Our readings today deal with leprosy.

Leprosy, also called Hansen’s Disease, infects the skin and surface nerves, causing disfiguration. This is a dreaded disease in many parts of the world today as it was in Biblical times. Of all human diseases leprosy was and still is the most feared, hated and the individual suffering from it the most cruelly treated. Jesus was very aware of the Jewish cultural approach to the leper. Yet, he defied tradition and healed the poor suffering victims of leprosy. He actually physically touched them, spoke kindly to them and offered them a whole new life. He saw the inner beauty of the individual not the ugly disfigured exterior.

Great was Jesus' compassion for these lepers, the outcasts of society. These were men, women and children disowned even by their own families living in the outskirts of the towns and villages and begging for and waiting for food to be thrown at them from afar while they called out “unclean”. Isaiah, the prophet had foretold that the Messiah would be recognized by his works; “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured and the deaf hear and the dead raise, and the Good News is preached to the poor”.-Matt 11:5

Jesus effects an even greater healing when, as the physician of the soul, heals us of the leprosy of sin. Jesus, the sinless one, has power over sin and death. He forgives us and expects us to forgive others. When He gave us the “Our Father” he taught us to ask His Heavenly Father to, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We set the scales of forgiveness. We ask God to forgive us to the degree that we are willing to forgive others.

This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day and share the love of a forgiving and healing God with our friends, foes and families.

Monday-February 13th
Readings: Jas 1:1-11 - Mk 8:11-13

Tuesday-February 14th
Readings: Jas 1:12-18 - Mk 8:14-21

Wednesday-February 15th
Readings: Jas 1:19-27 - Mk 8:22-26

Thursday-February 16th
Readings: Jas 2:1-9 - Mk 8:27-33

Friday-February 17th
Readings: Jas 2:14-24,26 - Mk 8:34--9:1

Saturday-February 18th
Readings: Jas 3:1-10 - Mk 9:2-13

We continue to ask each week that parishioners pray for the chronically ill of our parish. If you have a friend or loved one in need of our parish prayers please call the Rectory at 589-2800.

Spiritual Reading will be available at St. Robert’s after the Masses on Sundays. Please take a few minutes either before or after Mass and check out a book or two that interest you. You may keep the books until you have them read. We have some books on the Library cart but we have many more in the Library/Reconciliation room.

It’s been a long time, I’m told, since our parish has had a mission. Well, we have one planned for March 13-15 with two representatives of Catholic Relief Services, Joseph Hastings from Seattle and Thomas Awiapo from Uganda. Their sharing on the scriptures and our everyday lives will definitely help us enter into the Lenten season. They will speak at the Masses the weekend before, so you’ll have an opportunity to meet them. The actual parish mission Monday through Wednesday will consist of presentations after the 8:30 am Mass and evening presentations at 7:30 pm in the church. (They will also be speaking to the confirmation classes and the students at St. Robert’s School, as well as at some of the high schools in the area.) Please put the dates on your calendar, so that you have an opportunity to be inspired by these two good men!

Also, we’re looking for hospitality – a place to stay for Thomas – preferably nearby, from Saturday evening through Wednesday evening. If someone has a mother-in-law apartment or similar arrangement to offer for those nights, please contact me at 589-2800.

Don't miss attending this year's Dinner Dance.
Seating lis limited.

   
The readings today are again on healing, this time of the leper, despised because of his illness which in those days was seen as an effect of sin, either his or that of a family member. Jesus breaks the taboo by touching him and making him clean. As often happens in Mark’s gospel, Jesus tells him to tell no one and he promptly tells everyone he encounters! And who of us wouldn’t do the same. He has been freed from isolation, from the disdain of the community.

The word spreads far and wide and people flock to Jesus in the deserted places, hoping for his loving touch. This attitude of Jesus is sometimes called “the Messianic secret,” since in Mark’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t want to be known or believed in for his miracles alone. He may also want to avoid political expectations that he would lead a revolt against the occupying Romans. Mark has him acknowledge the title Messiah in the midst of his suffering during the trial scene (Mark 14.60-62), when he is truly the Messiah in his death and resurrection.

The second reading today contains the sentence. “Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved” (1 Cor. 10.32-33). How helpful it would have been for the Danish and other European newspaper staffs to have reflected on this advice before publishing the cartoons ridiculing the prophet Mohammed! The claim of free speech as permitting such disrespect rings hollow. Is there not enough animosity and misunderstanding between the Moslem world and the West without such pointed antagonism? Remember how hurt and angry we were when an artist ridiculed Jesus on the cross? The more we love and reverence the Trinity, the more we ought to respect the central personages of other faiths. Let us pray that the words of the chief imams be heeded and that the violence subsides.

Our community had a retreat day Saturday at the Holy Family Center in Fremont, focused on Jesus and our relationship to him. As I went outside to pray, I was taken back to my early days as a Franciscan when I had prayed that my life would become so entwined with Jesus that people couldn’t tell where his life stopped and mine began. That image has been very helpful to me as it calls me to remember that he is now present in the world through me (and you, of course!) and every other person who tries to follow the gospel. The Spirit enables us to be Christ for the world. What do people see in us: The compassion of Jesus towards someone whom our society considers an “outcast”? His healing presence through our listening to another’s pain? His encouragement to a fearful elder? His love for children through our addressing them as well as their parents? If we believe that, through baptism, we’ve been given a share in the life of the Trinity, wouldn’t we want to let everyone know, like the leper who was cleansed?

Young adult women are invited to Turning Your Heart to God, a time for reflection and sharing.

February 2006
19-24 Centering Prayer Teacher Training

VALLOMBROSA CENTER
250 Oak Grove Ave, Menlo Park CA 94025-3218
650-325-5614, Fax 650-325-0908