Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9 (8); 1 Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28
Last year, on our pilgrimage with our Bishop, Robert Gruss, to the Holy Land, one of the places we visited was Capernaum. As we walked where Jesus walked, as our tour guide and Bishop Gruss taught us where Jesus taught, as we listened to scripture at the site of the synagogue in today’s Gospel reading, we encountered Jesus.
Like many of you, for most of my life, I’ve heard Jesus is always with us. He is standing next to us at work or at school. He is sitting with us while watching television or surging the Internet. He is with us when we are exercising or on the playground. But for too much of my life, I didn’t truly understand. I was like the people in today’s Gospel reading, asking, “What is this?” But as I spent time in prayer, reading scripture, and taking time to spend it with Jesus, I began to understand. I started recognizing when Jesus was with him, and experienced encounters with Jesus.
One such encounter occurred the morning of January 5th. My day began like it normally does. I try to spend some time on the treadmill, to work on my physical health. And at the same time, I pray to work on my spiritual health. As I begin walking, I start by praying the rosary. The rhythm of the rosary works will for me with the rhythm of the walking.
Just as I started walking and praying, I noticed Jesus sitting near me. As he looked at me, I noticed a sadness in his eyes. At the same time, I was overwhelmed with a sense of death. That immediately turned into terror, as my daughter-in-law Emily was at that time, getting ready to head to her next chemo treatment. I started begging Jesus that Emily be okay, that these treatments cure her and he allow her to fulfill the mission in life he had given her. As I pleaded with Jesus, his eyes turned from sadness to compassion. The terror in me was washed away by an overwhelming sense of peace. I knew Emily was going to be okay. I was able to return to my prayer and my day continued as normal. It was a few hours later when my wife Nancy received a phone call that her uncle had passed away.
Your encounters with Jesus may not be like my encounters. Just as each of us are unique, our relationship and encounters with Jesus are also unique. But Jesus is with us all the time. So the question is how do we recognize those encounters with Jesus?
Just like we need to exercise our bodies to maintain our physical health, we also need to exercise our souls to maintain our spiritual health. We do this through prayer, reading scripture, and developing our relationship with Jesus. And by working our personal relationship with Jesus, we will begin to recognize and encounter him in our lives.
So as you go to your prayer space, take along an extra chair. Set that chair right across from you then proceed with however your usually pray, saying prayers like the Rosary, reading scripture or devotionals, whatever you normally do. But when you are done, take a few moments to thank Jesus for all the blessings he has given you, spend a few moments telling him about your last day or so, what was good about it, what was bad, who you encountered, where you failed him. Then sit back in quiet to listen to what Jesus has to tell you.
This can sometimes be difficult, as our minds tend to wander. But take Jesus along on those wanderings, maybe it is Jesus showing you someone you need to call or visit, maybe it is someone we need to forgive or ask for forgiveness. Maybe Jesus is showing us an area of our lives we need to change, to help us overcome temptations.
Now, you might be thinking, but I don’t have time for all this! If you don’t have time to spend a few minutes with Jesus each day in prayer and conversation, you have too many things going on and something else needs to give. I’ve discovered, when having conversations with Jesus, that most of them, even though they are sometimes long conversations, have actually only take a minute or two, and sometimes only seconds.
At the end of your conversation with Jesus, ask him for what you need, or ask him for help for someone else. Then, take a few moments to get out a notebook or something, write down the date and just a few sentences about your prayer and conversation with Jesus. It can even be that you didn’t recognize Jesus or feel his presence. Whatever you experienced, briefly make a note about it.
By doing this every day, at some point in the future, it may be years like it was for me, or maybe only months later, when you review your notes, you will discover your encounters with Jesus have changed from “What is this”, to Jesus, you are the Holy One of God.
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