Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Mark 3:22-30
Meanwhile, the teachers of the law, who had come from Jerusalem, said, “He is in the power of Beelzebul: the chief of the demons helps him to drive out demons.” Jesus called them to him, and began teaching them by means of stories, or parables. “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a nation is divided by civil war, that nation cannot stand. If a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive. In the same way, if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he will not stand; he is finished.

No one can break into the house of a strong man in order to plunder his goods, unless he first ties up the strong man. Then indeed, he can plunder his house. Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, however numerous. But whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He carries the guilt of his sin forever.” This was their sin when they said, “He has an unclean spirit in him.”

Reflections
"Whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven."
Many scholars have pondered what it means to “slander the Holy Spirit”—a sin, according to Jesus, that “will never be for­ given.” Perhaps such a sin renders us impervious to remorse or con­version, and thus puts us beyond the scope of forgiveness. In this context, however, the meaning seems clear enough. It is Jesus’ response to the shocking accusation of his enemies that he is only able to drive out demons because he is in league with Beelzebul, the chief of the demons. Over and over, Jesus has offered signs of healing power. Where the sick are made whole, where the poor receive the good news, where the oppressed are set free—these are the signs of the Holy Spirit, the in­breaking of God’s kingdom. But because these signs do not come in some officially “church­ sponsored” package, there are religious people who fail to re­cognize them, even dismissing them as being from the devil. This, according to Jesus, is slan­der against the Holy Spirit, worse even than an “insult to God.” God forbid that we should fail to per­ceive the presence of the Spirit in our midst. All the worse if we abuse and slander its witnesses, and thus carry the guilt of that sin forever.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
Several people have set themselves to relate the events that have taken place among us, as they were told by the first witnesses, who later became ministers of the word. After I, myself, had carefully gone over the whole story from the beginning, it seemed right for me to give you, Theophilus, an orderly account, so that your Excellency may know the truth of all you have been taught. Jesus acted with the power of the Spirit; and on his return to Galilee, the news about him spread throughout all that territory.

He began teaching in the synagogues of the Jews and everyone praised him.When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me, to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim liberty to captives; and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed; and to announce the Lord’s year of mercy.”Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he said to them, “Today, these prophetic words come true, even as you listen.”

Lectio Divina
READ: When Ezra read the book of the law, the people answered “Amen!” rejoicing to hear the Word of God. St. Paul tells us that members of the church are not simply those who hear the Word, but they are actual members of Christ’s body. In today’s Gospel Jesus also reads aloud from Holy Scripture with the astounding comment: that God’s prophecies have come to life, today, in their hearing.
REFLECT: We may imagine the Church as a pyramid, with bishops at the top, clergy underneath, and ordinary people at the bottom. But St. Paul offers a different image­ the Body of Christ—in which every member, each with his or her own gifts, is precious. In fact, the parts of the body that may seem merely ordi­nary may be the parts most needed. Not all are apostles! But those who put their more “ordinary” gifts at the service of God’s people are essential to the health of the Body.
PRAY: Lord, help me to know my gifts, and how I may put these at the service of your people.
ACT: Try to name the gifts that God has given you— whether “great” or “small” and consider how you might put them at the service of God’s people.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Mark 3:20-21
They went home. The crowd began to gather again and they couldn’t even have a meal. Knowing what was happening, his relatives came to take charge of him. “He is out of his mind,” they said.

Reflections
“He is out of his mind.”
Many of the saints had to overcome opposition from own families. When St. Clare ran off to join St. Francis and his bro­thers, her relatives tried to drag her back by force. When Thomas Aquinas wished to join the Do­minicans, his family had him locked in the family castle. Even Pope Francis, as a young man, found it difficult to confide in his parents that he felt called to the priesthood. Parents want their children to be successful and happy—according to their own notions. They find it difficult to accept that their children want something different: to choose a path that gives them meaning, even if it is a hard path. No doubt the disciples’ pa­rents worried when their sons left home to follow a strange, wandering rabbi—to see “where he was staying.” How much their worries must have increased when they heard about the controversy and conflict that surrounded Jesus. Had their chil­dren been caught up in a dangerous cult? Even the relatives of Jesus feared that he was “out of his mind” and tried to take charge of him. Perhaps that is why he rejected the claims of kinship, proclaiming that those who did the will of God were his true rela­tives.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Mark 16:15-18
Then he told them, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned. Signs like these will accompany those who have believed: in my name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

Reflections
“Proclaim the Good News to all.”
Certain Christian fundamen­talists seize literally on this gos­pel text, speaking in tongues, handling snakes, and effecting cures through the laying on of hands. Apart from the latter, these “signs” of faith seem not to have played a role in the com­munity that followed Jesus, or in the early church. In contrast, the Acts of the Apostles focuses on a very different form of mi­raculous sign: the conversion of Saul, a zealous persecutor of the church, who as Paul will become one of its most effective mis­sionaries. Saul had participated in the death of Stephen, the first martyr in the church. He was on a mission to Damascus to seek out Christians for punishment when he was thrown from his horse and confronted by the voice of the Lord: “I am Jesus whom you persecute. ”When he went on to proclaim the gospel, the Christians were astonished—and no doubt sus­picious. But there was no doub­ting his faith and conviction. In the words of the famous hymn: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, and now am found, was blind and now I see.” There are signs even more marvelous—and more produc­tive ­­than picking up snakes or drinking poison.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019