In today’s gospel, we encounter Jesus beginning his public ministry; he begins by giving his mission statement. The remainder of Luke’s gospel will be the implementation of this mission statement:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. [Luke 4:18-19]

The central point of this statement is the recovery of sight to the blind. Jesus will not only those who are blind during his public ministry but allow all people to spiritually “see” who he is. The anointed One from God to reconcile the world to the Father and to make us members of his body. Some will “see” while some will remain “blind” to his self-revelation. And our identity, as those who “see,” as members of the body of Christ.

The second reading at Mass gives us a description of what the body of Christ “looks like” and how this “body” acts:
As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, "Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body," it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, "Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body," it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," nor again the head to the feet, "I do not need you." Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; 6 second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. [1 Corinthians 12:12-28]

Saint Paul’s words give a lot for us to meditate on. But I would like to briefly reflect with you on our parish’s mission statement. It centers around being the body of Christ. The mission statement can be found on the parish’s website in my welcome message. The mission statement describes the community of Saint Thomas:
The Church is a unique kind of community, the union of those baptized into Christ, formed by his Word - gathered around the table where we share Christ's Body in order to become his Body for the world. It is a community in which, as St. Paul states in his letter to the Galatians, there is no slave or master, no national or ethnic superiorities, no gender domination, no inequality that is significant except holiness; a community in which even distinctions of role and function are differences which must serve the unity of the whole. It is a community in which all vie for the lowest place, wash one another's feet, lift up rather than impose burdens, and dwell among their sisters and brothers as those who serve.

The fact that we are baptized means that we have become members of the body of Christ; Christ is our head. The purpose of allowing Christ to be our “Head” is to allow him to mold us into his image and likeness. Each of us is somehow to uniquely manifest Christ to the world. Saint Eudes describes what is supposed to happen if we, as individual members of the body, allow Christ to be our head:
Our Lord Jesus Christ …belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: his breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties. … He … longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules in the body. He desires that whatever is in him may live and rule in you: his breath in your breath, his heart in your heart, all the faculties of his soul in the faculties of your soul, so that these words may be fulfilled in you: Glorify God and bear him in your body, that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in you…. You must receive life from him and be ruled by him. There will be no true life for you except in him, for he is the one source of true life. Apart from him you will find only death and destruction. Let him be the only source of your movements, of the actions and strength of your life.

As the body of Christ incarnated at Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, we gather around the table of the Lord. We come to Mass to be nourished by the Eucharist, Christ’s body and blood. If we don’t gather for the Eucharist and Mass at least weekly on the day of the lor, then we become malnourished. We slowly lose our ability to live as the body of Christ and live according to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12. Jesus expressed this reality in John 15:
Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. [John 15:4-5]

At communion we strengthen our union with Christ and our ability to “remain in me as I remain in you.” Jesus teaches us that this is the effect of receiving the Eucharist:
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. [John 6:55-56]

Sadly our parish has a pandemic problem with this part of our mission statement. The pandemic has diminished the number who come to Mass on the lord’s day. Some out of a valid fear about contracting the virus and the health implications of this for them; others don’t come for less valid reasons. Disinterest?? Other priorities? Yet for us who do come to Mass, this loss of the members of the body of Christ should concern us. As Paul states in 1 Corinthians:
If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
To be the body of Christ and to live as the body of Christ requires more than simply going to Mass weekly. We are missioned and commissioned to build up the body. There is work involved. Effort on our parts on behalf of the body of Christ. Priorities – the salvation of the world. Some of the body of Christ is missing every week when we gather. What do we plan on doing about it? Using Paul’s image of the body, we gather on Sundays but there are missing parts of the body. Which parts? Hard to tell. Missing an eye? A hand? The body needs healing.

The mission statement talks about an equality among all the members of the body of Christ in our parish. While I am the pastor and shepherd, my mission is to serve the body. Like Christ, the Good Shepherd, I am called to lay down my life for the sheep, the members of the body of Christ. My life is sacrificially lived in service of the body. We are all servants of the body of Christ. So, for instance, the members of the pastoral council have an important role to play in the functioning of the parish. But being a pastoral council member does not put them on a “higher level” than other parishioners. Rather their participation in this ministry describes one of the ways that they are called to serve our community, the body of Christ. As the mission statement defines each one of us:
It is a community in which all vie for the lowest place, wash one another's feet, lift up rather than impose burdens, and dwell among their sisters and brothers as those who serve.

These words remind us of Jesus’ instructions to his apostles at the last supper when they were arguing about who was the greatest. Jesus corrected their thinking when he said:
Then an argument broke out among them about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as 'Benefactors'; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves. [Luke 22:24-27]

Recall how Jesus washes the disciples’ feet in John’s gospel at the last supper and afterwards instructs them:
So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. [John 13:12-15]

There is a lot to consider in the parish’s mission statement. In order to make the mission statement not simply pious sounding words, each member of the body of Christ at Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church needs to “incarnate” the mission statement; to live the words; to put them into practice. Last week, Paul instructed us that each of us have been given supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit – charisms. We have been given these supernatural gifts to be used for the common good – to build up the body of Christ. What gifts have each of us been given and how are we using them for Christ and his Church, the body of Christ?
 

