Perhaps we know or have met people who have physical handicaps or
impediments. These are those who are visually and/or hearing
impaired, or those having speech impediments. We read about men and
women, sometimes celebrities, who have anorexia or eating
disorders. We may also know of “special” children or those who have
learning disadvantages. The question is: how much have we done to
help these people?

Unfortunately even in this new millennium, many of us cringe at the
sight of the disabled and some of us avoid them as much as
possible. The physically and mentally challenged remain a
marginalized portion of our society despite all the awareness and
publicity regarding their plight. Perhaps this attitude is due to
ignorance or apathy towards their plight. Or perhaps, some of us
just do not care.

Jesus ministered to the marginalized, the sick, the disabled, and
the outcasts like the lepers. He traveled from town to town,
village to village, healing many of them. Within our own
communities, how many do we know today who imitate Christ in this
manner?

The joy of the healed deaf man must have been great to see. It is a
joy to see disabled people who, despite their handicaps, keep their
faith strongly with God. These disabled brothers and sisters are
excellent examples for us to admire and emulate.

God is at work in the hearts of all men and women, not just those
who are Christian. Look at the Gospel. True to his intention, Mark
was a non-Jew demonstrating what it means to have faith. A very
persistent woman who wants her daughter to be healed confronts
Jesus. She is so persistent that Jesus gives in to her and fulfills
her desire. The most amazing thing is that she is a pagan. How could
she possibly know who Jesus is, let alone have faith in him?

The Church in it is theology of conversion and evangelization tells
us that even before people hear the Gospel, the Holy Spirit is at
work in their hearts preparing them for this very event. The Second
Vatican Council also affirms that there are elements of the truth at
work in all cultures and religions and that the Church affirms and
encourages these aspects of them. St. Paul writes about our ability
to know and come to believe in God through the wonder and glory of
creation, even without specifically hearing the Gospel proclaimed.
The scriptures tell us that the Lord works with people who are
humble and obedient to him and his ways. If we fail to live
according to God’s word, his blessings may well pass from us to
others, just as Paul explains his proclaiming the Gospel to the
Gentiles because the Jews would not listen to him.

If anything, we should be awed by the responsibility we bear as
Catholics. The fullness of the truth necessary for salvation
subsists within the Catholic Church. This means that we have a duty
and a responsibility to live out this truth to the full and, as
such, to be a beacon light lighting up for all peoples the path of
eternal salvation.

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” So goes that
famous line from the comic book character The Shadow and how apt a
summary for today’s Gospel passage.

The Pharisees emphasized much on rituals and rules more than they
taught principle and meaning of what those rituals and rules meant.
They and the people they preached to were so caught up with these
rituals and rules that they neglected the spiritual sustenance of
their own souls.

We can go to Mass and pray the same prayers everyday but Jesus
reminds us that we should not depend on the Mass and the prayers we
recite to cure us from sin or should we recite them to make us
become holier, righteous people. The real us depends on what we
think and what we really value. It is from our hearts that we
achieve who we really are and how we influence those around us.

In the first reading we read how the Queen of Sheba was so impressed
by Solomon’s wisdom that she praised him and gave him expensive
presents. However the story ends with the queen returning to her
own country without really saying how she applied what she has
learned.

Let us ask ourselves today, how do we apply to action what we hear
from the mass and from the prayers we recite? Do we reflect and
seek the message and true meaning of Jesus’ words? Do we pray to
our Blessed Mother not because it is our habit to pray the Rosary or
because we ask for her intercession but because we want to feel her
presence and the love of her Son within us?

Finally, let us be reminded not to allow evil to lurk in our hearts
but rather to allow the goodness and purity of God’s love to grow
within us.

One need not go to Jerusalem, Lourdes or Fatima to find God and
discover his presence among us. Solomon realized this when he
offered his prayer at the dedication of the Temple he built for God
to dwell in: “If the highest heavens cannot contain you, my God,”
Solomon prayed, “how much less this Temple that I have built.”

God is everywhere in his creation, for all things come from God and
bear his creative presence. All things are sacred. God is present
in the Book of Sacred Scripture; we know this for ultimately he is
the author of Scripture. But is he not the author of all the books
that men and women publish, of all the music they compose?

