Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Jan 30 2025

Continuing Ed

The disciples may have been a bit slow to understand how Jesus was redefining the Messiah he was going to be, but they were not stupid on all accounts. They picked up on the reaction Peter got when he rebuked Jesus for talking about suffering rejection and death. So, when Jesus brought up the subject for a second time in today’s Gospel, they just listened politely, then dropped back out of earshot and changed the subject to a more pleasant one: themselves— and who was the greatest.

Things must have gotten quite animated because when they got home, Jesus asked about it. Their silence surely disappointed him, since he could surmise what had engaged them. But like a good teacher, he tries another way to make his point. There must have been a child nearby, because he calls her over and places his arms protectively around her, and says to them, “If you want to be first, then be last. If you want to be in charge, then serve. When you take in the least, you take in not only me but my Father.” Class dismissed.

It has proven a hard lesson to learn. Or maybe few of us really want to learn it. When you look out at the world, most seem to want to be first, the greatest, the one with the most and best toys, a wielder of power and influence and authority. Choosing to serve the least doesn’t make the top ten on most people’s “to do” list.

Consider/Discuss

What area(s) of your life does this Gospel direct you to consider?
What do you find most difficult about Jesus’ call to be “the last of all and the servant of all”?

Responding to the Word

Lord, help us to follow your call by serving the “little ones,” especially those more likely to be subject to the cruelty and indifference of the world. Sustain us in this work with the assurance that when we receive them, we receive not only you but the One who sent you.

Jan 30 2025

Not Your Father’s Messiah

“Who am I for you?” is a question we might ask another when a relationship becomes more serious. We want those we love to know and value who we are, just as we want to know and value them. A relationship deepens and grows from such exchanges.

At this mid-point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus asks those who have been with him since the beginning of his ministry what they think of him. They have heard him preaching and teaching; they have seen him casting out demons and curing those with various ailments of body and spirit. They have even seen him raise a young girl who had died. So they have been with him long enough to have formed an impression.

Peter’s answer is not given the warm welcome in Mark’s Gospel that it gets in Matthew’s, where Jesus responds by affirming that his heavenly Father has revealed this to Peter. Here Jesus gives a warning “not to tell anyone about him,” and then begins to teach him his own self-understanding.

The notion of a messiah was so caught up with military might and kingly authority that Jesus counters it with a different understanding, rooted in the Servant Songs of Isaiah. (We heard one today as our first reading.) Jesus sees himself as destined to be a suffering messiah, something incomprehensible to his followers, as we shall see. But if they want to be his followers, they must take up the cross in their own life and lose their life for Jesus’ sake.

Consider/Discuss

What does Jesus mean when he tells Peter he is “thinking not as God does but as human beings do”?
How does losing my life for Jesus’ sake lead to saving it?
Did God want Jesus to suffer? Does God want us to suffer?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you call us to know you as one who gave himself for us, so we might be saved and have fullness of life. Help us to recognize where the cross is to be found and teach us how to embrace it, so that we can continue your work of redeeming the world.

Jan 30 2025

The Tender Touch of Healing

Perhaps you saw the movie The King’s Speech about the future king of England, George VI, whose speech impediment was so severe that it reduced him to tears of anger and humiliation. His wife, Elizabeth, found a speech therapist who was able to help him by using some unorthodox methods, such as rolling around on the floor, cursing, and singing. It is a profoundly moving experience when King George finally addresses his people over the radio and delivers a speech flawlessly, giving courage to his people on the eve of World War II. The story in this Gospel tells us how Jesus helped a man to find his voice. The man whose tongue Jesus touched with his spittle (an element believed to ward off demons) came to speak “plainly.” Another word for “plainly” would be “rightly,” in the sense of correctly or truly. “Be opened,” Jesus says, and it happens. The man then spoke the truth of what Jesus did for him, and honored him. As we hold firm to our faith in the Lord, Jesus calls us to both speak and act “rightly” in the eyes of the world, caring for those who have little and treating them with the same dignity as those who have much. We are called to imitate Jesus by reaching out tenderly to touch those who have been wounded by life and burdened by the rejection of others. Helping others to hear the sound of love can be done in many quiet ways and with little fanfare.

