If we were playing baseball, we would be announcing the cancellation of the game and our hopes for a doubleheader tomorrow! But the snow and ice make it necessary to cancel our English Vigil Mass on Saturday and our Spanish Mass on Sunday. We are sorry for the inconvenience to you, but we hope you will understand the need to keep our crew safe and off the roads this weekend.
Links to the Sunday readings and other Mass “locations” are below.
Some thoughts to ponder as the Church places before us: Leviticus 13,1-2, 44-46; Psalm 32,1-2, 5, 11; First Corinthians 10,31-11,1; and Mark 1,40-45:
There are two things to remember as we listen, with open hearts, to St. Mark again this weekend. As is always true in the Scriptures, Jesus has something to say to us today.
First, we have to remember that people in the days when Jesus believed in a well-established system of “reward and punishment.” It was a system that was quite nice for those who thought of themselves as “blessed” because of their privilege, good luck, or good health. It was not such a good system for anyone who was sick or who was having string of bad luck or misfortune. The result of this system or this kind of thinking was that poor people, sick people, those with some disability, foreigners, or someone struggling in any way ended up being treated, as we would say today, like trash.
Second, into all of that stepped Jesus Christ, the Son of God who refused to buy into both the thinking and the attitude. He saw a leper and treated him with respect, acknowledging his dignity. In doing so, Jesus exposed “the system” and that popular way of thinking, showing how far it was from the will and plan of God. Jesus touched the man, and in doing so, He did not just heal him, but Jesus recognized that he was fully capable of bearing witness, of being a sign of God’s presence and action in this world.
Jesus then sent the man to the priest, inviting that priest to do his job of building up the community. Jesus was actually giving that priest and the other priests the first chance, before anyone else, to recognize what God was doing through Him. As we see often in St. Mark’s Gospel, they didn’t; they had their own ideas about how God was supposed to work, and who God would choose to reveal His presence.
There is no report that the man actually went to the priest, but there is a clear report that “he began to publicize the whole matter” and “spread the news abroad.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people began to “publicize” and “spread the news” about how they had been treated by us on a daily basis? Can we imagine people going around and talking openly about how they had been treated by the Catholics in their lives? How sweet would it be to hear about the kindness, the compassion, and the respect with which we meet others day after day? Called to follow Jesus, we can rekindle hope, bring back a joy for living, inspire plans for the future, and restore self-respect and pride in others. Will we? Will we mirror of the infinite charity of God in everything we say and do this week?
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Sunday Mass at 11am at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception/Portland: https://vimeo.com/504144144
Sunday Mass in Spanish at 9am and English at 11am at Holy Rosary parish in Woodland, CA: Facebook.com/HolyRosaryWoodland
Scriptures: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021421.cfm#main-content
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Fr Mark will be offering the Mass Intentions for this weekend (+Florence Mildenberger, +Dorothy Anderson, and the People of the Parish) from his chapel at home. The congregation will consist of his two cats: Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. No collection will be take up because, except for loving, they are mainly takers and not givers! Our livestream Mass will return on Ash Wednesday 9am (weather permitting). See you then.
