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annedechateaubrouc · 6 years ago

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Our Lady of Fatima: Apparitions

“My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge, and the way that will lead you to God.”

-Our Lady of Fatima, June 13th 1917

Previous post ➽ The Angel of Portugal’s apparitions

The Apparitions of Our Lady

I. The first apparition

II. Saint Anthony’s feast day

III. The vision of hell

IV. The prison

V. The cure and the sacrifices

VI. The miracle of the sun

VII. Collection of pictures

I. May 13th 1917, the first apparition

Lucia Dos Santos and her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, took their sheeps to graze outside of Fatima, Cova da Iria. As they were playing together, a flash lighted up the sky. They gathered their sheeps quickly, thinking a storm was brewing in the distance. A second flash them to jump, then, a beautiful young woman appeared a few meters away from them, on a holm oak. She was dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun. Her face, indescribably beautiful, and was neither sad nor happy, but serious with an air of mild reproach. Her hands, joined together as if she were praying, were resting at her breast and pointing upward. A rosary hung from her right hand.

Our Lady: Do not be afraid; I will not harm you.

Lucia: Where is Your Grace from?

Our Lady: I am from heaven

Lucia: And what does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession on the thirteenth day of each month at this same hour. Later I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterward, I will return here a seventh time.

Lucia: And will I go to heaven, too?

Our Lady: Yes, you will.

Lucia: And Jacinta?

Our Lady: Also.

Lucia: And Francisco?

Our Lady: Also, but he must say many rosaries.

Lucia: Is Maria das Neves already in heaven?

Our Lady: Yes, she is.

Lucia: And Amélia?

Our Lady: She will be in purgatory until the end of the world. Do you wish to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may be pleased to send you, as both an act of reparation for the sins with which He is offended and an act of supplication for the conversion of sinners?

Lucia: Yes, we do.

Our Lady: Well then, you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort

Then, She disappeared.

Lucia told her two cousins to not tell anyone about the apparition. Maybe due to Jacinta’s young age, she revealed the secret to her mother, who thought her daughter was imagining stories. After a while, her father, Ti Marto, came to believe her story.

Meanwhile in Lucia’s home, she was suffering greatly. Her mother, Maria Rosa, was extremely angered by her daughter. She believed that the young Lucia was blasphemous and that she had sinned gravely. She was mocked by her family and her friends. When Jacinta was informed, she felt terrible. She asked her cousin for forgiveness, Lucia immediatly forgave her.

The three children talked amongst themselves about the apparition and reflected deeply on Her message. Francisco came up with the idea of giving their lunches to their sheeps, as a sacrifice for the conversion of sinners. They also deprived themselves of water, during long hot summer days.

Maria Rosa felt embarrassed by her daughter, she was scared that the story would spread in the village. So she asked her Parish Priest, Fr. Manuel, to pressure Lucia to recant it.

The Priest listened carefully and questioned her a lot, which caused Lucia to start doubting what she had seen. Which was one of the worst ordeals she had to deal with.

II. June 13th 1917, St Anthony of Padua’s feast day

During the afternoon, even though there were festivities going on in the village, the three children headed off to the Cova. There, they found a small crowd waiting for them. They decided to pray the Rosary with the people who were present. After doing so, the lightening flashed and the Lady appeared on the holm oak, like in May. Lucia spoke to her:

Lucia: Tell me, what does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. And after each one of the mysteries, my children, I want you to pray in this way: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins , save us from the fire of hell. Take all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need. I want you to learn to read and write, and later I will tell you what else I want of you.

(Lucia asks for the cure of a sick person)

Our Lady: If he is converted, he will be cured during the year.

Lucia: Will you take us to heaven?

Our Lady: Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart.

Lucia: Must I remain in the world alone?

Our Lady: Not alone, my child, and you must not be sad. I will be with you always, and my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way which will lead you to God.

Lucia later wrote: As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands and for the second time, she communicated to us the rays of that immense light. We saw ourselves in this light, as it were, immersed in God. Jacinta and Francisco seemed to be in that part of the light which rose towards Heaven, and I in that which was poured out on the earth.In front of the palm of Our Lady’s right hand was a heart encircled by thorns which pierced it..We understood that this was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, and seeking reparation.You know now, Your Excellency, what we referred to when we said that Our Lady had revealed a secret to us in June. At the time, Our Lady did not tell us to keep it a secret, but we felt moved to do so by God.

The small crowd, although they had not perceived our Lady herself, had seen a few things such as the lightening, a certain dimming of the sun or a little grey cloud that came and went. They believed and truly converted.

This second apparition alarmed even more the children’s families, especially their mothers. The two women understood that the rumors of the apparition were expanding through Fatima, and maybe even outside of it. Plus, the Parish Priest started to believe that it was truly real, but maybe of demonic origins.

III. July 13th1917, the vision of hell

As they arrived to the Cova, the three children saw a large number of people praying the Rosary. Soon enough, there was flash of lightening and the Lady appeared above the holm oak. Mr. Marto, who was there too, noticed a small greyish cloud hovered the tree and that a breeze started to blow:

Lucia: what does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you.

Lucia: I would like to ask you to tell us who you are, and to work a miracle so that everybody will believe that you are appearing to us.

