Fourth Friday in Ordinary Time

Friday, February 7, 2025

Fourth Week of the Year

Mark 6:14-29. Year I: Hebrews 13:1-8; Psalm 27:1-9 (Lectionary 327) https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010725.cfm

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Jesus’ reputation was becoming widespread —due in part, perhaps, to the mission of the Twelve. People were beginning to wonder who Jesus was.

Some said he was “Elijah,” because the Lord had said through the prophet Malachi (3:23): “I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great… day of the LORD.” Others said he was “a prophet.” By this time Herod had put John the Baptizer to death, and some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead; that is why such power is at work in him.” When Herod heard the rumors, he drew his own conclusion: “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” No one was suggesting Jesus might be the Messiah.

He got the principle right: the only explanation for the divine work taking place in the Church in any day is that Jesus is alive and working in the members of his body. Herod was just wrong in his timing and in identifying Jesus with John the Baptizer.

The truth is, when members of the Church engage in ministry, it is the risen Jesus who is present and working in them. At Baptism we gave our bodies to Christ so that he might rise from the dead in us to continue his presence and mission on earth (see Romans 12:1-2; 1Corinthians 12:1-27). Mark may be alluding to this in a vague way when he records Herod’s “near miss” explanation.

Mark inserts here the story of John’s death. His reason probably is to prepare us for the death and apparent defeat of Jesus. People were shocked that God did not protect John, who was the chosen herald of the Messiah. John himself had a problem with it (see Matthew 11:2-3). The Messiah was supposed to be a winner, and all those connected to him should have been safe. The reason for Mark’s “messianic secret” was to keep Jesus’ identity quiet until he had risen from the dead, because until then his crucifixion could not have been understood as anything except total defeat at the hands of his enemies. Mark shows people projecting John’s resurrection as the logical answer to the problem of his apparent abandonment by God. Ultimately, they were right!

The good news here is that when Jesus rose, his victory was the victory of all who would die “in him” or for him. When he rose we rose. We live in him and he lives in us. The Christ of the “end time”— “the same yesterday, today and forever” —will be John and all the rest of us risen from the dead  (see Ephesians 1:10; Hebrews 13:8). 

Initiative: See the whole picture. When “the fat lady sings” it will be pure joy.

Fourth Thursday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Fourth Week of the Year

Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

Mark 6:7-13, Hebrews 12:18-24; Psalm 48:2-11 (Lectionary 326)

 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010625.cfm

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When Jesus sends the Twelve out on mission he gives them a short course on how to be effective in proclaiming and establishing the “reign of God.” This is important for us, because, as Pope Paul VI wrote: “The Church exists in order to evangelize.” And John Paul II, along with John XXIII and Benedict XVI, has summoned the whole Church to take part in a “new evangelization” (See Evangelization in the Modern World, nos. 14, 21, 41; At the Beginning of the New Millenium, nos. 40-46).

To “evangelize” it is not enough to proclaim the Good News with words. When Jesus sent his apostles out to do it, he hardly mentioned what they were to preach. But he gave minute details on how they were to live.

This is the key to evangelization. Again, it is Paul VI who says it:

The first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life. …. It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world.

So Jesus sent his apostles out “two by two,” to make it clear that the first concern of evangelizers must be to live and work as a community united in mind and will and heart. John Paul II wrote:

We need to promote a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding principle wherever Christians are formed…. [and] encourage a fruitful dialogue between pastors and faithful… uniting them a priori in all that is essential, and leading them to pondered agreement in matters open to discussion.

Jesus gave the apostles “authority over unclean spirits,” but instructed them to live lives of visible powerlessness, stripped of human resources, to show that they relied entirely on God for their support and the fruitfulness of their ministry. They were to “take nothing for their journey… no bread, no bag, no money in their belts….”

We have already seen that Jesus did not exclude the weak and sinful. “Good standing” was to be based more on faith and sincere desire than on performance. But when it came to preaching the radical principles and pure ideals of the Good News, they were not to make any compromises just to win support or acceptance. “If any will not welcome you… shake their dust off your feet!”

So the apostles went out and used power against demons but “anointed with oil those who were sick.

Initiative: Study Christian witness. What does your lifestyle say to others?

Fourth Wednesday in Ordinary Time

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Fourth Week of the Year

Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Mark 6:1-6. Year I: Hebrews 12:4-15; Psalm 103:1-18 (Lectionary 325)

 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010525.cfm

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Jesus must have grown up in a pretty ordinary way. When he taught in his home town people were “amazed” and said, “Where did he get all this?” They just saw him as the “carpenter” whose family were people they all knew.

There is good news here for those of us who were not exactly child prodigies, and who can’t claim any famous relatives to give us status. Jesus was God himself, but nobody knew it. And every one of us has the same claim to fame that Jesus had: the simple truth is, our Father is God. And because we share in his own life, we are divine. It doesn’t get any better than that!

The problem is, we have difficulty believing it — at least in any “real” way that is not just abstract religious doctrine. Jesus said, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown… and in their own house.” Let’s take that even closer to home. We don’t sufficiently honor what we are, even in our own hearts! How do you feel about claiming to be the “light of the world”? About saying you can do the works that Jesus did; and, in fact, “greater works than these”?

In Nazareth Jesus could hardly work a miracle, “so much did their lack of faith distress him.” If he isn’t working miracles in us and through us today, it is because of our lack of faith.

We don’t have to do dramatic things like curing the sick instantly. We just have to let the power of God work in us and through us. Through words that speak truth, especially truth that affirms people and what they are called to be. Through small gestures that show people they are noticed and loved. Through little, quiet details of lifestyle that, if thought about, don’t make sense without the Gospel. Through inexplicably persevering efforts to bring about change where change is needed. Through faith. Hope. Love. Through grace made visible.

To work miracles by doing these little things, all we have to do is believe. Believe Jesus is living and acting in us. Believe Jesus is enabling us to think with his thoughts, speak with his words and act as his body on earth. Believe in a conscious way, remembering his presence within us. Remembering that he has sent us and accompanies us where we are sent — to home, to school, to work, to the ends of the earth! To believe and live out what we believe is to work for the “new evangelization.”

And “renew the face of the earth.”

Initiative: Use the WIT prayer: “Lord, do this with me, in me, through me.”