More than 15 years ago, we lost our first child, Pea, to a miscarriage. My wife, Em-Em, and I were so devastated that it sucked the life out of us. We were like the man with the withered hand. When I tried to imagine how his withered extremities looked, a raisin came to mind. Once a plump fresh produce filled with sugary water, a raisin is dried up, dehydrated, and wrinkled. 

Are there areas in your life that have withered? Relationships that have shriveled? Bank accounts that have dried up? Dreams scorched? Maybe you need a revival, a spark to bring it back to life. Maybe you need the Living Water, Jesus, who came that we may have life and have it to the full.

Today is the Day of Prayer for the Unborn. As we pray for Pea, we thank God for how He has revived all areas of our lives. While healing and recovery may not be instant, rest assured that in Him, we will be quenched and satisfied. Tyrone Dizon (tyrone.dizon@theFeast.US)

reflect

Go to the website FeastWorship.com and look for the song “Living Water” from Feast Worship’s album Better Is One Day. Read the lyrics, listen to the song, and worship God. Be immersed in that moment of total surrender.

“For here with You, I’ve found the answer. You are all that matters. Jesus, there’s no other. You’re my Living Water.” 

Saint Vincent, deacon and martyr, pray for us.

Living a holy life brings us true peace. Sin disturbs our peace by causing men and women to fight against each other and harm one another. Let us embrace the call to holiness to overcome the work of sin and allow peace and love to reign in the community of mankind.

¹ Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings and blessed him. ² And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. ³ Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. ¹⁵ It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ who has become so, not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. ¹⁷ For it is testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4

R: You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.

¹ The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” (R) ² The scepter of your power the Lord will stretch forth from Zion: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” (R) ³ “Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” (R) ⁴ The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” (R)

Gospel | Mark 3:1-6

Why would the Pharisees want to destroy Jesus who has the power to heal people? Shouldn’t they try to facilitate such a gift for the greater glory and service of God? This is how jealousy works; it is why Saint Francis considered it a sin against the Holy Spirit. Let us pray for the grace to always rejoice in God’s gifts to others. 

Gospel Acclamation

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people.

¹ Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. ² They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. ³ He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” ⁴ Then he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. ⁵ Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Read the Bible in one year! Read MARK 13 - 16 today.

Once, a woman came to me for confession. “Father, I committed a terrible sin,” she opened up. “I aborted my first child.” When I asked her when it happened, she said, “Twenty-four years ago.” Surprised that it took her that long to confess the sin, I asked, “Is this the first time you confessed this?” She said that she had confessed it long ago. “Why are you confessing it again now?” I inquired. “I cannot forgive myself until now, Father,” she said.

Imagine the weight that woman had been carrying for 24 years. When she confessed that sin years ago, God had forgiven it right there and then. It had been erased from the Divine memory, never to be unearthed again.

Today in the Gospel, we see a man rendered immobile by a shriveled hand. Jesus healed him and gave him back the freedom of movement. Your hand may not be shriveled, but you can be rendered immobile by a shriveled heart, a closed mind, a disheartened spirit, or a self-inflicted guilt trap like the woman in my story.

We are poisoned not only by the things we eat, but all the more by the things that eat us within. A guilt, grudge, or a hurt long held may render your heart cold and indifferent. Fear of the unknown and the untested may keep you closed in within the narrow sphere of the familiar and the comfortable and, thus, stunt your growth. Frustrations and unmet expectations may have sucked out all the hope and life in you.

Today, expose to the Lord whatever seems stagnant in your life. If you’re going through something, go through it. Don’t encamp on it. Ask for the gift of courage and perseverance to move on, to escape from whatever constricts andrenders you immobile, discouraged, and uninspired. Ask for Jesus’ healing touch, then move on! Fr. Joel Jason

reflection question

God’s mercy restores our full freedom and flourishing. Claim it. What can you do differently from here on? 

“Come, O Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Your faithful. Amen.”

Today, I pray for: ____________________________________