Today is Wednesday the 22nd of January in the 2nd week of Ordinary Time. Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, sing Dulce Jesus mio: “My sweet Jesus, look with mercy on my lost soul.” As you sit here, or stand here now, trying to pray, what kind of shape is your soul in? Content and at peace? Lost and wandering? On the edge? And what about the other souls around you? Are there ‘lost souls’ here beside you who also need the love of God in their lives? Yya1 Jesuchrixhto, apuk1rui ityaku niyausus1p1 ninait1 sobi. Dulce Jesús mío, mirad con piedad mi alma perdida por culpa mortal. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark. Mark 3:1-6 Again [Jesus] entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. The Pharisees, the scripture tells us, were hard of heart. How did their hearts become hardened do you think? Whatever it was that happened to them, is it a danger for us too? We also hear that Jesus is angry with the Pharisees – he looks at them “with anger”. Can you imagine his face, the look he gives them? What makes you angry like that? What makes you angry enough to do something about it, to speak or to act, to change things? Notice the strength of the opposition building up against Jesus. From the very moment he entered the synagogue, “they watched him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him”. The opposition was organised. Dramatic too and extraordinary is the alliance between the religious Pharisees and the political, time-serving followers of Herod: together they conspire to destroy him. As you listen again, ask yourself, what is it about Jesus that they are so afraid of? We don’t get a picture of a soft Jesus from this passage, do we? How do you feel about the angry Jesus depicted here, the Jesus that seemed such a threat to these people that they wanted to destroy him? Can you relate to this Jesus, can you talk to him now, perhaps about the things that make you angry, or the opposition you face? Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Is It Just Me: Do it with gousto