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

Jan 30 2025

“My Blood Shed for You”

I can remember becoming “blood brothers” with my best friend, Bunky, when we were six years old. We took something sharp and each of us cut the tip of one finger and put them together, declaring ourselves “blood brothers forever.” It remains a sacred memory for me.

The recognition of blood as sacred, as a symbol of life, is probably as old as humanity. All life belonged to God. When Cain slew Abel, God said to him, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil” (Genesis 4:10). It was the blood of animals that Moses sprinkled on the altar and the twelve pillars, symbols of God and the people, and then on the people themselves as they entered into cov

enant with the God who was leading them to a new life.

Today’s second reading presents Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary not with the blood of animals but with his own blood that brought about our redemption, providing cleansing from sin and access to God. Later, this author notes how much more eloquently the blood of Christ speaks than that of Abel; where the latter cried for vengeance, Christ’s blood cries for mercy.

Mark puts us in the upper room with Jesus the night before he died, and we hear once again the sacred words: “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many”.

He continues to give the cup to his disciples, so we might have his life in us. Jesus is the Lord of Life.

Consider/Discuss

How do you experience “giving your blood,” whether at the doctor’s for a blood test or when contributing to a blood drive?
What do Jesus’ words at Mass mean to you:

“Take this, all of you, and drink from it,

for this is the chalice of my Blood,

the Blood of the new and eternal covenant

Which will be poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins.”

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, at baptism we were washed in the blood of the Lamb; at every Communion, we eat your Body and drink your Blood. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we continue to live with your life, sharing in your divinity as you have shared in our humanity. For this we give you praise and thanks.

Jan 30 2025

An Enthusiasm for the Divine

To be enthusiastic literally means to be “in God” (from the Greek: en + theos). A true enthusiast can make you either want to run away or come closer. Listen to the enthusiasm in today’s readings.

Moses is bursting with enthusiasm for what the Lord God has done for this once enslaved community. Hear the feeling in his words: “Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God . . . did any god venture to go and make a nation for himself?” And he wants to pull them into his enthusiasm: “That is why you must now know and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God . . . You must keep his statutes . . . ”

And we hear it in Paul’s words about the Spirit: “Those led by the Spirit are [children] of God . . . [and] you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ ” We are children of God and heirs with Christ—if we are willing to suffer with him, so as to be glorified with him. Enter his wonder at what God’s gift of the Spirit means for us.

The risen Christ reunites in Galilee with his disciples on a mountain, just as he did early in Matthew’s Gospel when he preached the Sermon on the Mount. His work completed, ours begins. Catch the excitement in his words: “All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Then, he urges: “Go, make disciples . . . baptizing them . . . teaching them . . . and [know] I am with you always.”

Consider/Discuss

When have you felt an enthusiasm that lifted you out of yourself, out of feeling blah or “down”?
Can this mystery of God as Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit enter more deeply into your life and affect your attitude as you begin the day, be with you as you go through it, and be part of your thoughts before sleep?

Responding to the Word

God who is Father and Son and Spirit, draw me closer into the mystery of your abiding presence in the world and in my life. Help me know the love that has been with me from the first moment of my life, and will remain until I reach my final destiny in you.

Jan 30 2025

Holy Spirit, Speech Teacher

The King’s Speech was a movie particularly effective in communicating the torture of not being able to speak one’s mind. We first meet Bertie, the man who would become King George VI, as he is about to speak to his people over the radio. Frustration, shame, embarrassment, anger, even terror—all pass over his face as he tries to speak the simplest words, which cannot get past his debilitating stammer. The movie is about a teacher, Lionel Logue, who comes into his life, becomes his friend, and helps him find his voice.

We have all been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to speak the language of faith, hope, and love. As Paul reminds the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 12:3b), “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” The gift of God’s Spirit brings us to articulate our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. And the Spirit keeps the conversation going even when we become tongue-tied, as Paul expresses so beautifully in Romans where he writes that even when we do not know how we ought to pray, “through our inarticulate groans the Spirit is pleading for us” (8:26).

