Tag Archives: Paul of the Cross

Healing the Isolation Sickness Can Bring

Posted on by

Christ cleansing a leper by Jean-Marie Melchior Doze, 1864.

Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

1 Sm 4:1-11
Mark 1:40-45

Skin disease in the ancient world came in various forms, some of which were definitely communicable diseases. Social protocols in pre-scientific eras often called for physical isolation or temporary quarantine, until it could be shown that the afflicted person was not a danger to the rest of the community. The Bible reflects this human concern for the group and authorizes the priesthood as the overseer of such potentially dangerous situations (Leviticus 13:1-50).  Knowing this background helps to clarify some elements in today’s story of the cleansing of the leper.

The leper comes to Jesus alone, because his condition has isolated him from his family, his job, and his attendance at synagogue. Responding to the man’s faith, Jesus cures him of his physical condition. In addition to the great physical comfort this would give the afflicted man, this healing gesture would also allow for his restoration to normal life.  Jesus acknowledges the role of the priest as arbiter of this reintegration into the social and religious life of the community.

We can learn from this story of Jesus that enabling people to come to physical health as much as possible is a worthy goal.  But there is more to us than our bodies. Every one of us knows someone who is burdened by sickness. I am not thinking of seasonal matters like a cold or hay fever. They can be annoying and potentially life-threatening if one’s overall health is already poor.  However, statistics in the media constantly make us aware of the presence of major diseases which test the patience and pocketbooks of millions of fellow citizens each day.

The sick people we know are not simply statistics, but friends, associates, people whom we care for in our hospital jobs, and others to whom we reach out with support in a thousand little ways. Their illness has isolated them, disrupted their productive lives, seriously confronted them with their own mortality, and tested their psychic strength in adapting to new physical limitations. We may not be able to heal their illness, but we can accompany them in their time of testing. Our presence and our faith can support them to keep going forward at this crucial time.

(Father Paul Zilonka, C.P. is a Member of the Passionist Preaching Team of St. Paul of the Cross Province).

Enhanced by Zemanta

Celebrate the Wonder of Life

Posted on by

The Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem, by Matteo di Giovanni

Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

I John 1:5-2:2
Matthew 2:13-18

Today’s commemoration of the biblical story of the massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem has taken on particular significance for us in recent decades. From the point of view of the narrative itself, there is a certain perennial echo to the plot. Herod the Great is one more example of a petty king who exhibits a paranoid fear of any person or situation, which might disturb his shaky temporary reign. Ruthlessly, he seeks to eliminate whoever whom he considers to be a potential threat.  Herod even put two of his own sons to death out of fear of their designs on his authority.

Similar horrific stories come down to us with almost boring repetition in classic literature from the edict of the ancient Pharaoh in Exodus 1 against all male Hebrew children to the genocidal atrocities of some modern nations. So much for the shocking story level of today’s Gospel. It grabs our attention because Jesus, like Moses in Pharaoh’s time, escaped the fate of the other infants only through God’s providence.

But on the human level, which is where we all live each day, this story challenges us more personally to take the pulse of our own sense of wonder at the gift of human life. The creativity of God, and the uniqueness of each human person which we experience so intimately in our own life and with the people we love, contrast starkly with the impersonal brute force of merciless power destroying other human beings in pursuit of its own temporal goals.  To Herod, the tiny infants of Bethlehem were simply collateral damage of his reaction to the magi’s inquiry about the birth of a new messiah.

This feast has come to new significance in our day because it so vividly points to the fragility of new life and all who cherish it when stronger forces are arrayed against it.  Whenever there is a lack of esteem for the unique value of human life from conception to natural death, we all risk being co-opted into the dynamic of using power to solve personal problems at the expense of another’s suffering, or even death. If this happens so often in the way adults treat one another, how much more endangered are the young, and those not yet born.

Today is a good day to think about the gift of life which we enjoy at this moment. It is also a day to renew our commitment to speak of this gift, and do all that we can to help others grow in that sense of wonder as well.

(Father Paul Zilonka, C.P. is a Member of the Passionist Preaching Team of St. Paul of the Cross Province).

Enhanced by Zemanta

Lord, Send Down the Rain

Posted on by

Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Isaiah 45:6b-8,18, 21b-25
Luke 7:18b-23

Today’s idyllic vision in the book of Isaiah pictures morning dew resting lightly on the ground like a mantle, and gentle rain which causes buds to spring up from the earth and flower. The images of dew and rain delightfully reflect the annual cycle of ancient Israel’s climate. These beautiful experiences in nature always refresh our human spirit.

“Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up!” (Isaiah 45:8).

The “justice” which is in heaven means God’s justice, that is, all that is true and good in God. When God’s justice comes to earth, to us, then salvation will spring up among us at God’s bidding. In Advent, our longing for God to come to us once again with the transforming power of divine love grows more intense. On the feast of Christmas, we will celebrate our faith in the Incarnation.  God’s Son chose to share our nature and came to live in our midst in Jesus. Through healing and preaching the good news to the poor, Jesus announced the salvation he was to bring us through his death and resurrection.

But this good news was not for the people of Israel alone. Rather, his Church proclaims salvation to “the Israel of God,” which we have become through our faith in Jesus as Christ and Son of God (Galatians 6:16). Come, Lord Jesus!

(Father Paul Zilonka, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Preaching Team of St. Paul of the Cross Province.)

Enhanced by Zemanta