Reflections for September 2024

Mark in his Gospel puts a lot of emphasis on “the Twelve”. The idea that there were 12 “apostles” is so deeply embedded in our church culture that we never think about it. There was Jesus, and the twelve, and then the rest. That’s pretty simple.  Except Paul was a bit of an anomaly, as […]

You’ve probably had the feeling – someone has been trying really hard to explain something, but you’re still not getting it. There’s a point at which you get frustrated and start thinking maybe the problem isn’t me but with the person doing the explaining. But you don’t want to admit you’re not getting it, so

In this week’s gospel (Mk 8:27-35) Mark again shows Jesus telling his disciples not to talk about him, and again fails to explain why. This time it seems like the disciples are at last getting it – Peter acknowledges that Jesus is “the Christ”. Why would Jesus then tell them not to talk about it?

In today’s gospel reading (Mk 7:31-37) we hear of the curing of a deaf person. It’s nicely introduced by a reading from Isaiah about how God will cure the blind and the deaf, the lame and the mute (Is 35:4-7a). We’ve heard such stories many times and are not surprised by any of this. But

One of the messages Jesus emphasizes over and over again is that God isn’t looking for us just to follow the rules (Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23). Jesus is not the first to say this – many of the prophets had said the same. Hearing our first reading (Dt 4:1-2, 6-8) we can appreciate why this