Our Lady: Continue to come here every month; in October, I will tell you who I am and what I want and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe. Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: “O Jesus, it is for the love of you, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

I. The vision of hell

Lucia later wrote:

As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me.) The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellant likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”

II. The chastisement

Our Lady: You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is a great sign given to you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

III. Russia’s errors and needed conversion

Our Lady: To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved. Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him. When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”

Lucia: Is there anything Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: No, I do not want anything more of you today.

IV. August 13th-19th 1917, the prison

On August 13th, the three children were unable to come to the Cova da Iria to meet our Lady. They had been kidnapped by the mayor of a neighbouring village who wanted to know the secret of the third apparition. He imprisoned them and threatened to plunge them in boiling oil. But they held fast.

Our Lady certainly appeared at the Cova, but didn’t find the three children. People explained that they saw a cloud hover the holm oak for a few minutes.

After they were released from prison, on August 19th, Lucia was with Francisco and another cousin at Valinhos. Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the temperature started to cool down suddenly. Lucia sensed that something was going to happen, she sent someone to get Jacinta, who arrived on time when our Lady appeared:

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to continue going to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth day of each month and to continue praying the Rosary every day. On the last month, I will perform a miracle for all to believe. (She started to look sad) If they had not taken you to Ourém, the miracle would have been even greater.

Lucia: What does Your Grace want done with the money that people leave at Cova da Iria?

Our Lady: Have two portable stands made. You and Jacinta with two other girls dressed in white carry one of them, and let Francisco with three other boys carry the second one. The portable stands are for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The money that is left over should be contributed to the chapel they shall build.

Lucia: I would like to ask you for the healing of some sick persons.

Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some during the year. (She looked very sad) Pray, pray a lot, and offer up sacrifices for sinners; many souls go to hell because there is no one to offer up sacrifices and pray for them.

V. September 13th 1917, the cure and sacrifices

The three children left their home to go to the Cova. As they arrived, they saw an enormous crowd of people, about 20.000, waiting for them. Some climbed up trees to see the three seers making their way to the Cova with difficulty. Others reached to them, falling on their knees, and begged them to place their petitions before our Lady. A few people, who were far from the children, shouted from the distance:

“For the love of God, ask Our Lady to cure my son who is a cripple!”

“And cure mine who is blind!”

“Cure mine who is deaf!”

“Ask her to bring back my husband! And my son who has gone to war!”

And many other petitions.

Lucia later wrote: I give thanks to God, offering Him the faith of our good Portuguese people, and I think: “If these people so humbled themselves before three poor children, just because they were mercifully granted the grace to speak to the Mother of God, what would they not do if they saw Our Lord Himself in person before them?” Well, none of this was called for here! It was a distraction of my pen, leading me away where I did not mean to go.

Once they arrived at the Cova da Iria, near the holm oak, they prayed the Rosary with the crowd. The same phenomenons from the previous apparitions happened before the eyes of the thousands of people: the air suddenly cooled, the sun dimmed to the point where the stars could be seen, and a rain resembled iridescent petals or snowflakes that disappeared before touching the ground.

Then, with the usual flash of light, our Lady appeared on the holm oak.

Our Lady: Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Carmel, Saint Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime.

Lucia: I was told to ask you many things, the cure of some sick people, of a deaf-mute…

Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some, but not others. In October I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.

She began to rise and disappeared.

VI. October 13th 1917, the miracle of the sun

Rain fell profusely that day. The three children and Lucia’s mother, who came because she was uncertain of what would actually happen, decided to leave early, knowing that there were going to be many people at the Cova da Iria and nearby places. And they were right. An enormous crowd, 70.000 people, was outside, some kneeling in the muddy ground.

Once they arrived in front of the holm oak, Lucia asked to everyone to close their umbrellas and to pray the Rosary. As they did, a light flashed and our Lady appeared:

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I wish to tell you that I want a chapel built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.

Lucia: I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners...

Our Lady: Some yes, but not others, they must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.

Then, she started to look sad and added:

Our Lady: Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended.

Then opening her hands, she made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her own light continued to be projected on the sun itself.

Lucia: Look at the sun!

Three scenes followed, Jacinta and Francesco could only see the first one.

The first:

It was the Holy Family, Saint Joseph and Our Lady (who appeared as Our Lady of The Rosary) were dressed in white but the Child Jesus was dressed in light red. Christ and St. Joseph blessed the crowd by making the sign of the Cross three times.

The second:

It was Our Lord and Our Lady of Sorrows on their way to the Calvery. They were both overwhelmed with sorrow and sadness. Christ blessed the crowd again.

The third:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, appeared holding gloriously holding the Child Jesus near Her Heart.

While Lucia was seeing the visions, the crowd observed odd phenomenons. The grey clouds parted, making the rain stop. They watched the sun, which looked like a silver disk, spin rapidly as it “danced” around the sky. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously again. Its rim became scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky.Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes, and on the faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant hues and changing colors.After performing this bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the terrified crowd.All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining with its normal brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended.

VII. Collection of pictures:

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romancatholicreflections · 7 years ago

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29th January >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflection on Mark 5:1-20 for Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Everyone was amazed’. Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada) Mark 5:1-20 Jesus and his disciples reached the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and no sooner had Jesus left the boat than a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain; because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’ – for Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit.’ ‘What is your name?’ Jesus asked. ‘My name is legion,’ he answered ‘for there are many of us.’ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district. Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.’ So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned. The swineherds ran off and told their story in the town and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his full senses – the very man who had had the legion in him before – and they were afraid. And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs. Then they began to implore Jesus to leave the neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him. Jesus would not let him but said to him, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.’ So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed. Gospel (USA) Mark 5:1-20 Unclean spirit, come out of the man! Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. 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. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed. Reflections (7) (i) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time There is a lot of aggression in both of the readings today. In the first reading, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe as Saul, Israel’s first king, speaks very aggressively to David, Israel’s second king, who had replaced Saul. The reading says that this man ‘uttered curse after curse and threw stones at David’ and the words of his curse were ‘Be off, be off, man of blood, scoundrel!’. In the gospel reading, a very disturbed person speaks very aggressively to Jesus, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’ David did not respond to the Benjaminite’s aggression with aggression of his own, even though one of David’s soldiers asked David for permission to cut the man’s head off. David simply said in response, ‘Let him curse on if the Lord has told him to’. Likewise, in the gospel reading, Jesus did not respond aggressively to the disturbed person’s aggressive approach towards him. Whereas David’s response was to let his aggressor alone, Jesus went much further. He engaged his aggressor in a very personal way, asking him, ‘What is your name?’ Up to now, the only response of people to this man’s aggression was to put him in chains. However, this only served to make him more aggressive. His aggressive strength enabled him to snap his chains and break his fetters. Just before this scene in Mark’s gospel, Jesus had calmed a disturbance in nature, a storm that threatened to sink the boat in which he and his disciples were sailing. Now he calmed the disturbance in this man’s spirit by relating to him as a human being, as distinct from some kind of an animal. The people of the region came and saw the man sitting beside Jesus, ‘clothed and in his full senses’. The reading suggests that the Lord can take anything we throw at him and remain calm. Our disturbance does not disturb him, but, rather his calm can calm us. Prayer is a moment when we can bring ourselves before the Lord, including our disturbed and angry selves, and allow the Lord of life to calm us, to give us rest, to bring us peace. We rise from prayer to bring his calming presence to others, just as in the gospel reading, Jesus called on the man who had been becalmed to ‘go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you’. And/Or (ii) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time The gospel reading this morning puts before us probably the most disturbed person in the whole gospel story. He loved alone among the tombs; he was so violent that he could not be secured even with fetters and chains. He howled among the tombs night and day and regularly inflicted serious injury on himself. Here is someone who is out of control who, from a Jewish perspective, is living in territory that is out of bounds, a graveyard in a Gentile region. Yet, he was not out of bounds, as far as Jesus was concerned. Jesus met with him and spoke to him. After his meeting with Jesus he ceased to be out of control. Indeed, we are told that, in response to the call of Jesus, he went on to spread the word about all that Jesus had done for him throughout a very large region. This very disturbed person became an evangelist, the preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles. It is hard to imagine a greater transformation in someone’s life. We all need to be transformed in one way or another. We all need the Lord to help change us for the better. We too can find ourselves out of bounds, out of control. We ask the Lord this morning to bring us within the bounds of his love and to free us to submit to his control. And/Or (iii) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time This morning’s gospel reading is one of the most unusual miracle stories in the four gospels. The story is set in pagan territory and at its centre is a very disturbed person who was a danger to himself and probably to others. The response of those in his neighbourhood was to secure him with chains and to place him among the tombs with the dead. There was no place for him among the living. When Jesus arrived in this territory, this disturbed man approached him, and even though the man’s initial approach to Jesus was very aggressive, Jesus engaged him in conversation. By the end of the conversation, the man was freed from what had left him so disturbed and not only that but he had taken on a ministry. In response to Jesus’ invitation, he proclaimed throughout the region all that Jesus had done for him - all that God had done for him through Jesus. He became a preacher of the gospel. Jesus had just calmed the storm at sea; now he had calmed the storm in this man’s life, and released him to serve others. The risen Lord continues to calm the storms in all of our hearts if we approach him in confidence. When he does so, it will be with a view to releasing us to share in some way in his own work. And/Or (iv) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time This morning’s gospel reading follows directly on in Mark’s gospel from Saturday’s gospel reading. There Jesus calmed the storm at sea and calmed the panic of his own disciples. As Jesus and his disciples reach land they are met with another storm, this time a storm of the human spirit, a man who was so disturbed that people had him chained so that he couldn’t harm himself or others. He had also been banished to the local graveyard, to the tombs. He was living among the dead, cut off from the living. The Lord’s response to him was not to chain him up but to release him, to release him not only from his chains but from the spirit that left him so disturbed. We have an image here of how the Lord works. He works to free people from all that diminishes and dehumanizes them. This is not only the Lord’s work, but it is also the work of the church, the work of his followers, our work. That work of helping people to live a freer and fuller life is work we are called to engage in each day of our lives. If we are to engage in that work of the Lord, we need to open up our own lives to the Lord’s healing and life-giving presence. It is always as broken people in need of the Lord’s healing that we engage in his work of healing the broken. And/Or (v) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time The central character of the gospel story is one of the most disturbed people that we find in the gospels. He was someone out of control, completely alienated from himself and from others. He was more dead than alive, as is shown by his living among the tombs. He was the total outsider. Yet, Jesus engaged with him and as a result of his encounter with Jesus he was restored to himself and to the community from which he came. Having just calmed a storm at sea, Jesus calmed the storm in this man’s psyche and spirit and sent him out as a messenger of good news to his community. We may never be as disturbed as this man evidently was, but we can all find ourselves out of joint from time to time, out of sorts with ourselves and with others, feeling only half alive within ourselves, tossed and thrown about. It is then that we need to come before the Lord as the man in the gospel did. His initial approach to the Lord was quite aggressive; it was full of anger, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’ That can be our starting point too when we come before the Lord in prayer. Yet, he is never put off by our disturbance within. If we allow him, he will pour his peace into our hearts; he will calm us as he calmed the storm, and having done so he will send us out to share his peace and mercy with others, just as he sent out the man in the gospel reading. And/Or (vi) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time The gospel reading is a story of how Jesus transforms a very disturbed man. There is an extraordinary transformation in the man between the beginning and the end of this story. At the beginning of the story he is living among the tombs on the outskirts of the town because people could not manage him. He could not be kept under control and so he was banished to a place where nobody but the dead lived. The temptation can be great to banish those who are considered too troublesome to keep. An important part of Jesus’ work consisted in bringing in from the cold those who had been excluded and restoring to the community those who had been banished to the margins. Jesus did not try to get rid of this man when he approached and spoke to Jesus in a very aggressive way. Rather, he calmed the storm within him and brought him to a place of inner calm. It is curious that when Jesus healed the man, the people reacted to Jesus in the way they had earlier reacted to the man. They wanted Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. There was something unsettling about someone who could show that a very disturbed person was not all that different from anyone else after all. Having healed the man, Jesus sent him home to his people to tell them all that Jesus had done for him. The one who had been expelled by the community now became their evangelist, sent by Jesus to proclaim the gospel, the presence of God’s kingdom in Jesus. The story suggests that those we might be tempted to expel or remove from our company can become messengers through whom the Lord preaches the gospel to us. And/Or (vii) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time This is one of the most graphically narrated of Jesus’ miracles. Jesus is on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, mostly pagan territory. The man at the centre of the story is a very disturbed person. A powerful storm is raging within him. The community’s response to him was to chain him and exile him to the tombs outside the town. They considered him as good as dead and consigned him to live among the dead. Yet, his spirit would not be chained. Although he continued to live among the tombs, he broke free of his chains. When he saw Jesus at a distance, he ran to him. He left the tombs and threw himself at the feet of the Life Giver. We are given a picture of someone who is desperately trying to move beyond his situation of enslavement and death. Through his encounter with Jesus, the storm within him is calmed. The community who were so determined to enslave him and to be rid of him now find him sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Whereas the community only succeeded in making the storm within the man worse, Jesus calmed his storm and restored him to himself. The Lord invites us all to come before him in our need, with whatever storm may be brewing within us. If we open ourselves to the Lord’s life-giving presence, as we do in prayer, he will calm us as he calmed the storm; he will restore us to ourselves and to others. There is a striking contrast between the reaction of the man’s neighbours to what had happened and the reaction of the man himself. The neighbours implored Jesus to leave; the man begged to be allowed to stay with Jesus. The neighbours found Jesus’ presence disturbing; he had disturbed their ordered lives, restoring someone to the community who had been judged not to belong there. The man found Jesus’ presence calming; he had calmed the disturbance within him. We are being reminded that the Lord can both disturb the calm and calm the disturbed. It is striking that Jesus would not allow the man to go with him as he requested. Having received the gift of wholeness from Jesus, he now had a mission among his own people, the very people who had treated him so badly. He was to proclaim in this pagan region the gospel of the Lord’s mercy to the broken. Whenever we receive the Lord’s mercy, in whatever form, he sends us out as messengers of his mercy to others. What we receive in prayer, we give with our lives. Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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cheswirls · 7 years ago

