January 29, 2006
READING 2:
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
GOSPEL: Mark 1:21 -28
Catholic Schools Week A veterinarian told me that a woman brought a litter of Golden Retriever puppies into her clinic for inoculation and worming. As the look-alike puppies squirmed over and under one another in their box, the vet realized it would be difficult to tell the treated ones from the rest. So, she turned on the water faucet, filled her cupped hand with water and moistened each little dog’s head when she had finished. After the fourth puppy, she noticed the previously talkative client had grown quiet. As the vet sprinkled the last pup’s head, the woman leaned forward and whispered, “I didn’t know they had to be baptized.” The people of Capernaum were kept down by the Roman authorities and their own leaders. The scribes taught the Torah in such a way that people had low opinions of themselves unless they conformed to every rule. The Pharisees believed this was the only way to please God and prided themselves on their fidelity to the Law. We know they were as human as we are, so we know they could not have been without sin. They made themselves feel better about themselves by putting down all the others. They put down the obvious sinners like the tax collectors and prostitutes and Samaritans so harshly that everyone feared exposure of their sinfulness. John offered Baptism, preaching that the Baptism wiped away all sin. People came to him because when they left him they felt cleansed, worthy of a good relationship with God. Jesus came with a new teaching. Jesus said, “I came that you may have life, life in abundance.” Jesus made people feel that God knew them and loved them. He didn’t preach that God loved sin; but he did teach with authority that God loved all God’s children, including the sinners and Samaritans and that we should treat our “neighbors” as God’s beloved. Every one is worthy of a good relationship with God. When we think back in our lives we remember more about how people made us feel about ourselves than we do about the specifics. You may be surprised to know that my eighth grade class at St. Lawrence School was a bit rowdy. There were two eighth grades and we were the more difficult ones that teachers wanted to avoid. The Sisters always got to teach the more rowdy kids. We had an old nun; she must have been at least thirty, named Sr. Anita Marie, for our teacher. Amongst ourselves, we called her “SAM.” I remember that one homework assignment: she handed out a list of all our classmates. “Next to each name,” she said, “write down the good thing you know about that person. Don’t exaggerate or make up anything. Just write the good that you see and give me your papers on Friday.” And we did it. Over the weekend Sister read our comments and then typed for each one of us a full page of all the good things the class saw in him or her. On Monday, she handed them out. We were astonished! It was amazing. Years later, some of us went off to colleges and some went into the military service. In those days, we only had two choices. One of our classmates was killed in the Vietnam War. Many of us were there at the funeral. “SAM” was there too, and at the luncheon afterward, we gravitated to her. Our classmate’s dad made the rounds thanking people for coming. He had tears in his eyes when he got to us and he said. “Sister, thank you for all your help to my son, he grew up fine and he made us very proud. Now, I want you to have something you gave him long ago in the eighth grade.” With that he pressed into her hand a yellowed piece of paper, folded very small to fit into a wallet, falling apart now from being folded and unfolded, read and reread many times. It was the list Sister had typed for him so many years before. Do you know that some of the other kids also reached into their wallets or purses and pulled out their own well worn sheets? When I think about my Catholic school days, I remember “SAM.” Jesus drove out demons. Do you know that we can also drive out demons? Our friends of all ages need to hear something good about them now and then; that is how we drive forth those demons of fear and falsehood that put people down. Jesus affectionately called his disciples, “little ones.” A good question for parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, mentors and all Christians is: “In what way am I helping the “little ones” I know grow in amazement at Jesus and his love for them?” We want our children to grow into strong, wise, confident, capable, mature adults. But we want more than that. We want them to grow in their faith in the love of God for them with all their imperfections. Children need to see in us the love of Jesus and how Christian faith affects our lives positively. For that matter, so do other adults. Jesus taught that a tree is known by the fruit it bears. People knew him by the way he made them feel about themselves. Two thousand years later, he still connects us with our best selves. Try saying something good and positive to others and be astonished at how the good news flows! Fr. Jeff McGowan |
