During the summer of my deaconate, I served in a parish located in a designated Appalachian Trail town. Hikers making the historic trek from Georgia to Maine are welcomed to a large dormitory at the Episcopal Church in the town center. Showers, cots, and washing machines are maintained by the town Ecumenical Council. The hikers “travel lightly;” they carry the bare necessities.
Maybe the image of hiking can shed some light on today’s gospel. The rich man is a good Jew, observing the Law. He would have seen his wealth as a blessing from God, a reward for his virtue. He was generous hearted and wanted to do more than meet the basic requirements of God’s Law. He rushed to Jesus, knelt before Him and asked, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Responding to his generous enthusiasm, Jesus looked at him with love, took him at his word and answered bluntly. He told the man he must sell all his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Him. That was not what the rich man wanted to hear. He had hoped to gain eternal life, without having to sacrifice his current, comfortable lifestyle. He wanted to play safe and was unwilling to leave the comfort zone provided by his prosperity.
Almost certainly, the rich man would have been giving alms to the poor already – in so far as that caused him no great inconvenience. Jesus challenged him to go much further – to give the needy the proceeds from all, not some, of his possessions. If he did that, he would be sharing the insecurity of Christ Himself. Jesus was calling him to “travel light” with Him and not be held back by unnecessary clutter. The rich man was not prepared to make that kind of painful sacrifice.
Jesus doesn’t ask everyone to embrace absolute poverty. That’s a special vocation to which only a few are called. Most people have to earn a living and have family responsibilities, which they shouldn’t abandon. And there’s certainly no harm in enjoying the good things of life in moderation. Nevertheless, in different ways, we are all called to follow Christ with total commitment.
Wealth can make that difficult. Acquiring possessions can easily dominate our lives. The absence of struggle can make us think that we are self-sufficient, that we can manage without God. We can’t.
Learning to “travel light” on our life-long journey to the heavenly Kingdom, makes it so much easier to follow Christ.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
The first chapter of the Book of Genesis ends with this statement, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Today’s first reading from Genesis 2, begins with God’s puzzling reflection that something is not good: It is “not good for the man to be alone.” Pope St. John Paul II called this loneliness of Adam, “man’s original solitude,” which finds its answer in the creation of the first woman, Eve. With the creation of Eve, Adam can sigh in recognition of the one with whom he shares flesh and bone.
This “not good” also speaks of the creature’s desire for something more. “Not good” is more basic than Eve’s role in helping Adam to be fruitful and multiply. Adam’s loneliness is the restlessness described by St. Augustine. A restlessness that can only be answered when we rest in God.
The “not good” of Creation, that restlessness that always seeks more, finds the remedy in Jesus Christ. God took on our human nature and accepted the way of suffering. By sharing our human nature, God is, as the author of Hebrews puts it, of the same stock as we are. God openly calls us brothers and sisters.
With this fraternal understanding, we can see why Jesus reaffirms the truth that the union of man and woman in marriage makes them one flesh. Moses gave the concession to divorce because the people refused to be taught. They refused compliance because their hearts were hardened, and their actions were rooted in sin. We can see what it will mean to be sanctified by the one who alone is holy. Christ’s Paschal Mystery gives us the power to live in the way intended: The way of docility, the goal of perfect harmony and unity because of Christ’s one, perfect sacrifice.
Marriage, which God instituted as a natural bond, is raised to a higher, sacramental dignity when Christ the sanctifier makes holy the most intimate aspects of human life. Today’s readings tell us this, and they tell us one more thing.
The restlessness we feel is not something that we can solve on our own. We must become like little children, realizing that we do not enter the Kingdom by our own efforts, but with a loving, child-like trust in Him, who sanctifies us. Our first parents thought that their easy friendship with God was to be acquired, grasped, or even stolen. Jesus Christ has revealed that by imitating a child in his helplessness, we imitate the ability to receive all things as a gift.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
In today’s gospel, John speaks for the rest of the disciples: Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us. John uses the words ‘we’ and ‘us’; and he is annoyed with the unknown man’s attempt at good works.
Earlier in Mark’s Gospel, a father had approached the disciples with a possessed son and the disciples had been unable to cure the boy. Perhaps the success of the unauthorized man showed up the earlier failure of the disciples. He was able to do what they could not. He didn’t belong to the inner circle, and yet he succeeded. John says, He does not follow us. The disciples had tried to prevent the man from working because he did not follow them.
