Today’s Gospel is a classic example of Mark’s use of miracle stories.He uses them to make a catechetical point, not to overwhelm the reader with Jesus’s power.
Mark does not deny the power, but emphasizes rather our desire to understand, to grasp, to find meaning.
Last Sunday, we heard about discipleship. Today its about being a missionary.
1. In a world of stars and stripes, titles and accolades, we have been told what matters is not where you sit, but how you serve. Not what you know but how much you impart; not what you teach, but how much you tithe.
2. The breakfast you make early in the morning so the children and your spouse can go to work or school is a more sacred and admirable mission than that of the missionaries who go out into other lands.
3. Your example, your practice of faith and your presence is as much a witness and missionary activity as the preaching of the gospel to the gentiles.
4. The daily cup of sacrifice and hardship, thankless chores, patient endurance, silent tears and unspoken grief are all part of the price of being a disciple.
5. Today, we must make a choice from "working long and hard hours at jobs we hate in order to make money to buy things we don't need to please people we don't like" to balance work and life, faith and wellness and achievement and enjoyment. T.K.
Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver.'
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they
wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One
of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to
the group at their next Bible Study.
Thegrimpicturepresented bydivorcestatistics. Wearetoldthatduring thelastthreeyearsthedivorceratein theU.Shasgoneabove43%,although itisstilllessthanthatin Russia(65%),Sweden(63%),U.K(49%)andAustralia(49%).In 1998therewere19.4milliondivorcedadultsintheU.S.A. Each year2.5millionmorecouplesgetdivorced. Agreaternumber ofdivorcesoccurwithintheChristianchurchesthanin marriagesmadeoutsidethechurch. AnABCbroadcastreports thatthedivorcerateinthe"BibleBelt"is50%higherthanin other areasofthecountry. Thisaffects the livesofonemillionnew childreneveryyear,84%ofwhomliveinsingleparenthomes. Statisticsforthe U.S.predictthepossibilityof40%to50%of marriagesendingindivorceifcurrenttrendscontinue. People between theagesof25and39account for60%ofalldivorces. More peopleareintheir2ndmarriage than1st(www. dicorcenter.com).With divorce being so common today, nearlyhalfofallmarriagesendindivorce.
Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
The world today is in trouble – big trouble - politically, economically, socially, and morally. What has gone wrong? There are no easy answers because the problems are complex but I do know that the analyses offered by the ‘experts’ are little more than descriptions of the disease – lust for power, greed for money, reliance on force, apathy fostered by materialism, disrespect for human life – a disease over which they are powerless.
