Things have been bad, but God makes new

Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth,
do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way...

(from today's first reading Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25)

Do everything for the glory of God

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for the glory of God.

Avoid giving offense,
whether to the Jews or Greeks
or the church of God,
just as I try to please everyone in every way,
not seeking my own benefit
but that of the many,
that they may be saved.

Be imitators of me,
as I am of Christ.

(Today's Epistle by Saint Paul the Apostle - 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1)

The pursuit of happiness

Unemployment.

Underemployment.

Foreclosure.

Bankruptcy.

These situations afflict many in these days of financial and economic disaster.

And in these days and in these situations, many among us may find deep and painful resonance in the words of Job in today’s first reading (Job 7:1-4, 6-7):

Is not man's life on earth a drudgery?

Are not his days those of hirelings?

He is a slave who longs for the shade,
a hireling who waits for his wages.

So I have been assigned months of misery,
and troubled nights have been allotted to me.

If in bed I say,
"When shall I arise?"
then the night drags on;
I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.

Remember that my life is like the wind;
I shall not see happiness again.

What is the answer to this darkness and doom?

What hope do we have in this deep, dark night?

We hear it in today’s Gospel (Mark 1:29-39).

We see it in the dark hours of the night, in a place heavily afflicted.

We see it as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brings healing of body and freedom of spirit to overwhelming masses of people:

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill
or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons...

And our Lord did not stop there or then.

He told them,
"Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come."

The Lord Jesus Christ comes.

He comes to our dark nights; he comes in our times of trouble.

Our Lord Jesus comes, as he did for all those people, as he did for Peter’s mother-in-law:

He pursues us. He grasps our hand. He helps us up.

And we too will serve.

And thus by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, happiness will come again and forever.

(adapted from a previous post)

Echoes

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill
or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place,
where he prayed.
Mark 1:32-35

This scene from today's Gospel (Mark 1:29-39) was echoed in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King - the third volume of The Lord of the Rings:

"At the doors of the Houses many were already gathered to see Aragorn, and they followed after him; and when at last he had supped, men came and prayed that he would heal their kinsmen or their friends whose lives were in peril through hurt or wound, or who lay under the Black Shadow. And Aragorn arose and went out, and... laboured far into the night. And word went through the City: ' The King is come again indeed....'

"And when he could labour no more, he cast his cloak about him, and slipped out of the City, and went to his tent just ere dawn and slept for a little."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, p. 147.

The identification of a kingly figure as a healer is set up by Tolkien earlier in the chapter.

"'"The hands of the king are the hands of a healer." And so the rightful king could ever be known.'"
Ibid, p.136

This likewise echoes another Gospel scene:

"John (the Baptist) summoned two of his disciples
and sent them to the Lord to ask,
'Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?'

"....And (Jesus) said to them in reply,
'Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind regain their sight, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear..."
Luke 7:18a-19,22a

The Lord of the Rings is not an allegory (a genre Tolkien "cordially" disliked), but Tolkien encouraged readers to explore the "applicability" of what he wrote. He also once described The Lord of the Rings as a "Catholic" work.

Thus readers have seen Christ-like qualities not only in Aragorn (as above), but also in Frodo (the suffering one upon whom the salvation of the world depends) and Gandalf (resurrection).

(Many such nuances, unfortunately, were lost in the recent Lord of the Rings films.)

The most important echoes of this Gospel, however, are not literary echoes in famous books - no matter how wonderful the books may be.

The most important echoes of this Gospel, in which the Lord labors long and hard to bring healing, should be found in our own lives: by our laboring long and hard to bring true healing by the grace of Christ.

Then will the rightful faith be known.

(from a previous post)

"Come, let us bow down in worship...

"...let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

"For He is our God,
and we are the people He shepherds,
the flock He guides.

"Oh, that today you would hear His voice:
'Harden not your hearts...'"

(from today's Responsorial Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9)

5 year-old boy sent away by parents

Why? Partly for his education, partly because of his parents’ ambition, and also perhaps partly out of guilt.

Then, when he went to college, the young man rejected the plans of his rich, ambitious parents and joined a new religious group of panhandlers.

His parents had him kidnapped and attempted to "deprogram" him. After a couple of years, they gave up. He went back to college and his religious "family" of beggars.

He eventually got a teaching position and his entire life became devoted to teaching, writing, and praying.

Then suddenly, one day in his late forties, he gave up everything except prayer. He died the next year.

In his relatively short life, however, the little rich boy turned beggar and teacher had already made quite a name for himself.



In his short life, Kings and Popes had sought his advice, so great was his reputation for wisdom.



Even after his short life, religious orders fought over his body, so great was his reputation for holiness.

The body of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, perhaps the greatest of all Christian theologians and philosophers, was finally interred in a church belonging to his fellow Dominicans on this very day in 1369, 94 years after his death and 42 years after his canonization.

(from a previous post)

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.

Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.

(Today's Responsorial Psalm - 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9)

What's a body to do?

The body is not for immorality,
but for the Lord,
and the Lord is for the body....

Avoid immorality....

....glorify God in your body.

(from today's Epistle: 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20)

Third Sunday of Advent

Lord God,
may we, your people,
who look forward to the birthday of Christ
experience the joy of salvation
and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Today's Collect