The disciples are having a leadership problem here. They had started their faith journey by answering the call to follow Him. Now they think that people who try to follow the Lord are being called to follow them.
The disciples are taken up with their power and authority. Power is given to them to serve the Kingdom, but it is easy to divert power and authority to self-serving purposes. Parents are given authority in their homes for the good of their children. They can abuse that authority for selfish ends through possessiveness; never allowing their children to grow up. They can be authoritarian parents, laying down the law, and refusing to listen to any point of view but their own. Children in their turn can be good at discovering just the right technique for manipulating their parents so that they do what they want. All of this is the use of God-given authority for selfish ends.
The authority given to us by God is to be used in His way not our way. We need to be what we are called to be. We should not be concerned about whether God is doing His job properly, but about whether we are removing obstacles to His grace working in our lives. Living the life of Christ involves a reconstruction of our whole way of being in the world. We must have a broader and more generous vision of what life is about, not a narrow vision, such as John and the disciples seem to have. What should our priorities be?
Adam and Eve started by wanting to be gods and ended up with a kind of amputation. They were cut off from friendship with God. Today, Jesus is saying, Do not make that mistake again. See the power of God working in the lives of the needy. Learn to see, and then walk in His way.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
We think we know what winning means: doing better than other people.
We think we know what counts as glory: everyone telling us how great we are and treating us respectfully. We think we know what power is: making things happen the way we want and people obeying us. We want to be big rather than small; strong rather than weak; praised rather than blamed. It’s normal to think like this. Isn’t it? Jesus didn’t think so.
When it comes to being killed, we think of it as the worst thing that could happen to us. Jesus knew that it wasn’t. It was the cost of obeying the Father, and it wasn’t the end.
The disciples, however, didn’t know what He was talking about when He said He was going to be killed and rise again. And they didn’t dare ask Him. They didn’t want to understand the terrible thing He was saying. They were stuck in the view that success means being praised. Jesus was telling them that He was going to be a failure.
So, instead, they talked about something sensible as they traveled toward Capernaum. They argued about which of them was the greatest. That was a real subject to argue. It got them out of the strange world Jesus was showing them, in which the best man that they ever met was going to be killed. The real world is about competition, big and small, strong and weak, successful and unsuccessful. There’s a pecking order. There are winners and losers. That kind of world makes sense. So, Jesus sat down.\
In those days, teachers sat down when they wanted to present a lesson, and students stood or sat at their feet. Jesus taught If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all. Being a good teacher, He used a visual aid. He placed a child in the center of their space. In those days, children were seen as a nuisance until they could make themself useful. Instead, He portrayed a child as an icon of God to show that God does not think in the competitive ways the disciples were tempted to think - the way some of Christ’s disciples in our day are tempted to think.
A Christian vocation allows us to be called into a crazy world where death equals glory, leader equals servant, and child equals God. It is a world where obedience to Jesus sets us free. We have so much to learn.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
If anyone wants to be a follower of mine …. may be one of the most crucial statements in all of the Gospels. It forces us to ask ourselves how important it is to us to be a follower of Jesus. Am I prepared to give what it takes?
Jesus told His disciples that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously and be put to death. Jesus wanted only those who would accept Him as the “Rejected One” to be His disciples… and then, later, as the one who overcame rejection by rising from the dead.
In a more burdensome sense, disciples would have to be prepared to be misunderstood and mistreated just as Jesus was. Obedience to God’s Will is accompanied by apprehensions and wavering confidence. Disciples often experience the anxiety of Gethsemane.
Animals and some humans pursue survival and gratification by all means possible without any qualms of conscience. Disciples are called to identify and espouse Christ’s ideals and insist on living them in the full knowledge that this will involve personal sacrifice.
Disciples are people who are prepared to be rejected even as Jesus would be. Jesus warned us that in our loyalty to Him, there would be renunciations to be made and crosses to be carried. We would need to have the courage of our Christian convictions and in so doing, we would transcend the hostility thrown at us.
At this moment, some Christians are living in fear for their lives. For others, in an increasingly secular society, disciples may be cornered by legislation that deeply offends their consciences. Some may have a heavy career price to pay if their convictions prevent them from following their leaders. Others may be mocked for wearing a Christian symbol or performing an action that singles them out as followers of Christ.
