Category: healing

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Healing and Mission

Third Sunday of Easter:  John 21:1-19

 

What keeps us from living out, fully and completely, the mission the Lord has given us?

Through baptism, the power that sin and death have over us has been shattered. We have become sharers in the very life of God, and made members of the Body of Christ, the Church.  Our baptism also gives us a mission: to witness to all that God has done for us in Christ and through the Church. Each one of us lives out that mission in a different way – in marriage, as ordained, or in consecrated life, to name a few examples.  We have a sense of what our mission is. Christ empowers us for our mission by the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist; by the support of fellow Christians; by Scripture; by prayer; by a host of other means.

And yet…   Continue reading “Healing and Mission”

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Life, Revealed

Third Sunday of Easter (B)  Acts 3:13-19

If you live – or spend any significant time – away from the lights of a city, you have the opportunity to observe the night sky when the weather is favorable. If you watch the heavens on a nightly basis, it will appear, from your perspective, that the moon and stars are orbiting Earth along circular paths. Based on such observations, some ancient cultures came to certain conclusions. If heavenly bodies, which are above us both physically and existentially, all move in circular paths, then the circle must be the perfect or ideal shape.  Continue reading “Life, Revealed”

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Jesus in Capernaum

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)

As we read the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, it feels like a spiritual D-Day. Jesus appears in Capernaum. He quickly establishes a spiritual beachhead, healing, teaching, and driving out evil spirits. Having liberated that place, he moves on to take the rest of Galilee by the end of our Gospel passage.

Today’s segment of that story is not long, but it is dense. It leaves us with plenty of food for thought and prayer. I will focus on three moments in this passage and offer some reflections on each. Continue reading “Jesus in Capernaum”