8th Week, Tuesday, March 1
1 Peter 1:10-16 / Mark 10:28-31
Recall Scripture's words; “Be holy because I am holy.”
The idea of biblical holiness is not well understood by modern Christians. It is not something reserved for saints, who go off to monasteries or desert hermitages to spend days in penance and nights in prayer. Perhaps holiness can be best understood in terms of its opposite-sinfulness. When sin entered human life after Adam's fall, it dehumanized people. It alienated them from themselves, their neighbor, and God. It destroyed the oneness that once united them. In the final analysis, holiness is reconciliation, oneness with oneself, one's neighbor, and one's God.
***
How at peace are we, right now, with ourselves, our neighbor, and our God? “There's a tendency among modern Christians to place a statue of St. Francis of Assisi in a nook in their house or garden and let the business of holiness go at that.” C. Kilmer Meyers (slightly adapted)
***
We know that God is loving and compassionate and merciful, and He will always bless us and provide for our needs. Yes, we know that, and yet do we really believe in it? When the sun is shining on us, we walk confidently and happily in the brightness of the light. Yet when darkness envelops us, even our shadow seems to desert us, and we begin to wonder where God is. We begin to ask serious faith questions like "Why is this happening to me?" and "When will this dark period of my life be over?" Why things happen in our life, especially negative and unhappy things, that will be revealed to us in the course of time, but it will happen only in the appointed time, meaning, in God's time.
As we heard in the 1st reading, the prophets of old longed to find out the time of the coming of the Saviour and in what circumstances all that was to be expected. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of those things. But it was only at the appointed time that the Saviour came and the prophesies fell into place. As for ourselves, we might ask like Peter did in the gospel, "What about us?"
Jesus would only say that there will be " persecution" but there will also be an eternal reward. As we take hold of the promise of Jesus, let us also adhere to the instructions given in the 1st reading: Free your minds of encumbrances; control them, and put your trust in the grace that will be given to you. Be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you to be holy just as He is holy.
***
Tuesday of 8th Week in Ordinary Time
A HUNDREDFOLD REWARD
The Holy Spirit was already at work in the prophets of the Old Testament, but the Good News of Christ is a much clearer revelation. Set all your hope on the grace of Christ.
What about those who give up everything for the sake of the kingdom of heaven? They will not only “inherit heaven” but find happiness on earth in the freedom from worries about losing material goods and the inner freedom of belonging to all, in the joy of winning many brothers and sisters in the community. And curiously enough but realistically, Mark adds that they will retain their happiness and reward even in the contradictions and persecutions they encounter in their endeavors for the kingdom. One must remain free and poor within oneself.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God, we hold you to your promise to those who have left everything for the sake of your kingdom and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, your Son. Let them be men and women poor in the things that count on this earth, but rich with your love and your grace and with a wealth of friends to whom they can bring our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Intentions
– For all Christians, that we may be generous in serving the Lord and our neighbor, we pray:
– For those who have dedicated their lives in the direct service of God, as priests, religious, ministers, that they may live fully in the loving hands of the Lord, we pray:
– For all Christians, that they may be joyful people, who do not lose their smile even when they meet difficulties, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God, our Father, with bread and wine we remember him who gave himself totally for others, your Son, Jesus Christ. Everything was taken away from him except the certainty that you were with him. With him then, we offer ourselves, that we may belong to you and to the brothers and sisters you have placed on our way. Let no trial keep us from remaining free and from living in communion with you, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, by the power of this Eucharist, help us to see and to practice fully what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: that only when we forgive we find forgiveness, that our thirst is quenched when we give our neighbor to drink, that we find consolation when we speak words that alleviate pain, that when we break and share bread we will find your joy that lasts for ever and ever.
Blessing
We are in the hands of God, a good God, a merciful God. We try to serve him well and entrust ourselves to him. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
Commentary: Everything?
“We have given up everything to follow you.” Peter might have been pretty sincere in making this declaration. After all, didn’t they leave behind their families and professions to spend their lives with Jesus? However, there were far more important but subtle attachments they had not yet given up. Ironically, almost immediately after Peter’s declaration, we have the selfish request from James and John: ““Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” They gave up material possessions alright, but the attachment to positions and honors had not left them. The worse was to come: at the moment of Christ’s Passion, all disciples, without exception, would abandon him, with Peter topping it with the triple denials. Today might be a good moment to examine sincerely our own subtle and gross attachments that prevent us from a total fall into God’s hands—after all, we cannot fall in installments.
