These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. (Mk 5:1-20)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/013122.cfm
“Please, Mr. Jesus, go somewhere else!” As long as the poor man was suffering, “crying out and bruising himself with stones,” folks were fine, but with the crazy man fully clothed and in his right mind, the people become afraid and ask Jesus to please just go. Saint John Bosco (1815-1888) founded the Salesians to work for the education of youth.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. (1 Cor 12:31-13:13)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/013022.cfm
The readings for this Sunday are challenging: the call of the prophet Jeremiah to proclaim a word that will be rejected by kings, priests, and people; Jesus preaching about the faith of foreigners and angering the hometown folks in the process so that they want to kill him. Perhaps Saint Paul’s hymn to Love may seem to be a bit out of place. But when we look at the Cross of the Lord we begin to understand what it means to “strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.” And as Saint Paul points out: “So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.”
Then Nathan said to David: “You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down. Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” (2 Sam 12:1-7a, 10-17)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012922.cfm
David’s anguish over his sin being found out and his subsequent contrition is expressed with great pathos in today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 51): Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God; create a clean heart in me. Today's photo is of the Black Madonna, Our Lady of Einsiedeln.
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab which he sent by Uriah. In it he directed: “Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.” So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the defenders were strong. When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab, some officers of David’s army fell, and among them Uriah the Hittite died. (2 Sam 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012822.cfm
In order to cover up his sin with Bathsheba, David plots the murder of her husband, Uriah. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) used “new-found” knowledge (the writings of Aristotle) to help explain the faith. Traditionalists were horrified, but knowledge won out. They say that poets make great theologians. Saint Thomas was an excellent poet, in fact, we still sing his hymns today. He is the patron saint of seminaries. Today's photo is from my Saint Meinrad Seminary days, taken around 1978.
Mahalia Jackson, known as the “Queen of Gospel,” died fifty years ago today on January 27, 1972. Born to a poor family in New Orleans, she found her calling at Mount Mariah Baptist Church, where she began singing in the choir. After moving to Chicago she met the famous Gospel choir leader Thomas Dorsey and began to tour. Gradually her reputation spread throughout the country, and indeed the world. She became the first Gospel singer to perform at Carnegie Hall.
Despite her fame, she constantly confronted prejudice. In the 1950s Martin Luther King Jr. invited her to help raise money for the Montgomery Bus boycott. From that time on she was always available whenever King called. Sometimes, when feeling low, he would ask her to sing his favorite song, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” a song she would later sing at his funeral. She hoped her music would “break down some of the hate and fear that divide the white and black people of this country.”
In fact, Jackson played a significant role in King’s most famous oration. She was at his side in 1963, performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the famous March on Washington. As King approached the conclusion of his written speech, Jackson called out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” At this point, King departed from his speech to deliver the historic lines that became a signature of his legacy.
“After you sing the blues, you still have the blues. I sing God’s music because it makes me feel free.”
—Mahalia Jackson
From Give Us This Day
