MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people. LK7:16

HEBREWS 11:32-40 

My Soul's Beloved, 

When we are called to undergo trials it is good for us to recall what real suffering is for the sake of God and for the sake of the Gospel.

The heroes in the Bible both the Old Testament and the New remind us once again that there can be no redemption, no glory, no crown, without first embracing persecution, suffering, and death. The death that we must endure comes daily as we rid ourselves of all that comes between us and You. Death the self each day, from moment to moment is the hard road to Calvary. 

We will fall a hundred times a day but You are with us. You will strengthen us, You will give us the courage we need. You will shut the mouth of lions, You will send angels to comfort us, You will draw us into the shelter of Your wings and prevent the arrows from striking us. 

No matter what suffering may come we know that it is only through suffering that we are purified like gold in the furnace. Stay yoked to us Lord and grant us the grace to persevere to the end without giving up and giving in. Amen.

 

PSALM 31:20-24

My Soul's Beloved,

How easy it is to wallow in self-pity, to lose sight of the goal, to allow present troubles to blind us to the glory that is to come, which You have reserved for those who hold on to Your Word and never give up.

There is a place for me in You for I am a member of Your Body. There O Lord, you keep me safe, You shelter me from evil, You give me strength to combat the Enemy who with his subtle lies and devious ways seeks constantly to undermine my faith, hope, trust, and love in You.

I am Yours and no one who belongs to You will be abandoned by You. You have drawn me into the love of God and there I shelter safe and secure as a child at its mother's breast. 

It is true, Beloved, that when I take my gaze off You, the waters around me threaten to drown me and like Peter, I fear I am sinking but like him in alarm when I cry out to You for help, You reach out and grasp my hand and draw me back to safety. 

Your friends O Lord receive a double portion of all Your blessings for You are loving, generous, compassionate, and kind to all who hear Your voice and follow You. 

MARK 5:1-20 

My Soul's Beloved,

As we read today's Gospel passage from Mark we are brought face to face with the fact that evil exists and its pervasive presence is in the world. We can sell our souls to the devil if we so desire and he will dispossess us of all that is good in us. The devil is real and evil spirits readily enter souls who grant admittance to them either deliberately or innocently by dabbling in the spirit world, often to its complete ruin. 

Mark tells us that You and Your disciples go across the lake to the country of Gerasenes, a pagan country, and get off the boat.  As soon as You do You encounter a man possessed by evil spirits. The man lives among the tombs and is as unclean in every way that a person can be unclean. The power of the evil possession is so great that he is wild, enraged, uncontrollable, no chains or fetters are strong and secure enough to prevent him from doing harm to himself and to others. He howls, gashes himself on the stones, and prowls day and night - he is a thing to be pitied. He is ostracised and feared. Mark describes the scene as follows, 'Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’ On seeing him You and recognizing that he was demon-possessed, You said, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit.’ ‘What is your name?’ 

Evil spirits have names they are the seven deadly sins and once one gains a foothold in us all the others come in their wake. Before we know it we have lost control of our liberty and reason. The evil spirit says his name is legion for there are many of them possessing the unfortunate man. They know that You have the power to cast them out and beg You to let them enter the great herd of pigs feeding nearby. It is the lesser of the two evil, that animals rather than human beings be possessed by evil and You give assent. Immediately two thousand pigs run over the cliff into the lake and are drowned.

The swineherds ran off to tell everyone what they had seen and returned with the people they saw that the man was dressed and with a sound mind, instead of praising You and rejoicing in what You had done for him they were filled with fear. The loss of their livelihood was more important to them than their encounter with You and begged You to leave. You did. They rejected You and the Good News and You respected their freedom to do so. 

As You were getting into the boat the man begged to go with You, but You had another, more important mission for him. You commanded him saying, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.’ Even though the people had rejected You You had not rejected them but gave them another chance to believe in You and be saved. 

We know he was faithful to his mission because Mark concludes by saying, 'So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.'

How faithful am I in carrying out the missionary mandate that I received at my Baptism?