All things are sacred. The ground we stand and walk on today is
holy ground, the air we breathe is the breath of God, the sunrise
and sunset we delight in, he paints. Simple bread and ordinary wine
are holy even before they become food and drink for eternity, before
they re-create in our midst the Christian Passover. All we touch
today and use are hallowed things.

God is not and cannot be limited. We need only set free the senses
of our souls to taste and feel and smell and hear and perceive the
spiritual reality embedded in the material world in the midst of
which we live.

In today’s Gospel we see a continuation from yesterday of the theme of Jesus the Healer. When Jesus disembarks from the boat everyone waiting on the shore knew him and they all rush forward carrying the people they love who are sick or disabled to Jesus so that they can be healed. None of them doubt that Jesus has the power or the willingness to heal. Mark tells us that they laid the sick in the streets and made every effort to simply “touch the hem of his garment,” confident that would be sufficient to bring about healing. And it worked: as many as touched him were made whole.
You have to be pretty confident in someone to entrust the very life of your ailing spouse or child to the touching of that person’s hem—the outer edge of his clothes!

Now consider that at Mass we encounter that same Jesus. Do we approach him with the same confidence of those people 2,000 years ago? Is it still true that even if we drag ourselves to Mass, however sick, tired, bored or disinterested we may feel, Jesus’ power will, in some way, heal us? Of course! Just get to Jesus. Reach out, at the very least, for the “hem” of his garment—he will come to your rescue.

Throughout today’s passages from the Gospel of Mark we are given a kind of montage of Jesus the Healer. Everyone can be healed by Jesus—whether they are afflicted by life-threatening fevers like Peter’s mother-in-law, or by “diverse diseases,” or even by devils. All are equally subject to Jesus’ healing power. And notice, too, the effortlessness with which Our Lord heals—his authority over the universe is irrefutable.

But we have to stand up when he calls us. Before he heals Peter’s mother-in-law, he helps her up. She stands by his side—still feverish, weak and trembling, but giving it all she had. That shows an acceptance of Jesus, a humble submitting to his will. Then he heals her. She is so perfectly healed that she immediately begins waiting on Jesus and the other Apostles.

We pray for the strength to stand up when Jesus calls us, and not remain lying down and protesting against him. Lift us up, Lord, and renew us.

God communicated with Solomon through a dream and asked what he
needed to become a better leader. Wise Solomon asked for a
discerning heart, better understood as a sense of wisdom. God not
only granted his request but also told him that from this wisdom
will also come merit of honor, riches and long life, but only as
long as he used his wisdom wisely.

Have you ever sensed God’s will in any form? Perhaps God would
better communicate with us, whenever our minds are open and our
hearts listen for his message.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples are overwhelmed by the
big crowd and decide to rest. How can we relate this incident to
something similar in our lives? Do we also sometimes feel so
exhausted and overwhelmed that we need a vacation or perhaps a break
from our present situation? But then again, maybe we notice that
there are important matters waiting for our attention – in Jesus’
case, the crowd surged towards them with their requests, not
allowing them to rest.

During such demanding times, we need to reflect and discern our
priorities. Are we following the right path? Or have we veered off
course because of the chaos around us? Then again, perhaps we need
to assess ourselves- it may not be the right time to withdraw from
responsibilities just because of the problems we are currently
facing.

Jesus’ action in today’s Gospel reminds us that it may be in the
rhythm of our Christian life that we can find an alternate meeting
place with God. It is this private place in our hearts that have
been serving multitudes of men and women in the Christian world.
Maybe it is time to look deeper into our Christian lives through the
rhythm of work and prayer.

King Herod Antipas best exemplifies the kind of person who has
nothing but fear of Jesus. His name may be associated with that
kind of fear as his predecessor, Herod the Great, who massacred
young children after Jesus’ birth, and which is found greatly
disturbing (Matthew 2:1-18).

Herod had only anxiety about Jesus’ ministry, to the extent that he
believed Jesus was John raised from the dead. Herod feared that the
preaching of John was coming true and worse, that Jesus may be the
Messiah who will topple him as King of the Jews.