Disciples – old and young –insist on living according to Christian values. Day in and day out, they may be belittled for being idealistic, and out of touch with reality, a reality that is practical, efficient, and capable of generating wealth, success, pleasure, and comfort. Those of us who would be ashamed to participate in cynicism oblige ourselves to carry crosses of hardship and even privation. It takes great courage to hold on to values.
What distinguishes us as disciples is that our idealism is formed through Jesus, the Christ, who for us is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As His followers, we live in a loving relationship with Christ. It is a relationship that is far from comfortable, far from cozy. In many ways, it is a tortured relationship, grounded on our determination to remain His disciple, no matter what it costs us.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
In this week’s gospel, Jesus restores the speech and hearing of a deaf man. Our first reading from the Book of Isaiah gives us the background for this miracle. Isaiah tells us that when God comes, He will open the eyes of the blind and unseal the ears of the deaf. Physical healing is the sign of the deeper spiritual healing that we all need. All of us are spiritually deaf and blind to some degree.
Spiritual deafness has a spiritual cause. It is connected with the essence of our humanity, what makes us human - our freedom. The misuse of freedom is the most common cause of spiritual deafness. Freedom is founded on openness to the truth. Openness to listening to the voice of God. We abuse freedom by filling our hearts and minds with voices and images that inhibit and obstruct truth. We abuse freedom when we allow ourselves to be absorbed in gaining wealth and power. Reality is blurred when we fixate on the call of material concerns.
False voices must be rejected and destroyed and our ears opened to the sound of silence. In achieving silence, we discover the voice of God. We need silence. In the gospel, after healing the deaf man, Jesus orders those who have witnessed the miracle to tell no one about it. The man has been restored to the world of hearing, but the miracle itself is left in silence.
Silence is something we tend to undervalue. Many great saints have promoted its benefits. Christian silence is distinctive. It is more than finding a quiet place and turning off all technical devices. Christian silence comes to those who seek a quiet place, turn off all the voices demanding attention, and wait for the revelation of the one true voice of God. The public life of Jesus, the words of His preaching, and the witness of His miracles are a prelude to the silence captured only by seeing eyes and hearing ears.
It is the silence of the Cross. In that silence, we see and hear the depths of God’s love for us. The life of Jesus is a preparation for silence. In the silence of the Cross, He reveals Himself to us as the Word of God speaking unimaginable love.
In Christian silence, we respond to the Word spoken in love. It is this we are called to proclaim to the world.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Cleanliness is next to godliness. It’s practical common sense. In today’s gospel, Jesus isn’t objecting to this wisdom saying. He is making a comparison with a different kind of cleanliness. We are all spiritually unclean; we are sinners. Our Jewish ancestors ritually expressed this sense of unworthiness through multiple laws about washing: hands, feet, pots and pans, food and drink. At Mass, we too, experience a ritual washing: Lord, wash away my iniquity and cleanse me of my sins. This is not a question of removing physical dirt. It is a representation of something profound – our relationship with God.
Rituals have value. They are handed down from one generation to another. They memorialize important truths. They also help to give a group a recognizable identity. When we see an athlete making the sign of the cross in a sport, we can be pretty certain he’s a Catholic. His gesture expresses dependence on God and gratitude. It reminds him and others of his religious identity.
So, why did Jesus and His disciples fail to keep the religious laws about washing before meals? He wasn’t trying to abolish these traditions but to restore their meaning and purpose. Jesus wanted to get back to basics. He cut through the forest of minute rules and regulations and revealed the whole purpose of God’s Law. Jesus focused on protecting and fostering God’s Law of Love.
Jesus provoked this confrontation to provide a true understanding of the kind of cleanliness that strengthens a positive relationship with God and neighbor and the kind of uncleanliness that damages those relationships. Rules, regulations, and laws create a structure for behavior. Good law helps love grow. Bad law stifles love.
Inner purity is the goal of the disciple. What matters is the way we think, our innermost desires and longings. These govern the way we behave. Despite dirty hands, we can have a good relationship with God – but not with a dirty mind. Dirty minds are not confined to lustful thoughts and desires but include malicious, spiteful longings, refusal to apologize or forgive, and arrogant contempt for other people.
Do we have our priorities right? Does the way we behave in our daily lives contradict the faith we profess as practicing Catholics who regularly attend Mass? Do we make meticulous perfectionism a substitute for being perfect? Today Jesus challenges us to understand the kind of cleanliness we need to be His followers.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor