II Sunday of Lent

NO HOLDING BACK

Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Romans 8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-10

Readings for the II Sunday of Lent

No Holding Back is the title of Michael Holding’s autobiography.

It conveys his attitude during his career: he gave his all in every match. It highlights his manner as a commentator: though gentle, he is a fearless and rational critic. It captures the tenor of the book: he does not shirk controversial issues—the slide of West Indian cricket, the dismal state of its admin, and ICC politics. 

Holding owes his achievements as a cricketer, a commentator, and a writer to “no holding back”! 

“No holding back” is the thrust of today’s Lenten liturgy. It is the reason for God blessing Abraham and for Jesus’ glorification.

God blessed Abraham abundantly because he did not hold anything back: he left his homeland, believed that God would give him an heir despite his and Sarah’s advanced years, and did not hold back the life of that heir.

At the Transfiguration, the voice from the cloud said: “This is my beloved Son…” This son is the one who gave up his natural family to reach out to the wider family of God’s children; who gave up his foster father’s business to go about his heavenly Father’s business; who did not hold back his life but gave everything on Calvary. Jesus’ glorification—foreshadowed at the transfiguration—happened after he sacrificed his all on the cross.

Paul, in Romans 8:32, writes that God did not hold back “his own son but handed him over for us all.”

What do I hold back from God? Will I imitate God, Jesus, and Abraham… and make “no holding back” the thrust of my life? How will I practise “no holding back” in the week ahead?

I Sunday of Lent

ALONE

Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15

Readings for the I Sunday of Lent

Many years ago, the explorer Richard Byrd spent a winter alone at the South Pole. Four and a half months in solitude. Why? 

Byrd answers that question in his book Alone. Despite his numerous achievements, he felt empty. He wanted to get away “remote from all but the simplest distractions, with no necessities but those imposed by the wind and night and cold.” 

Byrd emerged from his experience changed. He discovered that one can live more deeply and profoundly if one keeps life simple, without cluttering it with things.

Byrd is like many people who spent time alone, and came back changed: Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist… It’s not surprising, then, that Jesus spends time in solitude. 

The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness soon after his baptism! What happens to him in the wilderness? He matures. He listens to his inner voice; he deepens his awareness that he must rely on God and God alone; he becomes aware of his mission and its implications. Jesus returns ready to proclaim the Good News.

Our journey through life is like Jesus’ journey! We spend time preparing to launch into the world: think graduation day, religious profession or ordination day, wedding day. It’s a massive high. Almost immediately comes the testing time. Reality hits! We enter the desert, and not by choice! The mistake we make is we surround ourselves—with work, with people, with things. 

We need to learn from Jesus. He spent time in solitude. He did this often. Note that John does not have the account of the Temptation in his gospel; the temptation happens repeatedly throughout Jesus’ ministry. And each time Jesus overcame it by spending time alone.

But he is not alone! Mark ends his one-line version of the temptation thus: “He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.” Jesus is not alone in the desert! God is with him, angels care for him, and nature is with him.

It will be the same with us when we spend time alone. God is with us. After the wilderness moment, we will be able to continue our commitments.

Will I spend time alone? Will I give up my dependence on material things and rely on God? 

May you and I discover God’s providential care and the empathetic support of people during our desert moments, and support others during theirs.

VI Sunday of the Year

TOUCHED AND RESTORED TO COMMUNION

Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1; Mark 1:40-45

Readings for the VI Sunday of the Year

Years ago, when the speaker of the US House of Representatives Sam Rayburn heard that he had terminal cancer, he shocked everyone by announcing that he was going back to his small town in Bonham, Texas. Everyone told him: “The finest facilities are in Washington, why go back to that little town?” Rayburn said: “Because in Bonham, they know if you’re sick and they care…”

All of us need community; all of us need the care and love that comes from community. And yet today, we face an increasing isolation from one another.

Today’s readings describe one reason for isolation (leprosy) and Jesus’ response.

The first reading gives us the signs of leprosy; an arbitrary spectrum of signs but it was a case of being safe rather than sorry. A person, declared leprous, had to announce his/her uncleanness and live in isolation.

In the gospel, a leper approaches Jesus with a heart-rending and faith-filled plea: “If you will, you can make me clean.” 

Jesus, filled with deep compassion, does something very significant: he touches the leper. He, thus, makes himself ritually unclean, but expresses solidarity with the man and affirms him as a human person. The man is immediately healed.

The physical healing alone does not solve the man’s problem. He has to be reintegrated into community through an official endorsement of his healing. So, Jesus sends him to the priest who will examine him and then pronounce him fit to re-enter society. For Jesus, lepers – and sinners – are not outcasts but persons to be loved and to be restored to community and communion.

Jesus’ compassion challenges us to touch the modern “leper”. Whom do I shun and ostracise? The Lord challenges me to touch and affirm them, and to restore them to communion with myself and in society.

And what about the leper who is me? I need not shun my own disabilities, hidden or otherwise. What are the unclean aspects of my life that need the touch of the Lord? 

We ask the Lord Jesus to touch us: “If you will, you can make me clean.” May you and I hear the words of Jesus: “I will. Be clean!” May we experience communion with ourselves and within our families and communities.

V Sunday of the Year

RESPONDING TO SUFFERING… THE JESUS WAY

Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39

Readings for the V Sunday of the Year

Leonard Sweet writes: “I visited an eight-year-old girl dying of cancer. Her body was disfigured by the disease and its treatment. She was in constant pain. I was overcome by her suffering: unjust, unfair, unreasonable” (cf. Postmodern Pilgrims).

We can identify with Sweet’s experience. Suffering—our own or of others—overwhelms us, and we often ask “why?” 

The Book of Job raises this question. Job is beset by immense suffering: he has lost his family and his possessions; he has terrible sores. What has Job done to deserve this fate? His friends think he has sinned. But he is righteous and innocent; he has not sinned.

Job never receives an answer to the “why” of his suffering. Perhaps, there is no answer to this question! 

But there is a response to suffering… the response of Jesus. 

When Jesus is confronted with suffering, he does not answer the question; he responds to the suffering person: he grasped Simon’s mother-in-law’s hand and helped her up; he “cured many who were sick”… In fact, the incarnation is God’s response to suffering: his comforting-caring presence amid our suffering world.

We are called to continue Jesus’ response. Often, the “why” is not an intellectual question; it is a cry for empathy. So, when confronted by suffering, we need to reach out:

- by grasping the suffering person by the hand;

- by allowing him/her to feel what his/she is feeling and express those feelings (like Job did!);

- by not giving false explanations or false hopes, or denying the reality/extent of the suffering;

- by helping them find moments of solitude;

- and above all, by an empathetic and silent presence.

Sweet continues: “Even more overpowering was the presence of her grandmother lying beside her embracing this inhuman suffering… she never spoke while I was there. She was holding and participating in suffering that she could not relieve, and somehow her silent presence was relieving it.”

I do not have an answer to why people suffer. I can seldom do anything to relieve their suffering. But I can respond to their suffering!

Will I give them my presence and help them up? Will I give them space to feel their feelings and to express them? Will I care for them?