn’t have the patience for this and so he began to feel more isolated and alone. Feeling that nobody understood him or wanted to help him, Beethoven withdrew more and more into himself and avoided people. He became so depressed that he prepared his will, saying that maybe it was better for him to commit suicide, but then God’s providence intervened. 

 

A young blind woman who lived in the same boarding house where Beethoven had moved to, told him one night, shouting into his ears: “I would give everything to see the moonlight.” Listening to her, Beethoven was moved to tears because he realised that he could see and he could compose music and write it on paper! A strong will to live came back to him and led him to compose one of his most beautiful pieces: “Mondscheinsonate” – “Moonlight Sonata”.

 

In its main theme, the melody imitates and resembles the slow steps of people, possibly of Beethoven himself and others, carrying the coffin of the German prince, his friend, patron and benefactor. Some music scholars say that the notes that repeat themselves, insistently, in the main theme of the 1^st movement of the Sonata, might be the syllables of the words “Warum? Warum”? (Why? Why?) or another similar word. Years later, having overcome his sorrow, Beethoven wrote the incomparable “Ode to Joy” from his “Ninth Symphony”, Beethoven’s magnum opus, which crowned the life work of this remarkable composer.

 

He conducted the first performance himself in 1824. By then because he was totally deaf and he failed to hear the applause. One of the soloists gently turned him around to see the hall full of a wildly cheering crowd. It is said the “Ode to Joy” expresses Beethoven’s gratitude to life and to God for not having committed suicide.  All this was thanks to that blind young woman, who inspired in him the desire to translate into musical notes, a moonlit night. Using his skill, Beethoven, the composer, who could not hear, portrayed through this beautiful melody, the beauty of a night bathed by the moonlight, for a girl who could not see it with her physical eyes.

 

We do not know why we have to suffer, but I have no doubt that more good comes out of it than we realise. No doubt the blind girl who inspired Beethoven could never have imagined that any good could have come from her being blind and yet look what happened. She inspired Beethoven not to give up and to go on to right some of his most beautiful music. 

 

I am sure that when we get to heaven we will be amazed at how many parts of our life that don’t seem to make any sense now, will all fit together. 

 

 

5th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 1:29-39) Teaching before healing

 

 

It is interesting that 2500 years ago when the first reading from Job (7:1-4, 6-7) was written, they were asking the same questions that we still ask today? ‘Why do we have to work so hard? What is the point of it all? Why is our life often so difficult? Why is it that good people often suffer so much for no apparent reason?’ Throughout the centuries people continually ask the same questions. Sometimes it takes a dramatic event like a tsunami or an earthquake, where thousands are killed in an instant, to make people ask themselves these questions. One minute all those people were just getting on with their daily lives, the next minute the tsunami struck and they were gone. If we can suddenly be snatched away like that, then what is the purpose of our being here?  Is there any purpose, or is it all chance? The Lord teaches us that there most certainly is a purpose to our being here and nothing is by chance.

 

During his life on earth Jesus continually worked extraordinary miracles—just as we read in today’s Gospel—and as a result thousands of people were drawn to him looking for healing, just like we do today when we hear of someone who has been given a gift of healing, but this was not the main purpose of Jesus’ being here. Jesus was happy to heal people because he had great compassion for people, but primarily he wanted to teach people, to teach us about God and about the reason why we are here. When you think about it, all the people he healed and even brought back to life from the dead, they all eventually got sick again and died. So he wanted to teach us that we are loved by God and we are not here by accident; that our life has a purpose and is going somewhere; that it is worth keeping going even when we are suffering, and above all the mission of his life was to die for us so that we could get to heaven when we die.

 

When the disciples found him alone, praying, the first thing they told him was that everyone was looking for him. There was so much work to do, so many people to heal. But look how he responded: ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.’ That is why I came: to preach and teach. But why is it so important to teach us? Wouldn’t it be much better just to heal us? Physical healing is important and Jesus knew that, but he also knew that if we have meaning, if we have purpose, that is much more valuable to us. 

 

What is also interesting is the way that He taught. He mostly used parables. The reason why that is different is that a parable does not always give you a obvious explanation. It points you in a particular direction, but you must go on searching for the truth if you are to discover the meaning. Why is that important? Because it engages us in the work of searching for and discovering the truth. It makes us think and also use our imagination. In other words, he didn’t just shove a set of teachings down our throat and say ‘that’s it.’ He invites us to search for the truth.