Perhaps we too may be like Herod at some point in our lives. We may
have heard homilies during Mass that we do not like to hear. We may
have read passages from the Bible that we did not think is logical
or practical. There may have been times the Church called us to
take a stand against an obvious wrong in our country but instead of
taking an active role, we may have found an excuse not to do
anything because it affected our comfortable schedules.

Jesus actively works with us in spreading the Good News and
strengthening the bonds of love within our families and
communities. With his help, let us rid ourselves of our
impassiveness, anxieties, and apathy, which tempts us to do nothing
or keep our distance from God and the Church.

Today’s Gospel is a story about loving parents, a baby, religious
observance, a visionary holy man, and a wise woman. Being observant
Jews, Simeon and Anna knew the prophecies, they knew that God’s promise
would one day he fulfilled, and they were looking for the signs as they
waited. Both of them immediately recognized Jesus as the long awaited
Messiah. Simeon was gifted with the Holy Spirit as he spoke of this
child as a light to the Gentiles and the glory for Israel. Anna lived
her days and nights in worship, fasting, and prayer, in a sense, she
was in the right place at the right time and because she was prepared,
she was able to recognize the revelation of God in Jesus in the Temple
that day in Jerusalem. Are we able to recognize Jesus in our lives
today?

Jesus is present for us in many ways. Yet, we have to admit that our
ability to recognize him is sometimes faulty. Jesus is present in
ourselves, in our family members, in our neighbors, and even in those
we dislike. We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit who will show
us Jesus in ourselves and in others. We are temples of the Holy Spirit
“for the whole Spirit of Christ is in each of the members of the
Church. You have within each of you the grace of God necessary to
recognize Jesus. You only have to extend your arms in love to those
around you if you intend to imitate Simeon and Anna.

If this is difficult to do, remember that Jesus gives you the strength
in this Mass to follow his command that “You shall love the Lord, your
God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength,
and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

By doing this you are sure to recognize Jesus, as did Simeon and Anna.
Today is also called Candlemas Day. Traditionally, candles are blessed
today in our parishes for use in both the home and the church.

Candlemas Day occurs on the Feast of the Presentation because the holy
man Simeon foresaw that the infant was to be a “light to the Gentiles.”
This is the symbolism of the lighted candles we use in our religious
rites and our private devotions.

The light, which is Jesus, we carry at the center of our being. It can
banish all the darkness within us, if we allow it, even from the most
remote corners of our souls. It can also flow out from us, lighting
the hearts of others. Or, we can trim it down, even snuff it out,
allowing the darkness to spread about us and deepen within us. Let us
pray that we shall allow the light of Christ to brighten every dark
corner within us so that, like Jesus, we might be light- bearers to the
world.

There probably have been times in our lives where we find ourselves
making difficult decisions. Perhaps some of us are executives or
managers who have to decide whether to lay off workers in order that
our business will survive. Some of us may be part of a group of
people who need to determine whether a person committed a crime and
may have to spend most of his life in jail. Many of us could be the
head of the family who may need to decide whether to move to another
country for a career at the expense of uprooting the family.
Both readings today seem to underscore such a theme. David was
presented with a difficult decision of three options by God to
inflict on the people of Israel. He chose pestilence, which
resulted in the death of thousands.

In the Gospel today, Jesus faces a crowd of people whom he knew
since childhood. Unfortunately this crowd doubted him and Jesus
made the decision not to continue his ministry among them. It may
have been a logical decision but we could feel his disappointment
and sadness for coming to that decision.

How we run our lives depends on the decisions we make. Sometimes
these decisions can be difficult and/or have very unpleasant
consequences to the extent we lose friends and offend our closest
relatives.

God came to David’s side after the pestilence and David eventually
built an altar that led to the end of the plague and suffering.
Jesus, after deciding to leave Nazareth, continued with his ministry
to teach and heal among the villages of Galilee.

The Lord is at our side through difficult times. Jesus teaches us
that life goes on especially when we are entrusted with a Mission -
the Mission to spread the Word of God and to practice our love and
concern for our neighbor.