Consider/Discuss

Has anyone ever helped you hear something you were unable to hear up until then, or to find your voice so that you could speak what was in your heart?
Consider how Jesus has touched your life and enabled you to hear his voice and sing his praise.

Responding to the Word

Lord, open our ears to hear the many ways you speak to us in our lives, to listen for the gentle sound of your voice that often comes to us in stillness. May we be still and know that you are our God, ever ready and desiring to draw closer.

Jan 30 2025

What Dwells Within?

“Be careful what you allow to dwell in your hearts,” Archbishop Edward Gilbert of the Trinidad and Tobago archdiocese once preached during an ordination. This thought clearly flows from the words of Jesus today. The criticism of the scribes and Pharisees about his disciples not washing must have sparked something in Jesus because he lands a verbal body-blow on them, calling them hypocrites and then quoting Isaiah against them for saying one thing with their lips but keeping their hearts distant from God.

All the readings come together harmoniously today. Moses calls the people to keep God’s law, to observe all the commandments carefully, not only for their own sakes but so the people might draw others to God. James calls his listeners to welcome God’s word that has been planted in their hearts, and to act on it by taking care of those most vulnerable in society: the widows and orphans.

My brother’s pastor weaves his Sunday preaching into themes that run several weeks. Last Lent he began a series he called “Christian Atheism,” asking whether those who come to church on Sunday act is if they didn’t believe the rest of the week. Sometime we get used to living with two creeds competing for our attention: what we say we believe, even want to believe, and what we act out daily. Jesus reminds us that our actions spring from within. So be careful what you allow to dwell in your hearts. From the heart comes forth good or evil.

Consider/Discuss

What are the commandments that really govern your behavior? Are they God’s or merely commands of human tradition?
Can you think of any time “human tradition” has assumed greater importance than God’s commands?

Responding to the Word

God of truth, we pray for the courage to take inventory of what we truly treasure. Help us to recognize the values that are more reflective of our culture than of your Son. Give us the strength to pursue what you would have us do, and thus honor you as the Father of lights.

Jan 30 2025

R.S.V.P.

“Does it please you to serve the Lord?” Joshua asked at Shechem. “Decide today.” And the people answered: “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord for the service of other gods,” going on to name the deeds the Lord had done for them.

Centuries later, after hearing Jesus call himself bread to be eaten, descendants of those at Shechem said: “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” And they “no longer accompanied him.” Jesus then asked the Twelve if they would leave, too. Simon answered for all: “We have come to believe and are convinced you are the Holy One of God.”

Our response is a simple but weighty Amen (meaning “So be it”). When the consecrated host is held up, accompanied by “The Body of Christ,” and the cup offered with “The Blood of Christ,” we are asked to put our faith on the line and say, “Amen.”

Has familiarity bred contentment? Are we so used to this mystery that we rarely have a sense of awe or wonder? The first act of faith is believing that God is present in things as ordinary as this bread and wine. We believe that the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. What is the change in us that should accompany receiving them?

But of such stuff dreams are made—God’s dream of a family, loving daughters and sons, gathered around a table to say “Amen,” then to live Communion in a world of broken bodies, shed blood, wounded hearts, and crushed spirits. When you say “Amen” to this mystery, who knows what might happen?

Consider/Discuss

What meaning does “Amen” have for you?
Is it a response in word only, or in word and in deed, so that you not only “receive” Communion with Christ and his body but live it daily?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you came from the Father and returned to the Father and remain ever near the Father’s heart. You remain the Father’s Word of love to us, the Word of the Father’s commitment to us, draw us into being “Amen” as you were also “Amen” to the Father’s will. Amen.