11 – 16 JANUARY 2021, HOLY MASS REFLECTIONS
11 JANUARY 2021, HEBREWS 1. 2-6; MARK 1. 14-20
Focus: Kingdom of God is not a location but a situation of a life of faith and conversion. It needs both members to be part of it and promoters to make others part of it
Jesus begins his ministry. Immediately he makes very clear the focus and essentials of this ministry. The goal is the Kingdom of God and to get closer to it. The requirements and means are repentance and faith in the gospel. To repent means not merely feeling sorry for the wrong; rather, it arouses a profound anguish for failing and offending God. Further, it is also a genuine and radical turning away from all sin and evil. A true repentance not only abstains from particular acts of sin, but also cuts off one’s links and clinging to sin. Turning away from evil opens up to turning toward God. Anguish over offence to God opens up to passion and surrender to God. This is what faith is and what faith does. Thus, repentance and conversion on one hand, and love and surrender on the other hand are one whole of a true faith. This is truly belonging to the Kingdom. This is the mission of Jesus.
To carry out this mission, some ministers are needed. Hence he calls some disciples. The invitation to them is both a personal privilege and a mandated mission. That is, upgrading and elevating them from being mere fishermen to being fishers of souls. And their mission is to "fish" souls for God. What is needed from their part is to respond and receive the call, to renounce everything and to dedicate themselves totally to his following.
Direction: God's call is always elevating: it raises us to a new dignity. It is His grace to call us, dignify us and empower us. It is also our responsibility to respond and cooperate selflessly to His grace. This is our vocation and mission
12 JANUARY 2021, HEBREWS 2. 5-12; MARK 1. 21-28
Focus: Real authority is not a matter of some external power to dominate and subjugate others; but it is the experience and exercise of a deep interior and spiritual power
People find Jesus different from their authorities - the scribes and Pharisees. What distinguishes him from them is his authority in his teaching and acting. But, it is not a formal or juridical authority which derives from a certain office or position. For, Jesus had no such power and authority. But he had a tremendous spiritual authority and a moral authority. It is an authority that is rooted in his communion with the Father. It is also an authority that blossoms and manifests itself in a sound character and conduct. It is this authority that gives his teaching conviction and clarity, and his acting the power of healing. It is the power of God that is seen in holiness and goodness, in spirituality and integrity, in faith and charity, in devotion and dedication. It is the power that challenges and expels the evil powers. It is the power that changes one to God and impels and fosters the spiritual energies. Precisely it is this power and authority that was lacking in the Pharisees and scribes, but was abounding in Jesus. Hence the difference! It is this spiritual and moral authority which is badly needed today from every follower of Christ. A follower of Christ should be a deeply spiritual and moral person. All the more, those in authority must make sure that their role is not a power-wielding tool, but a grace-building channel.
Direction: Preaching eloquently and healing of evil spirits are not mere matters of special gifts of the Spirit but are to be marks of authenticity. Spiritual and moral authority are much more important than mere juridical authority
13 JANUARY 2021, HEBREWS 2. 14-18; MARK 1. 29-39
Focus: God became one of us and one like us in every respect except sin, so that he knows our fragility and struggle and come to our rescue
So touchingly, the letter to Hebrews draws our attention to the infinite sensitivity of God toward us. Being deeply sensitive to our misery of bondage, God sends His Son to be like us, to make expiation for our sins. He is able to help us, because he himself has suffered and been tempted. The whole ministry of Jesus shows this divine sensitivity and solidarity toward the suffering humanity. He preaches the good news, offering comfort and hope to the downcast. He heals the sick. He liberates those in bondage by driving out demons. He cures Peter's mother-in-law of her fever and cures many of their infirmities.
Receiving the gospel and the healing from the Lord, what next? What is our response and duty? When touched and cured by the Lord, we need to share it with others and serve them. This is what Peter's mother-in-law did and those who got healed by Jesus. The world of today needs so much the gospel of comfort and hope. It stands in need of liberation from many oppressing forces. It needs healing from many contagions. The world needs rediscovery, restoration and re-integration of the lost energies and the lost beauty and joy of life. Only that is the real effect of Jesus' redemptive mission.
Direction: It is not enough that we listen to God's call and are healed but we need to immediately share the same in constant sensitivity and service.
