Scripture reading: Mark 16:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples,

Go out to the whole world;
proclaim the Good News to all creation.
He who believes and is baptised will be saved;
he who does not believe will be condemned.
These are the signs that will be associated with believers:
in my name they will cast out devils;
they will have the gift of tongues;
they will pick up snakes in their hands,
and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison;
they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.'

And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven:
there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.

Reflection: Working a crisis

Human beings only flourish by passing through successive crises.
We do not simply grow, like cabbages gradually inevitably unfolding into their vegetable fullness.
We mature by enduring many little challenges, trials, deaths and resurrections.

First there is the wrenching crisis of birth,
when we must lose the warm security of the womb
if we are to see our mother face to face.

Then we must be weaned from her breast,
forgo the intimate nourishment of her body,
so that we may sit at the table and
enjoy/endure the deeper communion of human conversation.

Soon again we must go through the rol1ercoaster of puberty, the flood of hor­mones transforming our bodies and confusing our minds, as we settle into adolescence.

The day comes when we must leave home and find our independence, so that we may live and love as equal adults. Develope full interdependant relationships. Prove ourselves to ourselves and others.

Finally we shall face the crisis of sickness and death and find ourselves fully at home in union with God and our family and friends at the journey's consummation.

Becoming fully human then is just one crisis after another, as we break through into an ever deeper intimacy with God and each other.

Story: Antartic Survival and the Irish

On October 29, 1915, a group of tattered Antarctic explorers gathered together on a frozen ice pack in the Weddell Sea. Their situation was desperate. Nine months earlier, their ship, the Endurance, had been trapped, frozen in, immobilized. ...They had seventy sled dogs, a substantial supply of food, three twenty-two foot lifeboats and Sir Ernest Shackleton (an Irish explorer and the most indomitable polar leader of all time.)

Ernest called the group together on the ice and told them that their only hope, was to drag the lifeboats over the ice pack some 350 miles! He emphasized that they must travel light. Each man could keep the clothes on his back, two pairs of mittens, six pairs of socks, two pairs of boots, a sleeping bag, a pound of tobacco, and two pounds of personal gear.

In a dramatic end to the briefing, he reached into his clothes, took out he his Bible given to him by Queen Alexandria, tore out the Twenty-third Psalm, The Good Shepherd psalm and the flyleaf with her inscription on it, folded them carefully into his pocket he then laid the Bible gently in the snow, and walked away. The message was clear: travel light only carry essentials 

The crew were deeply moved. Even though Earnest knew Psalm 23 off by heart he felt it was a text well worth carrying.

It reminded Ernest of Jesus' care and his country's honour.
(David Campbell, I'm in charge here, why is everybody laughing?, Argus Communications)

Todays prophet: Jesus the prophet 

The Gospels show Jesus to be a passionate and attractive man, both joyful and shocking in his behaviour. The meals and parties he most enjoyed appear to have been in the company of those who were widely regarded as disreputable.

Fearing no one, he touched lepers,
broke Sabbath laws when compassion and common-sense required,
and infuriated the authorities by storming through the Temple precincts
and overturning the tables of traders and money-changers (d. Mark 11:15-19).  He contradicted the old Scriptures by telling us to love our enemies and reject the 'eye for an eye' mentality (d. Leviticus 24:20),
and recommended mad things, like turning the other cheek and giving away more than people ask of us (d. Matthew 5: 38-42).

He roamed around with no money, security or guaranteed accommodation, and had a unique and intense purity of spirit.
He cared nothing for pomp and power and everything for humanity, cel­ebration and healing.
A great raconteur, he turned stereotypes upside down, announcing that those at the bottom of the pile would be first in God's kingdom (d. Matt 20:16).
Although his message was full of the loving mercy of God and God's desire to draw close to us, we humans could not handle that kind of God.

Jesus message was so radical, it was far too subversive and uncomfortable for the older religious authorities. So we killed him.

(Angela Ashwin, Faith in the Fool Darton, Longman and Todd)

A gentle call to action
Fr Peter Mc Verry SJ says that Jesus passion was compassion and he loves to see us sharing with others.

Did you know that the average household in Ireland
spends around €500 a year on food they will throw away!

How about counting your cookbooks at home and give 20 cents
for each one to a charity that helps the homeless and the hungry in your town or city or some suffering undeveloped country like Haiti or Uganda in Africa

Prayer

In you, Jesus, Lord of all, our hope is sure and eternal.
in your suffering is the faithfulness of God.
Keep us safe in times of trouble,
keep us caring for others in their pain;
in caring for others may we find you,
Lord of life, friend of all,
now and forever. Amen.

Prayer image of the Day.  

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil,
You are there with your crook and your staff.
Psalm 23