Hebrews 7:25-8:6
25 Jesus is always
able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make
intercession for them. 26 It was fitting that we should have such a high
priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the
heavens. 27 He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day
after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that
once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints men subject to
weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after
the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever. 8: 1 The main point
of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his
seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister of
the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.
We need to persevere in prayer so that as we improve and
daily grow in His knowledge and ways then we can easily discern and be more
sensitive of how God speaks to each one of us in a very close and personal way.
We should always listen intently to what God is telling us so we could
effectively carry out what He wants us to do. It is God's will that we engage
in activities that will enrich and deepen our faith in Him. In order to love someone
better we have to know him/her better. The more you know about a person the
more you become close to each other. The same way with God there is a need to
really know more or everything there is to know about God. We must not be
distracted and dissuaded to do otherwise when beset with problems and
difficulties. If we have developed a great sense of confidence and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ then we can fearlessly and undauntedly do whatever He wills
for us. We've got the very best friend we can ever have in Jesus. All we have
to do is listen to and follow Him. He is the Rising Sun and Light of the world
who came to live with us to direct our feet into the path of peace. Once we've
known who God really is and what He is capable of doing in our lives then
nothing should stand in our way of doing God's will. It may not be easy but if
we have placed it in the center of our hearts then it will just come naturally
as it becomes the powerhouse or mitochondria of our beings. The transcendent
nature of humanity calls for dialogue and human understanding. In the face of
difficulty and sign of contradiction we should never lose heart. Remember these
words from the gospel, Mt. 5:10-12, “Blessed are they who are persecuted for
the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you
when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you
(falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in
heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Violence is not
overcome by violence. The world needs God. Authentic weapon for peace is
religious freedom as in to practice faith without coercion. Today we remember
the plight of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who suffer greatly
for the faith. We pray that religious freedom will not be eroded for those who
can practice it. We continue to hope in the grace of God for that alone will
suffice. It is also very important that we follow the example of Mary's perfect
obedience to God's will so that we can find delight in following God's laws. May
our Lord show us the path to peace and use us as instruments and builders of
peace. Nothing should ever stop us from doing the will of God for it is
ultimately the best option we've got. If we have developed a great sense of
confidence and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ then we can fearlessly and
undauntedly do whatever He wills for us. Once we've known who God is and what
He is capable of doing in our lives then there is really nothing that should
stop us in saying with all our hearts the responsorial psalm for today. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 40:7-8, 8-9, 10, 17
R: Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
6 [7] Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to
obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; 7 [8]
then said I, “Behold I come.” (R) In the written scroll it is prescribed for
me, 8 [9] to do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my
heart!” (R) 9 [10] I announced your
justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
A lot of people profess their faith in God for they have
witnessed His mighty power but it is our responsibility as believers to be
discreet in the conduct of our faith so as to really reflect the true spirit of
God who dwells in us. We have to be careful, too in keeping our distances with
the people around us most especially with friends who are always close to us,
so as not to end up bumping or crushing into one another. What do I mean by
this? It is sometimes true, the old saying that goes like this,
"Familiarity breeds contempt." Even if we have the closest and most
trusted friends around us, it is also important to realize that there are times
when we have to keep our distance from one another. In today's gospel even
Jesus needed to keep a safe distance from the crowd and is somehow showing us
the need to set our limitations too. In
today’s Gospel, there are so many people that are after Jesus to the point of
crushing Him. Jesus wanted to minister to all these people but He is also has
to look out for His safety, stay in the path so that He could still carry on
with His mission. He just told his disciples to have a boat ready for him so He
could continue His mission. There are times in our life when during the conduct
of our earthly missions we encounter instances when we feel like we are being
crushed. Considering the fact that what we are doing is not for our own
personal gain but for the welfare of others and we experience oppression in
many forms. Due to this we tend to get sidetracked but we have to keep in mind
that we always have to be ready and alert in order for us to carry on with the
most important task in our very own lives. Though it may not be understood and
approved by all the truth remains that our mission and purpose in life is to
continue what Jesus has started more than 2000 years ago. God has gifted us with so many
wonderful things in this world. We have the gift of friends and the company of
our fellow brothers and sisters who all belong in this great and big family
that God has provided us. If those people close to us and even those whom we