14 JANUARY 2021, HEBREWS 3. 7-14; MARK 1. 40-45
Focus: God never despises us because of our misery and despicability due to sin. He is ever compassionate toward us to stretch out his hand and to touch us
We need humility and surrender to receive and experience God's presence and power. The leper in the gospel had this humility and surrender. In humility he pleads with Jesus, "If you wish, you can make me clean", and he surrenders himself totally to his healing touch. Jesus too immediately responds in caring assurance, "I wish, be healed". While humility and surrender lead to healing, healing too leads to a duty of spreading the same powerful goodness of the Lord, far and wide, like the healed leper.
But, sadly on the contrary, there is so much hardness of heart and rebellion. This is what the first reading, the letter to Hebrews cautions us. Though the people of Israel abundantly witnessed God’s mercy and benevolence, yet they rebelled so stubbornly again and again. They hardened their hearts and fell away from the living God. The same danger is always very real in our case as well. There are always the forces of sin to deceive us and lead us astray. We may easily become hard-hearted and rebellious. We must ever take care to hold fast and firm to our faith.
Direction: There is no need to lose heart at our fragilities and failures. All that is needed is trust, humility and surrender to confide in God and be healed.
15 JANUARY 2021, HEBREWS 4. 1-11; MARK 2. 1-12
Focus: God always promises His abundant blessings, and the greatest is rest and serenity here and now and the eternal “rest” in heaven. It needs faith to believe and to live worthy of those promises
In today’s gospel, Jesus heals a paralytic. He not only heals him physically, but also pronounces, “Your sins are forgiven”. This becomes a moment of controversy. While the simple people glorify God, the scribes blame him for blasphemy. They fail to see Jesus’ power and sinless heart. They do not see the authenticity and depth of his spirituality. They do not appreciate his integrity of life. They do not feel happy at his kindness and selfless service. They cannot tolerate his solidarity with all, in a spirit of equity and justice, rising above all prejudices and discriminations. They feel threatened. They boil with jealousy. They are totally at disease and at loss, because he becomes a question mark, a challenge against their own hypocrisy, shallow spirituality, self-righteousness and lack of sensitivity and charity. They cannot come up to his level. Therefore, the only way is to bring down his level. Consequently, they attribute wrong motives to him. They show him in the wrong light. They blame his intimacy with God as blasphemy, his compassion as breach of law, his mercy as social defiance. They make use of every opportunity to demonstrate their stiff resentment and resistance to him.
It is in this context, Jesus appreciates the friends of the paralytic who carry him and make an opening in the roof to reach Jesus, amidst the crowd. He hints at the lack of faith of the Jews. He also points to the sickening and harmful effect of sin, in declaring, "your sins are forgiven". He further indicates that the release from sin is more important than from any other sickness.
Direction: What God wants and aims at is not so much the physical health but much more the spiritual and the holistic health.
16 JANUARY 2021, HEBREWS 4. 12-16; MARK 2. 13-17
Focus: God's ways are always mysterious and incomprehensible. It is better to surrender to them. To understand God’s ways, we need to rise beyond the merely human thinking and reasoning
God chooses whom He wants, often quite contrary to the human expectations and calculations. Often, we are caught up within our mental frameworks and prejudices. We decide and insist that things should happen only that way, or that others must behave only that way. We apply the same human measurements and calculations to God as well. We tend to put conditions and restrictions even to God’s grace, deciding whom He should bless, how much, when and how. We feel jealous even with regard to God’s mercy and generosity. This is what happens in the case of Levi. The call of Levi, a tax collector is totally unexpected and rather disillusioning for many. When Jesus calls him and goes to feast at his house, the Pharisees and scribes rise on their feet and begin to criticise Jesus, questioning, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But Jesus' choice is unconditioned and gratuitous. He does not go by human labels and categories, mental or social. He chooses not so much on the basis of what one has been and what one has been doing. But his choice is in view of what one will be and what one can be doing. One may be anything or nothing before being called but surely will be somebody and will do something. Jesus came, not to gather and entertain and elevate the righteous but to seek and transform the sinners into the righteous. He declares convincingly: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners”.
The call of Levi must make us to re-reflect on our own vocation. We must become deeply aware of its immense value and grow in humble gratitude. We must also rededicate ourselves to strive to live worthy of our call. For this, we need to be always open to the reflecting and living of the Word of God, as the first reading from the letter to the Hebrews reminds us. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing to the soul and spirit. We need honesty and openness to realise what we are and to become what we must be.
Direction: The merit of one's vocation is nothing personal, not what one is, but what one will become and do for God. Left to ourselves, no one deserves to be called!
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