 

When I began my ministry as a priest I worked as a hospital chaplain, I remember meeting a man who had been suffering for most of his life. He had had operation after operation and he was in pain most of the time. But when I met him he was smiling and he said, ‘Father I have so much to be grateful for.’ It was very humbling to hear this. Why was he grateful? Because he had faith and he had purpose. He understood that his life had meaning and that it was going somewhere. He believed that this life was not everything and that it was worth persevering, despite his difficulties. Having that purpose is what makes all the difference and that is what our faith gives us. It doesn’t take away the pain, but it helps to make sense of why we are here. It reminds us that God does want us to be happy, that that is what He created us for. It also reminds us that it is worth putting up with the various struggles we have to go through, because they are often what make us into better people. The suffering will not last forever. Sooner or later we will cross over to the next world where our happiness will be complete, unless we have rejected God. Having that hope is what makes all the difference and that is why Jesus kept moving around and teaching people, so that they would have the strength to keep going especially when times were more difficult.

 

The rate of suicide is increasing at a frightening rate at this time. The reasons for it are often complicated, but I have no doubt that one of the reasons is that people have lost faith. If you have no faith, no sense of purpose, then where do you turn to when you are suffering, or when everything seems to have gone wrong? When we do have faith, it changes everything. We know that there is a reason why we were created and there is a purpose to us being here. We have the strength to keep going, even when we are struggling, because we know that no matter how bad it gets, it is temporary. We also know from our faith that suffering is part of the journey. We look to Jesus. His path was the path of suffering. The struggles we go through have the potential to make us into better people, depending on how we respond to it.

 

Why were we created? Just as our natural instinct is to share our joy with other people—think of weddings, birthdays, the birth of a child—in the same way God created us to share in his happiness. But He also gave us this time on earth to learn to love or not, to choose for God or not. We have the freedom to accept or reject God, just as children have the freedom to love or reject their parents. It is heartbreaking when they do, but sadly it happens quite often. You cannot force someone to love you.

 

To understand that we were created out of love and have a purpose, gives us an inner strength that nothing else can replace. Our greatest mission is to serve God and love the people around us, wherever we are planted. Earthly honors are great and we should strive to use our talents to the best of our ability, but loving people is more important than anything else, because in doing that we imitate God. Jesus’ life was a life of love, service and self-sacrifice. We are called to the same.

 

It also says that Jesus continually went off to lonely places to pray. He kept turning to the Father to receive the strength and direction that He needed for his mission. It also says that before He chose the Apostles, Jesus spent the whole night in prayer. That tells us that that is where we need to turn too, that is, to God in prayer. Our life may not be easy, but God offers us the strength and direction we need to face it. And we can never say that we are on our own on this journey. Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist which we can receive every day if we wish. All the guidance we could ask for is handed to us in the Scriptures.

 

Meanwhile we will continue to pray and look for healing and it is right that we do, but it is also good to remember that the hope we have in God is worth more than any physical healing, because that is what will keep us going. 

 

‘Rising very early before dawn, He left and went off to a deserted place where He prayed.’ (Mark 1:39)

4th Sunday of Year B (Gospel: Mark 1:21-28) Power is made perfect in weakness.

 

If you were asked to choose someone for the priesthood or religious life, what kind of person would you look for? Someone enthusiastic about their faith and hopefully well grounded psychologically. Someone who had a good background, preferably not a scandalous background. Definitely not someone with extremist views. These are the kind of characteristics we would usually look for.

 

Then we turn to some of the people God chose and continues to choose. Very often they were the kind of people that would be turned away from priesthood, because they were not well grounded, or psychologically unstable, or extremists. I have often heard Franciscans joke that if St. Francis applied to the Franciscan order today, he would be refused, as he would be considered way too radical.

 

One person we read about all the time, who was a religious extremist, was St. Paul. He was a Jewish extremist, a Pharisee and an expert in the Law and bent on destroying the Christians. He had permits to imprison Christians and he oversaw the killing of at least one person, St. Stephen. It’s quite likely he approved of other killings too. He was the equivalent of one of the leaders of ISIS, or other extreme groups like them. He was a dangerous man for Christians.

 

Then out of the blue Jesus appeared to him. He did not know who Jesus was. When he had this vision and Jesus said, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ He replied, ‘Who are you sir?’ He didn’t know who Jesus was. It is interesting that Jesus didn’t say, ‘I am Jesus and you are persecuting my followers.’ He said, ‘You are persecuting me.’ To persecute Christians is to persecute Jesus, because from our baptism we are intimately linked to him, as we receive the gift of God’s Spirit. We are part of his mystical body.

 

After this vision, Paul went into Damascus and stayed there for three days. He was completely blind after the vision. He remained there until a man named Ananias was sent to him. Jesus also appeared to Ananias and told him to go to Saul. But listen to his reaction to Jesus telling him to go to Saul (who becomes Paul).

‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to all your holy people. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’ (Acts 9:13-14).

 

He was basically saying, ‘Are you crazy? Do you realize who this man is?!’ That was the human response. In other words, no one in their right mind would choose him. It says that some of the first times he went to preach to the Christians they were afraid of him, because they didn’t believe his conversion could be real. Who would blame them?

 

Another man was king David. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband murdered, to cover his tracks. After he repented he eventually took Bathsheba as his wife, but later the child they conceived was the future king Solomon who brought peace to Israel and built the temple, one of the most important events for the Jewish people.

 

Moses also murdered a man when he was a young man. He then had to flee the country so that he would not be killed himself. But fifty or so years later God sent him to rescue the people of Israel.

 

What this tells us is that our past does not disqualify us from being pleasing to God, or even an instrument of God. I think we often have the impression that our past sins leave us displeasing to God, or inadequate in some way. But the Scriptures tell us the opposite. As long as we repent of our sins, then we can be at peace.

 

After Paul came to believe in Jesus, he went away for three years to Arabia and only then did he go to check with the other Apostles if what Jesus had revealed to him, was the same as what Jesus had taught the Apostles and it was. Everything he learnt, was directly from Jesus appearing to him. That is also a wonderful confirmation that what the Apostles taught was also from Jesus and not in any way made up.

 

After Paul was converted, many people are converted through his preaching and he worked many extraordinary miracles and Jesus appeared to him several other times as well. Now you would think that since he is now living a holy life and no longer struggling with his own weaknesses. But what he says about his own struggles is very comforting. He seems to have struggled with some weakness in particular, although he doesn’t say what it was, but this is what he writes about it:

‘Because of the abundance of these revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan to beat me, to keep me from becoming too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this that it might leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’’

 (2 Cor 12:7-9).

 

God is not put off by our weaknesses and in fact they serve a purpose. As long as we are struggling, we are aware of how much we need God’s help and mercy and so, frustrating as they are, the Lord allows us to have them, so that He can go on working through us. We are more effective instruments when we are aware of how weak we are. This should help us never to become discouraged. God’s power is not hindered by the fact that we are weak and in fact our struggles are the very things that can help us to stay close to God.

 

In regard to his struggling with sin, St. Paul also wrote this: ‘I do not understand what I do. What I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.’ (Rom 7:14). You wouldn’t believe how many times I have heard people say that, word for word, in confession. It means that the struggle with sin, is also part of the journey and we shouldn’t be afraid of it. All that matters is that we keep trying.

 

The devil tries to discourage us and shame us. He accuses us: ‘You are a hypocrite, you are a fraud, you could never be pleasing to God. How can you even call yourself a Christian.’ Accusation after accusation. Jesus called him ‘The Accuser.’ He tries to discourage us and pull us away from God, but the Lord is always the one to encourage us. God confronts us when we sin, because He loves us, so that we might repent of sin. But God is always the one to encourage us.

 

So the next time you think that you could not be pleasing to God because you are weak, read what St. Paul struggled with and you will find we are in good company.

 

‘Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’’

(2 Cor 12:9).

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. (Gospel: Mark 1:14-20) The Eucharist and skepticism

 

An ‘In Pew’ survey in 2019 said that of all Catholics who go to mass regularly, only 63% believe that the bread and wine really and truly become the body and blood of Christ. That means that 33% of practicing Catholics don’t believe in the real presence, which is very disturbing. It also said that 43% aren’t even aware that the Church’s teaching is that during each mass, at the consecration, when the priest says ‘This is my Body which will be given up for you’… and ‘This is the chalice of my Blood…’ the bread and wine really and truly become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Church’s teaching is that in each mass, when the priest says the words of consecration, the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ and it comes from what Christ said himself. But from the beginning many people didn’t believe it and wouldn’t accept it.

 

In St. John’s Gospel after working the miracle of multiplying the loaves and feeding 5000 people, Jesus began to say something which many people found impossible to accept. He said,

‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ (Jn 6:51)

 

‘If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you cannot have life within you. (Jn 6:53). For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink’ (Jn 6:55).

 

After Jesus gave this teaching it says, ‘After this, many disciples withdrew and no longer followed him’ (Jn 6:66). It is interesting that Jesus didn’t try to explain what he meant. He just let them walk away. The only thing he did was to turn to the Apostles and say, ‘What about you? Are you going to leave too.’ (John 6:67)

 

A 'Mass Rock' where mass was celebrated in secret during times of persecution

In Matthew’s account of the last supper Jesus says, ‘This is my body which will be given up for you. Do this in memory of me.’.. ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be given for you.’ (Matthew 26:26-27)

 

In Mark’s Gospel: ‘Take it; this is my body which will be given for you… This is my blood of the covenant which will be shed for many.’ (Mark 14:22-24)

 

In Luke’s Gospel, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me… This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, which is poured our for you.’ (Luke 22:19-20).

 

The Eucharist isn’t just a symbol, but really and truly the Body and Blood of Christ.

 

A priest friend of mine, who was also an exorcist, had to meet a lady one time who was practicing witchcraft. He met her in a hotel lobby. As soon as she approached him, she stopped and said, ‘There is something in your pocket I don’t like.’ He was carrying the Eucharist and she wouldn’t go near him until he left it in his car. Another lady who was also practicing witchcraft was able to identify one host which was consecrated, out of a pile of unconsecrated hosts. It is also interesting that people who practice satanic worship, will try to steal a consecrated host from a Catholic church. They know it is real, even though many Catholics don’t believe it.

 

Carlo Acutis

To date there have been over 140 confirmed Eucharistic miracles. A young Italian man named Carlo Acutis put together a whole website just about this. MIRACOLI EUCARISTICI - Mostra Internazionale Ideata e Realizzata da Carlo Acutis e Nicola Gori

Many continue to be skeptical, but this is the Lord’s teaching.

 

I want to tell you about one eucharistic miracle which happened to a lady called Marthe Robin.

 

Marthe Robin (1902-81)

 

Marthe Robin was born into a peasant farming family, the youngest of six, on 13 March 1902 in Châteauneuf-de-Galaure (Drôme, in SE France).  ^­Interestingly her parents were non-practicing Catholics, but from an early age she had a great desire to pray. She only had elementary school education and after that worked on the farm.

 

In 1903 Marthe and her older sister Clemence, both contracted typhoid fever, from which her sister died. Marthe came close to death but recovered, however this left her very weak for the rest of her life.

 

Marthe Robin who often experienced the passion on Fridays

In 1918 she became very ill again and went into a coma for four days. She eventually recovered from this, but in 1928 after developing encephalitis, she became completely paralyzed from the waist down. It also left her partly blind and unable to tolerate light, so she ended up living bedridden in a dark room. The encephalitis also made it almost impossible for her to swallow.

 

From the age of twenty on, she began to experience visitations from the Virgin Mary and also from Jesus.

 

From 1925 onwards she began to have mystical experiences, giving her a great desire for the Eucharist. From 1930 onwards, no longer being able to swallow, she ate no food except the Eucharist until the end of her life 51 years later. During this time she also began to experience the passion of Christ every Friday. It is believed that over 100,000 people visited her during her lifetime.

 

For 51 years she lived on nothing but the Eucharist. This was witnessed by many priests and bishops and believed to be genuine. When people questioned her about this, she pointed to St. John’s Gospel where Jesus said,

 

‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ (Jn 6:51)

‘If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you cannot have life within you. (Jn 6:53). For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink’ (Jn 6:55).

 

I think it’s good to read up on some of these miracles as they are very inspiring and the Lord has given them to us to help us believe. Also, ask God to help you believe if you struggle with this teaching.

 

‘This is my Body which will be given up for you.’

2nd Sunday of Year B (Gospel: John 1:35-42) The body is not meant for immorality

 

Marino Restrepo

There is a man named Marino Restrepo who was born in 1950 in Columbia. His family owned a large coffee planation and were quite well off. Although he was brought up Catholic, he stopped practicing at the age of fourteen. During his teens in the 60s he met up with two different American girls from California, who introduced him to the idea of ‘free love’, helping him to be sexually ‘liberated’ and to drugs. He eventually married the second girl when she became pregnant. They moved to Germany and later to the US. He became a successful producer, actor and song-writer in Hollywood. Gradually he got into every kind of New Age and pagan practice and an increasingly hedonistic lifestyle; a life of pleasure and drugs. Being promiscuous was just part of his life-style and he said that this was the world of Hollywood.