don't know can intercede and pray for us then there is nothing we should be
afraid of. Not even the scariest thing, person or element in this world should
make us doubt that God is over and above all things in this world. The secret of Mark’s gospel can be found in the gospel
today. These very words, “He warned them sternly not to make him known,” is
Mark’s trademark. Just imagine people witnessing all kinds of miracles and
being instructed not to make Him known. This is due to the fact that the signs
and wonders wrought by His mighty hand can only be fully understood in the
light of the Paschal Mystery, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. In
Mark 8:27-29 it is written, "...Along the way he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the
Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked
them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply,
"You are the Messiah." We thought it was Peter, who became the 1st
Pope of the Catholic Church who first got it right. But if we read further on
in the same chapter 8 of Mark in the following verses, 30-33, "Then he
warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son
of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests,
and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this
openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned
around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind
me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." What
Mark was trying to say is that we got it all wrong if we thought that Peter got
it right because he didn't. He missed the truth about Jesus, he can not handle
the truth that the Messiah, the King will be nailed and die on the cross. Just
imagine Jesus who predicted and poured out his agony over his passion and death
but was disappointed by Peter's inability to really get the point. It seemed
ironic that the 1st Pope just guessed it right but it was really a pagan, a
centurion who first got it right because he saw the cross of Jesus as the sign
of His Kingship. For it is written in Mark 15:37-39, "Jesus gave a loud
cry and breathed his last. The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top
to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last
he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" This means that if it
was the centurion pagan who first got it right and not the 1st pope then
salvation is for everybody even to the pagans and the Gentiles. Also in Mark
5:25 "There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She
had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she
had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and
came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but
touch his clothes, I shall be cured. "Immediately her flow of blood dried
up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction." A woman
was considered of no social standing during that time, and to be a
pagan/Gentile only added to her worthlessness she was not even addressed with
her own name. In Mark 9: 49-50, "Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt
is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?
Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another." During
his time, salt was stored in a bag and used in the cooking the way in the same
manner tea bags are used. This is to filter the impurities so after use the
taste is gone and what's left is just a bag of dirt. Mark was very much around
these kind of people and this is what he was trying to convey in his writings.
Mark was very much around the very people whom we usually look up to as the
leaders of the community but fail to reach the mark. For in Mark 10: 32-45 when
Jesus predicted for the 3rd time his passion and death, "Taking the Twelve
aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him.
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed
over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge
him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise." Then James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, "Teacher, we
want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do
you wish (me) to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your
glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said
to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that
I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" Mark
was with people with a lot of conflicts. This is shown in the following bible
passages as in Acts 15: 36-41, "After some time, Paul said to Barnabas,
"Come, let us make a return visit to see how the brothers are getting on
in all the cities where we proclaimed the word of the Lord." Barnabas
wanted to take with them also John, who was called Mark,but Paul insisted that
they should not take with them someone who had deserted them at Pamphylia and
who had not continued with them in their work.So sharp was their disagreement
that they separated. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.But Paul chose
Silas and departed after being commended by the brothers to the grace of the
Lord.He traveled through Syria
and Cilicia bringing strength to the
churches." In this passage Paul's dislike for Mark (John) was very
obvious. Also in Galatians where Paul did not hide his dislike for Peter
(Kephas) 2:11,"And when Kephas came to Antioch , I opposed him to his face because he
clearly was wrong."
Although there were conflicts among the people in the
Church, as it usually does, they were able to go past it and built the Church.
These things can be considered as the agitation in the grain of sand in the
clam which eventually turned into a priceless pearl. This anxiety among these
people of God brought about the spread of the Church in various places for they
were divided into 2 groups and were able to evangelize in 2 different places at
one time. God saw to it that everything turned out for the good. The Markan
Community emphasizes this truth that despite the brokenness of the people the Church of God Kingdom of God
Mark 3:7-12
...He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him
because of the crowd, so that they would
not crush him. 10 He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they
would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.”. He warned them
sternly not to make him known.
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