A Positive Penitential Disposition
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- Written by Patrick Desmond OP
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On the Gospel of Mark 1:12-15
1st Sunday of Lent
The readings for the first Sunday of Lent introduce some key themes to help us prepare for Easter. Temptation, sin, repentance, penance, cleansing waters, mercy, faith, love and mission are just a few of the signposts we believers meet as we journey along life's road. At various times in our lives however, some of them are more prominent than others. The delicate interplay between such concepts and the varying successes they enjoy in each person's life can be very indicative of how that person relates to the world, others and ultimately to God. Saint John teaches us that 'God is love' (1 Jn 4:8). This is the sort of reassurance which should hopefully come to the fore when we struggle internally, propelling us onwards when we lose our way. Too often though, we allow this love to be usurped by the despair, the hopelessness and the shame of our shortcomings. The only remedy this sorry state seems to offer is further self – abasement in a misconstrued logic believed to lead back to God. Our Lenten offering, if it is to be pleasing to God, needs to be founded on something a little more substantial than a self-centred sort of self-discipline.
Ears to Hear - Lent 1
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- Written by Conor McDonough OP
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From the Letter of Pope St Clement to the Corinthians
One of the earliest Christian texts we have outside the New Testament is the letter of Pope St Clement I to the Corinthians. It was written because the Corinthians were, as usual it seems, having problems with disunity in their Church. The following excerpt brings the Corinthians back to basics: the importance of repentance and our need for God’s mercy. It’s a good place to start as we begin our Lenten journey with the ashes of repentance on our foreheads.
I Say To You, Rise!
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- Written by Damian Polly OP
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On the Gospel of Mark 2:1-12
7th Sunday of the Year
I love this Gospel story of healing for several reasons. It shows the true extent of friendship and faith, and it is such a dramatic event! I can always picture the scene clearly when I read this passage. I imagine the effort it must have taken the four men to carry their friend to see Jesus, to hoist him up onto the roof, make a hole in it and then carefully lower him down to Jesus. What love they showed for their friend and what faith they placed in Jesus' ability to heal him, a faith that was richly rewarded. The passage clearly states that the forgiveness of the man's sins was as a result of the faith of his friends.
Be Made Clean!
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- Written by David McGovern OP
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On the Gospel of Mark 1:40-45
6th Sunday of the Year
A leper approaches Jesus. He has a very strong faith and knows that Jesus can heal him with just a touch. Jesus is moved by the man’s faith and the circumstances of his disease. Jesus touches him and heals him. Jesus is also concerned that the law be fulfilled and tells the man to see a priest and cleanse himself. He asks the man not to tell anyone how he has been cured, but the man is too full of joy to keep the news to himself. He tells many people of the miracle Jesus has performed in his life.
Not many things will break our hearts so quickly as being rejected by another person. Sometimes we are cruel or shun others or exclude them. Even more difficult are circumstances where someone once trusted turns away from us. We get a small glimpse of what it might have been like for the leper in today’s Gospel passage who was not even allowed to live with healthy people. We also understand better the courage and compassion of Jesus who touched the man and accepted him. Jesus deliberately stretched out his hand and touched the leper, a very daring action, for ordinarily contact with a leper was thought to transfer uncleanness and was forbidden. Jesus said to him “I do choose. Be made clean!”
Are there times when God provides us with the opportunity to reach out to someone and we choose to ignore them? Refuse to be Christ to them? We all perhaps know modern-day lepers, people who maybe feel isolated, unclean, with no sense of self-worth, those we don’t want to mix with. But wouldn’t it be great if they felt able to come to someone who they felt could bring them healing? Maybe we have found ourselves in the situation of needing someone to reach out to us. We remember how we felt at that moment, pleading on our knees, not literally perhaps, yet nervous and insecure – like the leper – hopeful and yet so unsure of ourselves that even though we trusted the person something within us still whispered ‘if you want to…’ We give thanks to God for the compassion of that Jesus person.
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant.He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
- Mark 1:40-45
Homily given on the Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas 2012
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This is a recording of the homily given by Fr. John Harris OP (Regent of Studies) at the Mass celebrated for the Studium in Dublin, on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (28 Janaury, 2012).
Among other things, Fr. John said: " To sit with him only at our desks and not to kneel with Saint Thomas in adoration is to fail to know Aquinas or to practice seriously the art of theology."
Ears to Hear - St Catherine: You Have Shown Us Love in Your Blood
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St Catherine of Siena: You Have Shown Us Love in Your Blood
St Catherine had great devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, poured out on the Cross for love of us. For her, the blood of Christ is a visible sign of God’s great love for us. Here we hear a prayer first addressed to Christ, then an exhortation to address herself. She advises herself: ‘the more you see, the more you will love’.