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a quick sum-up of che’s future career plans, bc reasons

im halfway through the dive!! anime show that came out this summer season, and i’m having a lot of thoughts, and plus i finished going through all the footage i missed today of skate america while i was at a bball game, and it’s made me realize different things i guess?

it might be mid-long length so its going under a cut, but to gain intereststart off, this is all about my desire to be an athletic trainer for the usa olympic center at colorado springs, co !

ive been an at(now when you see that abb. you know what it means hah!! not assistant teacher hmm) student since my freshman year of high school, and i’ve loved it a whole bunch. back then i was set on going to columbia U for their writing program, and i wanted to major in graphic design afterwards/during/it wasnt super planned out i was a fr. i didnt know what bfa or mfa stood for yet. it wasnt until end of sophomore year than i thought about being an at for realsies.

but i also still loved gd. so there was a confliction there.

junior year i took a break from working volleyball in the fall and did my one and only year of football and it was terrible primarily bc the team i worked with didnt know how to function as a group and half the group were selfless bitch whores but like thats another storyyy, secondly bc i jus really discovered i didnt care abt football at all. it was mostly for the experience and i gained it and i liked it bc i hung out w a lot of people from helping out w varsity (i was one of two our of the five juniors that had been there since my fr year and was only on jv bc it was my first year w football, but one of the seniors had to work a bunch so when they needed an extra person i was the one w the most experience so i was w them a lot,) point was it was fun!!! and you have fun w ppl you like that you dont work w all the time and i shouldnt say fun bc lots of times it was awful,

basically! it was fun being w the varsity trainers which were the seniors and the other junior that had been around since fr year. volleyball was fun but it had always been a one-at-student-per-team sport , so it was different jus being w other ats that shared the same team and not the same sport(which in the us is made up of at least three different teams, a fr,jv,and varsity). it was a more open environment and so it inspired a lot of talk with the at grad students we had that semester (we got 3-4 every semester in a partnership w the D1 uni in town, it was always cool to hear stories from them!) and anyway i remember talking w a couple of the grads one practice and we were discussing all the different occupations athletic trainers could have, and what they wanted to work with in the future, and the topic veered towards professional sports and the olympics.

i thought it was really cool when we were talking about it, and then we got busy and it flew out of my mind. i dont remember when it came back and became a focus, but sometime before my senior year, i had decided i wanted to work at the olympic level.

real quick i mentioned gd and the struggle, so to bring that into focus, my junior year i took a whole bunch of different tech classes (gd&i, compsci, webtech) and in one of those, i had the opportunity to go to a ... i cant remember what the term was for it, but it was kinda an event for gd students and it had a little competition and stuff, and it was really fun! nd you got a lot of info abt the community college hosting it and i learned their program was really good, so the gd versus at internal struggle continued, and i remember talking to my sponsor teacher (she actually taught all three of my tech classes that year aaa i loved her) about how i didnt know what to do and shit and i dunno what she told me but like, i think she was trying to be encouraging but she basically said it was up to me, like she didnt try and nod me into a direction, that i can recall.

so SOMEHOW bc i honestly cannot remember, by senior year i’ve decided that im gonna jus fuck it and pick BOTH and double major in gd and athletic training. AND i had it all planned out, where i was gonna get a degree in gd and open up an online business, and then go into a masters program for at and then enter into the olympic field.

by this point creative writing is still cool and a great hobby but i couldnt possibly double major AND have a minor that’d be too much. id still love to take a cw course tho one day.

basically a buncha crazy stuff happened that first semester but by winter break i had an acceptance letter to a uni a couple hours north of home with a good accredited undergrad program (accredited basically means you graduate w a masters in four years so its fasttracked which woulda been great but uh..) and by the time i found out that next semester that they were doing away with the accredited program i was already too emotionally invested to consider panic-switching(panic bc it was february and id already been admitted hah...) but i decided it’d be okay. basically if you dont remember/werent around one of my school’s head ats died in a car crash died around early october ‘16. she went to undergrad where i go now, and i’d talked to her about it september that semester wondering if she knew anything abt their program and uh surprise, she’d done the same program small world. after the funeral in november and a ton of thought i applied there. (november was.. crazy in general last year. rly crazy)

may was when i started adding on sports to the future olympics job, bc i started thinking about it and after finally getting a friend to watch yuri on ice, he started making his was through all of sochi’s figure skating stuff, and then the 2010 vancouver olympics, and i decided i wanted to recap a bit on that too.

the 2010 olympics was really my first experience with figure skating. i’m a west texas gal and so theres not a lot out here to get exposed to, so seeing these best-of-the-best class sports was fun, and the earliest experience i can remember of such. i was in fifth grade so i dont remember a ton, but i do remember being captivated by korea’s yuna kim, who won gold that year in fs. shes an fs legend at this point, so if you’re into figure skating and don’t know who she is, go look her up. you wont be disappointed.

in 2012 was the london olympics. i remember a lot from it, like watching the opening ceremony with my parents and seeing the queen jump out of a helicoptor(which is like,, still cool to this day wow) and being fascinated my michael phelps and all the swimming he did so grandly. it was also my first real exposure to diving. the oldest i could recall anything abt the sport was at a pizza hut somewhere.. in town i think, and i was w my best friend at the time and my mom was there so i think maybe we were on the way back from the lake??? sounds right, i think. and we were talking abt how i always held my nose when i went underwater bc i didnt know how to not get water all up my nostrils and be underwter(and i still dont to this day aha) and she mentioned like, joining a diving team would be cool! would help me get over it and all! and i like recalling it dunno what she was talking abt bc we lived in dirt city nothing so i highly doubt there was or is any sort of diving sport happening. swimming, yeah maybe, there were lessons at pools and bodyworks areas around town, competitive teams im not sure tho, but not diving like at all so??? dunno.

so my next and technically first real experience with it was watching the london olympics. and i thought, wow, this is so neat!! i watched from that one day like the opening events, and i think i was old enough to search online like yea i had a laptop by then so i looked up the schedule for the things i wanted to see most of, and i ended up watching i think most of the diving events (i missed a couple for.. archery, i think? maybe?) and absolutely loving it. iunno what it was, maybe something i never thought i could do?(bc not hold my nose?? while i dove???????? scaryy) but i enjoyed it a bunch.

