*****
“They did him homage.”
“They set out. The star which they had observed at its rising went ahead of them until it came to a standstill over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house, found the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. They opened their coffers and presented him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Not just today, but every day –– every hour, every moment –– we are called to follow the star that is our Lord, our Redeemer and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Each day, we are called to set out onto the road of life, following the signs of God’s love, justice, reconciliation and peace wherever we experience them. And like the astrologers in today’s Gospel, we, too, are called to “do him homage.”
Homage, an old-fashioned, quaint-sounding term, is defined in the dictionary as “special honor or respect shown publicly.”
Hmmm, perhaps not so quaint or out-of-date a notion after all!
How can we do Jesus homage? How can we publicly give him special honor and respect? What kind of gifts can we give to Christ –– and by extension, to one another –– day in and day out? Are such displays of respect limited to cross-continental treks or exotic, once-in-a-lifetime treasures?
Francis de Sales offers this advice:
“Let us not be at all eager in our work, for, in order to do it well, we must apply ourselves to it carefully indeed, but calmly and peacefully, without trusting in our labor, but rather, relying on God and God’s grace. Anxious searchings of the heart about advancing in perfection, and those endeavors to see if we are advancing, are not at all pleasing to God, and only serve to satisfy our own self-love, that subtle tormentor which grasps at so much but accomplishes so very little. One single good work, done with tranquil spirit, is worth far more than many done with anxious eagerness.”
Paying homage to Jesus –– showing special respect and honor in public –– is measured less by grandiose feats and more by simple, ordinary actions performed with great attention and intention. Paying homage to Jesus is not only about a multiplicity of good deeds but also more about fully immersing ourselves in each moment of each day as it comes. Paying homage to Jesus is less about trying to prove to Jesus how worthy we are and more about accepting our need for God and the actions of God’s grace in our lives. Paying homage to Jesus is less about prostrating ourselves before him and more about standing up for all that is righteous, peaceful, liberating and just.
How might our experiences this day –– and especially, the people whom we encounter in those experiences –– be inviting us to pay homage to Christ?
The answer - by paying special honor and respect to one another - one, single good work at a time.
*****
“Jesus went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
“God is so good that he never ceases to work in our hearts to draw us out of ourselves, out of vain and perishable things, so that we can receive his grace and give ourselves wholly to him.” (Saint Jane de Chantal)
Today, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. The Baptism of Jesus marks his inauguration into his public life. Isaiah in the first reading gives the blueprint for the ministry of Jesus. As Isaiah writes, “I will put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the nations. I have formed you……to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners from confinement and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”
We know from the life of Jesus as recorded in the Scriptures; he fulfilled the blueprint Isaiah had written. He reached out to the marginalized, cured those who were sick, touched those who were believed “untouchable,” challenged his religious leaders to “do what they preached,” and was constantly traveling doing good works. With all the good that he accomplished for others, he was crucified. In the words of today’s Gospel, he was that “beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased.” In celebrating the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, we also celebrate our own Baptism. Just as the Baptism of Christ inaugurated his public life, so also our own Baptism inaugurates us into the Christian life. Christ gave us an example in his life to allow us to see how those who were baptized into him can live His life. St. Jane tells us, “God never ceases to work in our hearts to draw us out of ourselves so we can receive his grace and give ourselves wholly to him.” The reading from Acts tells us that “Jesus went about doing good and healing all those oppressed with the devil, for God was with him.”
To live our lives as followers of Christ we also should “go out of ourselves” and “go about doing good” and bringing Christ’s healing presence and his peace to those whom the Lord sends our way. Like Christ, we too should visit the sick and reach out to the marginalized in our communities and in our families. We should speak with those toward whom we have had negative feelings or painful memories - anyone that we might consider “untouchable,” anyone at home, in the neighborhood or at work who we avoid, ignore or even despise.
We need to be people who put into identifiable action our profession of being a follower of Christ. This action requires strength and courage. Just as the Father was with the Son in his life, so also, we have the presence of Christ within our minds and hearts to give us the strength and courage we need to be his authentic followers.
Today, let us then come out of ourselves and our own little worlds to see what good we can do and how we, relying on the strength of the Lord within us, might be agents of the Lord’s healing presence to all those around us.
*****
“Anyone who welcomes one such child for my sake welcomes me...”
Today we celebrate the life and legacy of St. Leonie Aviat, OSFS: religious, founder.
In the middle of the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution, there was a rapid expansion of the textile industry in the town of Troyes, France. The Industrial Revolution created opportunities for women to work outside of the home and/or the farm. Droves of young country girls came to the town in search of employment and adventure. They had no money, nowhere to live and were thus exposed to many potential hazards. With a remarkable intuition for overcoming obstacles, Father Louis Brisson took these girls into his care. He acquired a building, offering board and lodging and even work on the premises to a number of young female workers. He trained a group of volunteers to oversee the boarding house, but no matter how devoted they were, the undertaking lacked stability. It was not only necessary to provide room and board for the girls and young women, but also to educate them in their faith and guard them against moral danger. Fr. Brisson eventually determined that this new undertaking would be better served by a community of religious women who could devote themselves to this growing ministry.
Enter Leonie Aviat. Together with Fr. Brisson, she founded the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales who, during the course of her lifetime, saw many a child – and young adult, for that matter – welcomed for the sake of the Lord.
Children not only come in many shapes and sizes, but, as it turns out, children also come in a variety of ages. In the broadest sense, the “children” to whom Jesus alludes in today’s Gospel are anyone who is vulnerable, anyone who needs welcome, anyone who needs comfort and anyone who needs a safe place.
Today, who might be the children in our lives whom Jesus challenges us to welcome for his sake today?
~ OR ~
Throughout the history of Christian spirituality there frequently appears to be an uneasy relationship between prayer and work, between being and doing, and/or between resting in God and doing for/with God.
St. Francis de Sales offered a remedy for the temptation to dichotomize prayer and work. The “Gentleman Saint” identified – in broad strokes – three types of prayer.
First, there is vocal prayer. This is the type of prayer on which most – if not all – of us first cut our gums: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, Grace-before-Meals, etc., etc. It is a form of prayer of which we can make good use even into old age.
Second, there is mental prayer, or “prayer of the heart.” Some people experience this type of prayer as meditation; for other people, it is known as contemplation. This type of prayer relies a great deal less on words and makes greater use of thoughts, considerations, affections, images and silence. Unlike vocal prayer, it tends to be much less public and much more private. It seems to come easily for some folks, while it is appears to be more elusive or challenging for others.
Finally, there is what Francis de Sales referred to as the >b>prayer of good life. It is the prayer that comes with doing good – with practicing virtue – in a very mindful, heart-filled, intentional and deliberate way at each and every moment: specifically, through the practice of the Direction of Intention!
Leonie Aviat clearly saw the Direction of Intention as the bridge linking prayer and work. Years after founding the Oblate Sisters, she would later remark:
“I still remember the words the Good Mother said to us one day on the subject. ‘The faithful practice of the Direction of Intention is the first rung on the ladder that will make us attain sanctity.’ She had been so faithful to this article that she knew its reward.” (Heart Speaks to Heart, p. 150)
Professor Wendy Wright notes that in the Salesian tradition the interior prayer of the Direction of Intention - be it with or without words - provides the foundation for both the life of the cloistered Visitandine and the very active life lived by an Oblate Sister. She again quotes Leonie Aviat:
“My children (wrote the Good Mother) you are not called to say the office for the moment. Your principal occupation is work. Give yourself to it as graciously as possible. Go to your work when the clock chimes. Set out joyfully according to our Rule, as if you were going to say the office and make meditation, because for you, work is a continual meditation.” (Ibid)
Whether we do our work prayerfully – or put our prayer to work – prayer and work are the inseparable sides of the same coin: the love of God, neighbor and self.
*****
“He gives orders to unclean spirits, and they obey him…”
M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist (now deceased), wrote two books on the subject of “demons” - People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil and Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption.
Peck described in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie he identified characteristics of an “evil” person, whom he classified as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil, Peck went into significant detail describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the myth of possession by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck came to the conclusion that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil, and that possessed people are not actually evil, but rather, they are doing battle with the forces of evil. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon)
In today’s Gospel – and all throughout the Gospels – we are told that Jesus drove out demons (“unclean spirits”) as a part of his ministry of proclaiming the power and promise of the Good News. Whether or not you believe in demons – regardless of your thoughts regarding exorcisms – we all struggle with things that plague us, that exasperate us or that appear to “possess” us to the extent that they prevent us from being the best version of ourselves. Despite our best efforts, these “demons” seem impervious to our feeble attempts at conquering, dispelling or exorcizing them. Perhaps therein lies the lesson - the greatest mistake we make in struggling with our own “demons” is to believe that we must do it alone; that we must battle with our “demons” all by ourselves.
However large, small, frequent or few they might be, are you willing to bring your “demons” to Jesus?
*****
“The leprosy left him immediately...”
Time and time again throughout the four Gospels, we witness how Jesus cured people on the spot – their infirmity was healed, removed or eradicated immediately. In the case of today’s Gospel selection from Mark, Jesus immediately healed a person afflicted with leprosy.
But not all miracles happen in an instant. Some require several steps. Others require more time.
In Chapter 9 of the Gospel of John, Jesus cures a man born blind by first mixing spittle and mud before applying the mixture to the man’s eyes. In Chapter 8 of Mark’s Gospel, the healing of another blind man requires two stages. In Chapter 2 of John’s Gospel Jesus turns water into wine seemingly as a last resort. And in the Gospels of Mark (7:25-30) and Matthew (15:21-28) Jesus agreed to heal the possessed daughter of the Syrophoenician woman only after what sometimes appears to have been a protracted negotiation. For that matter, in the Old Testament (2 Kings 5) Naaman the Syrian was cured of his leprosy only after bathing seven times in the River Jordan.
Whether in an instant, over several stages or during the course of a lifetime, all miracles share one thing in common – they begin by asking God for help.
If even only as a first step, from what might we need to be healed, freed or liberated by God today?
*****
“Do not forget the works of the Lord…”
Romanian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once remarked: “When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity”.
Today’s Gospel offers us a powerful illustration of how the absence of gratitude can diminish one’s humanity.
When Jesus healed a paralytic in two phases (first, by forgiving the man’s sins and second by curing the man’s infirmity), there wasn’t an ounce of gratitude to be found anywhere among the scribes, because the only thing they seemed capable of feeling was resentment. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the scribes seemed to be suffering more from something missing in their humanity - they come off in this story as being sorry excuses for human beings.
Maybe the reason that the scribes failed to recognize a singular work of the Lord in the present (at the hands of Jesus) was due to the fact that they had managed to forget the collective works of the Lord in the past. Absorbed by their own sense of smug self-importance, the scribes appear to have lost their capacity for gratitude. These men of God seem to no longer display any need for God.
Do you feel as if something is missing from your humanity? Experiencing any resentment? “Do not forget the works of the Lord.” For that matter, do not forget the works of all the people in your life who have helped to make you who you are today.
Remember: be grateful. Your humanity depends on it!
*****
“I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners…”
As word of Jesus’ reputation for helping those in need spread through the region, we are told in today’s Gospel that lots of folks (including Levi, a customs official) from lots of places travelled lots of distances to see him, to behold his face, to hear his voice, to experience his healing power and to know his love.
In one of his Conferences to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales remarked:
“It is very good for us to know and feel our misery and imperfection, but we must not allow that to discourage us; rather, our awareness of our miseries should make us raise our hearts to God by a holy confidence, the foundation of which ought to be in Him…The throne of God’s mercy is our misery; therefore, the greater our misery the greater should be our confidence in God.” (Living Jesus, page 45)
Today’s Gospel challenges sinners of all sizes and stripes not to avoid God but to pursue God. An awareness of our sinfulness or our neediness should not drive us away from God but should draw us closer to God. Have confidence that God will help you. Have confidence that God will heal you. Have confidence that God will empower you.
Why? Because God does love us! How? In the person of his Son, Jesus.
