Friday - February 18, 2022
I travel, work, suffer my weak health, meet with a thousand difficulties, but all these are nothing, for this world is so small. To me, space is an imperceptible object, as I am accustomed to dwell in eternity.
-- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
TODAY'S READINGS
FRIDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Lectionary: 339
Jas 2:14-24, 26
What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister has nothing to wear
and has no food for the day,
and one of you says to them,
“Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,”
but you do not give them the necessities of the body,
what good is it?
So also faith of itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.
Indeed someone might say,
“You have faith and I have works.”
Demonstrate your faith to me without works,
and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
You believe that God is one.
You do well.
Even the demons believe that and tremble.
Do you want proof, you ignoramus,
that faith without works is useless?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
You see that faith was active along with his works,
and faith was completed by the works.
Thus the Scripture was fulfilled that says,
Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God.
See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
For just as a body without a spirit is dead,
so also faith without works is dead.
Responsorial Psalm 112:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (see 1b) Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house;
his generosity shall endure forever.
Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
R. Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance.
R. Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Alleluia Mk 8:34–9:1
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I call you my friends, says the Lord,
for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mk 8:27-33
Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
in this faithless and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of
when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
He also said to them,
“Amen, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death
until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”
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How do you DO your Faith?
Faith without works is dead, says today's first reading. In other words, if we really have faith in God, we're eager to do the work of God. We're eager to share him with others. We're eager to do whatever he tells us to do.
How eager are you? It's a measure of how much faith in God you truly have.
Often, however, instead of living by faith, we live by fear. We're afraid that if we talk about God openly, others will reject us. We're afraid that if we obey God as he speaks to us through the moral teachings of the Church, life will be too hard, too distasteful, too uncomfortable, or too disastrous. We're afraid that if we take seriously the scriptures about tithing and donate ten percent of our income to the parish and Good News Ministries and other charities, we'll end up in poverty or, at best, miserable from not buying as much stuff as we'd like.
Jesus explains in today's Gospel reading what the work of faith really involves: carrying our crosses out of love for others, like he did. There is no greater work than to carry the burden of loving the unlovable despite their sins against us. There is no greater blessing than to transform our sufferings into an offering to God for the sake of those who are unGodly. (Mind you, not all sufferings are crosses that we're supposed to bear; seek discernment through spiritual direction and therapeutic counseling.)
Years ago, I complained to my spiritual director about an ordeal that I was enduring. I don't remember what the cause of my suffering had been, but I will never forget how he responded: "Instead of seeing your cross as a curse, realize it as a blessing."
"How?" I asked.
"By embracing it," he said.
My fear had been that this cross was going to lead to an unredeemable disaster. (Of course I was wrong.) Once I stopped vainly trying to get rid of it, the weight felt much lighter. When we accept that we will always have people in our lives who reject us, demand too much from us, or hurt us in some other way, and when we accept our sufferings as uniting ourselves to Jesus on his cross, our pain becomes prayer. And once we have done this, we gain Christ's strength and energy to do what is good and loving.
In faith, we know that after every cross there is always a resurrection. In faith, we willingly do whatever is uncomfortable or difficult, because we know that the end results will be far better than anything we'd get from the so-called "easy" alternative.
Faith is a free gift from the Holy Spirit to us. Putting faith to work is the gift of Jesus to others.
Today's Prayer
Jesus, with my sight on You, may I walk towards Your reign doing the deeds that You want me to do. Help me to discern Your will. Amen.
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The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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