i was older when sochi was a thing, my 8th grade year. i was able to appreciate things a lot more. when i tuned into events, tony hawk and snowboarding were the main focus, but figure skating was on a lot as well. i had a tv in my room by that point, so if i didnt like what was playing on the main tv, i could go watch another event. i learned a lot of names and faces through that, and so while my bff was watching it our senior year if i was with him id point out skaters and their nationalities and stuff, like yuzuru hanyus always been a modern day household name w figure skating, but i leanred abt him BECAUSE of the sochi olympics, and he was one of the ones i’ve never forgotten. i really really liked it, so much that i watched worlds after, and around the same time my fr year, i tuned in to just the worlds championship again. i didn’t pick up trying to watch grand prix(which is their regular season, for those unaware) season until my junior year, and most of it was day-or-two-late videos from youtube, since the ice channel i think it a paid-for thing (i still dont know much abt it hah) and nothing was on tv otherwise, aside from the skate america event. but since that first time after sochi, ive always been around watching worlds fs near the beg of each year. i’d familiarized myself by senior year with the fs world, and actually,

early (i think march?) of my junior year, i searched up trying to find a figure skating anime at the time. and what did i find?? ginban, the only figure skating anime at the time. i watched like maybe all of one episode, it was abt a girl who shared her body w the ghost of a former figure skater while she was competing in events, and it was.. okay? lackluster, in the animation dept, but it was a 2005 show so.. yeah.

so after that i was like kk that wasnt good lets find another. and i didnt. not yet, anyway. instead, i found an announcement for violet evergarden’s animated adaptation, and yuri on ice, a realistic adaptation of the sport of figure skating. thats bolded bc its important. i found that shit abt yoi before it even had a promo poster, certainly before the pv came around that got everyone hyped up. i found it bc i was looking for figure skating in the first place. in fact, i think when the pv came out and got popular, i didnt even relate it to the upcoming fs anime i’d read about previously. it took me a bit to connect the dots.

watching yuri on ice at the same time as the gp 2016 season was surreal, but really interesting. i got my bff into it before the second to last episode came out, and i only remember that bc he finally showed any interest when he found something on twitter abt it being gay (newsflash/// hes gay, and before yoi his fav show was no6 bc that was as close as it got. he still rly likes it, we both do, but his solid favc is now definitely yoi. representation matters and all) and was like well now i HAVE to watch it and i was all yes it ends soon so pls. and he watched it twice in a weekend, and thrice before the finale came out, and then a few more times after that, iunno how many times but certainly more thn i have(i went back after the .. maybe ep 10? w/e ending had the after party reveal that changed everything, so i went back to analyze everything before the next ep) and between the week of 11 and finale 12, he started watching the sochi fs competition, and then the 2010 after the show ended w ep 12.

seeing this great fs show and getting a friend into the world of figure skating really renewed my love for it all. before the semester went out i went back and watched the reruns of the sochi fs stuff. and by may i’d decided i wanted to cosider that to be the sport i worked with.

with diving, it took a similar twist. in the form of the rio 16 olympics. i was all over that shit, i downloaded an nbc app on my phone so i could watch events live while i traveled with volleyball to a tournament in dallas and while i was at practice w them at home and generally jus away from the house and a tv. i planned that shit out had a schedule and everything for what i was watching live, and a lot of it was swimming, but a whoooole lot of live stuff was the diving.

in the hotel room in dallas the tv would always be on to w/e olympics events were airing at the time, either track or diving tho, one or the other, or recaps. quite a few girls ended up in the room in the evening and we’d all do stuff and watch in passing at the same time, and it was suuuuuper fun. watching the chinese women perform flawlessly and walk away w all the gold was fun, but finding a good commentator to actually say such was a disheartening challenge( one of the most memorable moments w live commentary that year was hearing a woman say of one of the chinese ladies that she’d done better before, after they revealed her personal best score ever like rly cmon be unbiased and jus passionate abt the sport youre covering pls.

ive always been super fond of the diving scene. it may not be as much as fs, but honestly, i wish i grew up in an area w a diving team now, or wish i could try it out now, bc thats how much fun it seems. i still wanna go up to the big city like 30min away from uni and learn to ice skate in the civic center there, but hands down if i had to pick a sport to join tomorrow or die i’d pick diving.

so also by may, and throughout the culmination of senior year, diving was the second sport on the olympic to-train-for list. you get a five-year contract w the olympics, now i think it’s usa as a whole and i think its by center so say, if i get a job in colorado springs i cant apply in another five years to chula vista or even like lake placid, but iunno for sure. the five-year thing is involved somehow bc i’ve heard it from a physical therapist and trainer-that-works-in-a-sports-med-clinic duo in one body named sarah, who’s been contracted out from the clinic by my high school since junior year also, bc she knows people who’ve worked w the olympics, and then another from church that worked w olympics that knows my family uh iunno how well but i know of him, i think he also works in the clinic as some sort of on-hand surgeon but a diff person than who sarah knew. so its five years somehow and then i’ll take my bfa in gd and open my online business and do that from a studio at home and look after my owl/cat pet combo.