 

In December 1997, at the age of 47, he visited home for Christmas. After partying with his family, he left to visit one of his uncles. When he got to his house he found the gates locked, which was unusual. Just then he was surrounded by armed, masked men. He was kidnapped and after a couple of days found himself deep in one of the jungles not far from where he grew up. He had been kidnapped by FARC rebels, who were hoping to get ransom money from his family.

 

He spent the following six months bound, with a cover over his face, lying in a cave. He almost died from malnutrition and the psychological torture that he was put through. They were not able to get the money they had hoped for from his family and he was sure they were going to kill him.

 

One night during this ordeal, he had a spiritual experience which lasted about eight hours. He was given an illumination of conscience, where God showed him his whole life up to that point and how far he had separated himself from God. God allowed him to see the state of his soul before God. He was able to see the exact moment when he rejected God during his teens and began to live a sinful life. In the world’s eyes he was becoming liberated and very successful in his career, even though he was living a more and more sinful life. God showed him that if he had died at that time, he would have gone to hell, because of his total rejection of God by the way he was living. He had been living in mortal sin for thirty-three years.

 

As you can imagine this experience brought about his conversion. After six months he was unexpectedly released and after a time of readjustment from being so traumatized, he went to confession and poured his heart out. Since then he gave up his career in Hollywood and has spent the last 27 years of his life travelling around the world giving his testimony.

 

During his illumination of conscience God also revealed to him in great depth, the nature and seriousness of sin, which he wrote about in a book called From Darkness into the Light. One thing that God showed him was especially how damaging sexual sin is. The ‘free-love’ movement of the sixties, which seemed to be progress and liberation in the eyes of our world, was in fact demonic, as it began to lead more and more people into serious sin and farther from God. What was once considered sinful, sleeping with someone outside of marriage—fornication—gradually came to be seen as normal. Sin was normalized. But God showed him that sexual intimacy is only meant for marriage, something that would almost be considered naïve today.

 

God made marriage a sacred bond between a man and a woman, which is meant to support them both and give them the security for new life in the right environment. When a child is conceived outside of marriage, it is usually seen as a problem. When a child is conceived within marriage it is usually seen as a gift. Marriage provides the right loving environment into which children can enter the world. Marriage also has God’s blessing and grace to help the couple. I know it does not always work out this way, but this is God’s plan for us.

 

Artificial contraception also encouraged fornication, which in turn lead to more and more abortion. I have no doubt that abortion is probably one of, if not the greatest sin against God, because it is the destruction of life which comes from God, at its very beginning. If sexual relations were kept within marriage, abortion would drop drastically, as would sexually transmitted diseases. God in his wisdom knows what works and keeps showing us what works, but we must listen.

The first step to ending abortion is to help our young people to understand that it is not ok to sleep around before they are married; that in fact this is serious sin in God’s eyes and every time it happens we separate ourselves more and more from God.

 

Why is sexual sin more serious than other sin? God made us in his image and God’s Spirit dwells within us from baptism, which means our body is a sacred thing. When a child is conceived God also creates a soul for that new life, which is immortal. The love between a man and a woman has the potential to become another life, which is imitating God. The love between the Father and the Son, is another life, the Spirit. Human sexuality mirrors God, which is why it is so sacred. That is also why Satan attacks it so much. Satan does everything to try and lead us away from God, simply because he hates God and hates God’s creation.

 

The Lord also showed this to the Apostles, which is why they wrote about it. The second reading today is addressing exactly this:

“Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Cor 6:18)

 

“Do you not know that neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who practice homosexual acts… will inherit the kingdom of heaven.”

(1 Cor 6:9)

 

The Apostles didn’t just decide this. The Lord showed them this, just as He showed Marino Restrepo the exact same thing in his experience. It is easy to get the impression that these teachings just applied to cultures centuries ago and that they are no longer relevant, but that’s why the Lord continues to give people different experiences, like Marino Restrepo and many others, so that we will realize it is just the same today. What was sinful remains sinful. What used to separate us from God will still separate us from God and it is only in God we will find our happiness, which means that anything sinful we need to take seriously.

 

Marino Restrepo was not a bad person, but the life he was living was extremely sinful before God and would have cost him losing heaven forever if he had died then. The Lord does not want that for any of us, but we must listen.

 

One of the lines in Scripture which I believe we need to hear often, is this:

[Jesus said] “It is not those who say, “Lord, Lord…” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

 

Everything that God shows us is to help us. God’s design works, which is why He gave us the Scriptures, to show us in black and white what to do and what to avoid.

“For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”