When Jesus breathed on the apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he was sending to them the great gift of divine life and making them children of the new creation, empowering them to be carriers of this new life through the gospel of salvation they would preach to the ends of the earth.

Consider/Discuss

When have you felt the Spirit working through the words of others in everyday life?
God continues to speak to us at every Eucharist through the readings and the preaching. What helps you to be attentive to what God may be trying to say?

Responding to the Word

Come, Holy Spirit, come. Give us your wisdom and understanding. Loosen our tongues to bless and praise the Father and the Son for the great gift we received at our baptism, when we came to birth in your life-giving grace. Increase our faith so we might proclaim with all our hearts, “Jesus is Lord!”

Jan 30 2025

Replacing Judas

My friend the storyteller Bob Wilhelm shared an “artful” variation on the story of the choice of Matthias. Both Matthias and Barsabbas were artists, so St. Peter decided on a contest. He divided the upper room where the community gathered for worship with a curtain, giving half to each man to decorate as he saw fit. The community would declare the winner and Judas’ successor.

Barsabbas, a painter, sent for his brushes and a rich assortment of paints. All week long he painted lovely scenes of Jesus preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons. His brush captured the parables, illuminating them. Matthias, a stonecutter and polisher, also toiled all week behind his curtain. People could hear only his humming and soft singing.

The day came and the people entered Barsabbas’ half of the church. They broke into applause at his artistry. The uses of color were magnificent. They found themselves depicted in his paintings. They were delighted. Peter became worried. How could Matthias’ work possibly compete with this? But he went over to the curtain and turned it back.

Silence filled the room as people turned to see what Matthias had done. His work had been to polish the stone walls of the chapel’s other half, allowing people to see themselves as never before. The walls shone like mirrors and every person was given a sense of the beauty of Christ shining within them, a glimpse of the divine spark each one carried within. And so Matthias was chosen to replace Judas. He had revealed Christ by revealing Christ’s followers to themselves.

Consider/Discuss

Have you ever left a decision in God’s hands?
Do you believe that God has placed a divine spark within you?

Responding to the Word

Loving God, you have made us in your image and placed your truth within our hearts that we might know, love, and serve you. Consecrate us further with the truth of the gospel and direct our feet in the way you wish us to walk. Let us live in your joy.

Jan 30 2025

A Return, Not a Retirement

In Bill Davis’ play Mass Appeal, the young deacon complains about the parish where he grew up, where the “hippy dippy hymn committee” selected “Leaving on a Jet Plane” for the feast of the Ascension. The young deacon did not find it appropriate for the dignity of the event being celebrated. To say the least, it rendered insipid what should be a feast of profound relevance.

Today’s feast continues the celebration of the paschal mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, and return to the Father. It is not just an “after thought” feast, a bringing down of the curtain on Jesus’ life and ministry on earth. We celebrate Jesus’ return to the Father to intercede for us and to make possible the sending of the Spirit for the continuation of God’s plan of salvation for all people, now taken up by the church under the direction of this same Spirit.

Luke’s account of the Ascension places emphasis on the work yet to be done— witnessing to Jesus “to the ends of the earth.” This is further highlighted when the two men in white garments suddenly appear after Jesus is taken up and removed from their sight. “Why are you standing there looking up at the sky?” they ask. Time to get moving.

Mark’s account has Jesus sending them out to “proclaim the gospel to every creature,” and promises that great signs will accompany them. Mark’s final word affirms that “the Lord worked with them.”

Consider/Discuss

Do you understand the feast of the Ascension only as Jesus’ returning to the Father or do you see its connection with the ongoing life and ministry of the Church?
How does Christ continue to work with us? Are we meant to take literally Jesus’ words about being able to pick up serpents and drink deadly poison and heal the sick?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for us and to work with us until we are united with you in heaven. Help us to make good use of the gifts you have given for building up your body, the Church, and for making you known throughout the world.