since may, it had been ‘olympics, with either figure skating or diving’. and it stayed that for a long time. now, since a couple weeks ago, and this is again while gp season is happening for fs, its diving. i wanna work w the usa olympic diving team as their team athletic trainer, and i cant do it this summer bc i have to have completed two years of uni, instead of a certain standing, like be a junior, but so NEXT summer, before my senior year of uni, (i came in a sopho so 6 sem only ah) i’m applying for an internship at the center in colorado springs, and that’s the team i hope i work with.

now i tell people, diving, but if i get offered figure skating, i’ll take it, but diving is the goal now. if i love it and wanna continue professionally, great, i can do that and have an online gd shop. and if i decide i want something different? i’ll work olympics and then join w a professional-level figure skating i actually dunno how it works. coach, and their skater in turn. coach, with multiple skaters under them. a culmination of diff usa skaters. w/e, something in the professional fs world.

and thats uh, thats it! dive has been so much fun to watch, and i realize i talk a lot on here about working w basketball and being an at student in general and the vast majority have no idea what i mean, so hopefully this clarifies. thank you!!

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 7 years ago

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29th January >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflection on Mark 5:1-20 for Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Everyone was amazed’.

Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples reached the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and no sooner had Jesus left the boat than a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain; because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’ – for Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit.’ ‘What is your name?’ Jesus asked. ‘My name is legion,’ he answered ‘for there are many of us.’ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district.

Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.’ So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned. The swineherds ran off and told their story in the town and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his full senses – the very man who had had the legion in him before – and they were afraid. And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs. Then they began to implore Jesus to leave the neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him. Jesus would not let him but said to him, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.’ So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

Gospel (USA)

Mark 5:1-20

Unclean spirit, come out of the man!

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. 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. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

Reflections (7)

(i) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a lot of aggression in both of the readings today. In the first reading, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe as Saul, Israel’s first king, speaks very aggressively to David, Israel’s second king, who had replaced Saul. The reading says that this man ‘uttered curse after curse and threw stones at David’ and the words of his curse were ‘Be off, be off, man of blood, scoundrel!’. In the gospel reading, a very disturbed person speaks very aggressively to Jesus, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’ David did not respond to the Benjaminite’s aggression with aggression of his own, even though one of David’s soldiers asked David for permission to cut the man’s head off. David simply said in response, ‘Let him curse on if the Lord has told him to’. Likewise, in the gospel reading, Jesus did not respond aggressively to the disturbed person’s aggressive approach towards him. Whereas David’s response was to let his aggressor alone, Jesus went much further. He engaged his aggressor in a very personal way, asking him, ‘What is your name?’ Up to now, the only response of people to this man’s aggression was to put him in chains. However, this only served to make him more aggressive. His aggressive strength enabled him to snap his chains and break his fetters. Just before this scene in Mark’s gospel, Jesus had calmed a disturbance in nature, a storm that threatened to sink the boat in which he and his disciples were sailing. Now he calmed the disturbance in this man’s spirit by relating to him as a human being, as distinct from some kind of an animal. The people of the region came and saw the man sitting beside Jesus, ‘clothed and in his full senses’. The reading suggests that the Lord can take anything we throw at him and remain calm. Our disturbance does not disturb him, but, rather his calm can calm us. Prayer is a moment when we can bring ourselves before the Lord, including our disturbed and angry selves, and allow the Lord of life to calm us, to give us rest, to bring us peace. We rise from prayer to bring his calming presence to others, just as in the gospel reading, Jesus called on the man who had been becalmed to ‘go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you’.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning puts before us probably the most disturbed person in the whole gospel story. He loved alone among the tombs; he was so violent that he could not be secured even with fetters and chains. He howled among the tombs night and day and regularly inflicted serious injury on himself. Here is someone who is out of control who, from a Jewish perspective, is living in territory that is out of bounds, a graveyard in a Gentile region. Yet, he was not out of bounds, as far as Jesus was concerned. Jesus met with him and spoke to him. After his meeting with Jesus he ceased to be out of control. Indeed, we are told that, in response to the call of Jesus, he went on to spread the word about all that Jesus had done for him throughout a very large region. This very disturbed person became an evangelist, the preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles. It is hard to imagine a greater transformation in someone’s life. We all need to be transformed in one way or another. We all need the Lord to help change us for the better. We too can find ourselves out of bounds, out of control. We ask the Lord this morning to bring us within the bounds of his love and to free us to submit to his control.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading is one of the most unusual miracle stories in the four gospels. The story is set in pagan territory and at its centre is a very disturbed person who was a danger to himself and probably to others. The response of those in his neighbourhood was to secure him with chains and to place him among the tombs with the dead. There was no place for him among the living. When Jesus arrived in this territory, this disturbed man approached him, and even though the man’s initial approach to Jesus was very aggressive, Jesus engaged him in conversation. By the end of the conversation, the man was freed from what had left him so disturbed and not only that but he had taken on a ministry. In response to Jesus’ invitation, he proclaimed throughout the region all that Jesus had done for him - all that God had done for him through Jesus. He became a preacher of the gospel. Jesus had just calmed the storm at sea; now he had calmed the storm in this man’s life, and released him to serve others. The risen Lord continues to calm the storms in all of our hearts if we approach him in confidence. When he does so, it will be with a view to releasing us to share in some way in his own work.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading follows directly on in Mark’s gospel from Saturday’s gospel reading. There Jesus calmed the storm at sea and calmed the panic of his own disciples. As Jesus and his disciples reach land they are met with another storm, this time a storm of the human spirit, a man who was so disturbed that people had him chained so that he couldn’t harm himself or others. He had also been banished to the local graveyard, to the tombs. He was living among the dead, cut off from the living. The Lord’s response to him was not to chain him up but to release him, to release him not only from his chains but from the spirit that left him so disturbed. We have an image here of how the Lord works. He works to free people from all that diminishes and dehumanizes them. This is not only the Lord’s work, but it is also the work of the church, the work of his followers, our work. That work of helping people to live a freer and fuller life is work we are called to engage in each day of our lives. If we are to engage in that work of the Lord, we need to open up our own lives to the Lord’s healing and life-giving presence. It is always as broken people in need of the Lord’s healing that we engage in his work of healing the broken.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

The central character of the gospel story is one of the most disturbed people that we find in the gospels. He was someone out of control, completely alienated from himself and from others. He was more dead than alive, as is shown by his living among the tombs. He was the total outsider. Yet, Jesus engaged with him and as a result of his encounter with Jesus he was restored to himself and to the community from which he came. Having just calmed a storm at sea, Jesus calmed the storm in this man’s psyche and spirit and sent him out as a messenger of good news to his community. We may never be as disturbed as this man evidently was, but we can all find ourselves out of joint from time to time, out of sorts with ourselves and with others, feeling only half alive within ourselves, tossed and thrown about. It is then that we need to come before the Lord as the man in the gospel did. His initial approach to the Lord was quite aggressive; it was full of anger, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’ That can be our starting point too when we come before the Lord in prayer. Yet, he is never put off by our disturbance within. If we allow him, he will pour his peace into our hearts; he will calm us as he calmed the storm, and having done so he will send us out to share his peace and mercy with others, just as he sent out the man in the gospel reading.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading is a story of how Jesus transforms a very disturbed man. There is an extraordinary transformation in the man between the beginning and the end of this story. At the beginning of the story he is living among the tombs on the outskirts of the town because people could not manage him. He could not be kept under control and so he was banished to a place where nobody but the dead lived. The temptation can be great to banish those who are considered too troublesome to keep. An important part of Jesus’ work consisted in bringing in from the cold those who had been excluded and restoring to the community those who had been banished to the margins. Jesus did not try to get rid of this man when he approached and spoke to Jesus in a very aggressive way. Rather, he calmed the storm within him and brought him to a place of inner calm. It is curious that when Jesus healed the man, the people reacted to Jesus in the way they had earlier reacted to the man. They wanted Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. There was something unsettling about someone who could show that a very disturbed person was not all that different from anyone else after all. Having healed the man, Jesus sent him home to his people to tell them all that Jesus had done for him. The one who had been expelled by the community now became their evangelist, sent by Jesus to proclaim the gospel, the presence of God’s kingdom in Jesus. The story suggests that those we might be tempted to expel or remove from our company can become messengers through whom the Lord preaches the gospel to us.

And/Or

(vii) Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

This is one of the most graphically narrated of Jesus’ miracles. Jesus is on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, mostly pagan territory. The man at the centre of the story is a very disturbed person. A powerful storm is raging within him. The community’s response to him was to chain him and exile him to the tombs outside the town. They considered him as good as dead and consigned him to live among the dead. Yet, his spirit would not be chained. Although he continued to live among the tombs, he broke free of his chains. When he saw Jesus at a distance, he ran to him. He left the tombs and threw himself at the feet of the Life Giver. We are given a picture of someone who is desperately trying to move beyond his situation of enslavement and death. Through his encounter with Jesus, the storm within him is calmed. The community who were so determined to enslave him and to be rid of him now find him sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Whereas the community only succeeded in making the storm within the man worse, Jesus calmed his storm and restored him to himself. The Lord invites us all to come before him in our need, with whatever storm may be brewing within us. If we open ourselves to the Lord’s life-giving presence, as we do in prayer, he will calm us as he calmed the storm; he will restore us to ourselves and to others. There is a striking contrast between the reaction of the man’s neighbours to what had happened and the reaction of the man himself. The neighbours implored Jesus to leave; the man begged to be allowed to stay with Jesus. The neighbours found Jesus’ presence disturbing; he had disturbed their ordered lives, restoring someone to the community who had been judged not to belong there. The man found Jesus’ presence calming; he had calmed the disturbance within him. We are being reminded that the Lord can both disturb the calm and calm the disturbed. It is striking that Jesus would not allow the man to go with him as he requested. Having received the gift of wholeness from Jesus, he now had a mission among his own people, the very people who had treated him so badly. He was to proclaim in this pagan region the gospel of the Lord’s mercy to the broken. Whenever we receive the Lord’s mercy, in whatever form, he sends us out as messengers of his mercy to others. What we receive in prayer, we give with our lives.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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