Yesterday was the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Today, the church prays for the protection of unborn children. Abortion and respect for life. These are very divisive issues in this country. My journey to being prolife happened during graduate school. The Supreme Court decision about abortion had recently been issued. As a Catholic who was returning to the faith and who was not very well catechized, I accepted the argument that abortion would prevent the overpopulation of the world. I was at Mass on a Saturday night and before Mass, the priest mentioned to us that he would be speaking about a respect for life. I thought to myself that I was about to hear another homily against abortion. I would have left expect that I was sitting in the middle of the pew and did not want to have to step over a number of people. I am now glad and fortunate that I stayed. During the homily, the priest spoke about the respect for life from the seamless garment perspective. Respect for life includes many areas such as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, human trafficking, etc. If we respect life in all of its stages, then we are challenged in some areas to be prolife. For instance, it is possible to be against abortion but very much in favor of the death penalty. Yet there is a contradiction in this viewpoint since both topics deal with respect for life. Are we prolife or not?

As I listened to the homily, I decided that I would be neutral on the abortion issue and let the Holy Spirit guide me. Eventually the Spirit allowed me to see the importance of the stand against abortion.

The seamless garment argument because popular after Cardinal Bernardin spoke of it in the 1980s. It sometimes gets a bad rap. Some people think that it equates abortion with paying a just wage. The seamless garment does not make this equation. But it does state that both issues deal with the respect of life.  If we want a culture of life instead of a culture of death, we need to be respectful of life at all of its stages.

I read an article by Mark Shea that was a good explanation of the seamless garment argument. I share with you his thoughts.

The Seamless Garment is basically common sense Catholic Social Teaching.  It puts the human person at the center of things, instead of things such as possessions and ideologies at the center of the human person.  It insists that the Church’s teaching is a unity (like the seamless garment of Christ) in which both the interconnectedness of revelation and a certain hierarchy of truth has to be respected in living out our approach to the love of neighbor. 

This approach prevents both 1) the tendency of Progressive dissenters to flatten all moral issues to the same levels of significance (with the resulting absurdity of treating the minimum wage as though it is as grave a matter as the deliberate taking of innocent human life), as well as 2) preventing the tendency of their opponents to isolate the gravest moral issues and use them as excuses for ignoring—sometimes with open contempt—nearly all the rest of the Church’s social teaching (as though opposition to abortion takes away the sins of the world). 

This very typical Catholic balance results in a vision of the human person in which indeed, every human life is sacred and the goal is not merely “not killing innocent human life” (a bare minimum threshold of elementary decency) but the flourishing of human life (in keeping with Jesus’ promise of abundant life).  As Bernardin puts in his 1984 lecture “A Consistent Ethic of Life: Continuing the Dialogue”:  “nuclear war threatens life on a previously unimaginable scale; abortion takes life daily on a horrendous scale; public executions are fast becoming weekly events in the most advanced technological society in history; and euthanasia is now openly discussed and even advocated. Each of these assaults on life has its own meaning and morality; they cannot be collapsed into one problem, but they must be confronted as pieces of a larger pattern.”

What Bernardin (and Catholic teaching) sees is that the Culture of Death is interlinked with many expressions of contempt for human life, while at the same recognizing that they can’t be “collapsed into one problem”. In short, as Bernardin put it: “A consistent ethic of life does not equate the problem of taking life (e.g., through abortion and in war) with the problem of promoting human dignity (through humane programs of nutrition, health care, and housing). But a consistent ethic identifies both the protection of life and its promotion as moral questions. It argues for a continuum of life which must be sustained in the face of diverse and distinct threats.”

Seamless Garment teaching, as is typical for Catholic teaching, insists on the interrelatedness of various moral questions (i.e., the notion that Catholic teaching is a “whole weave” and not a single thread).  That’s because Catholic teaching is designed to address the entirety of the human condition.  Significantly, the word “heresy” comes from the Greek word referring to the plucking of a single thread from a whole garment.  The mark of heresy is that it seizes on some few truths in Catholic teaching and exaggerates their importance while using them to make war on the rest of the Tradition.  It matters little which truth or truths are seized on, just so long as the rest of the Tradition is attacked by it.  Indeed, even the greatest truth: that God the Father is God can be (and was) used by Arius to attack the truth that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God. 

Similarly, the great truth of the inter-relatedness of Church’s teaching sometimes gets flattened (so that in some quarters, if you oppose the death penalty you need not care about the killing of unborn children), while in other quarters opposition to the death penalty or concern about the environment or poverty is taken as a sign that one is a “liberal” who must therefore approve of abortion, contraception, gay “marriage”, etc.  Both of these parodies lose sight of exactly what the Seamless Garment actually asserts: that the dignity of the human person compels us to accept all of what the Church teaches in its social doctrine, not just pluck out the threads we like.

The comparison and contrast of the Church’s teaching on abortion and capital punishment is useful here. Seamless Garment teaching of course recognizes the distinction between taking innocent human life (always gravely and intrinsically evil) and the taking of life in the death penalty (sometimes justified).  But the Church also notes that merely because something can be done does not mean it must be.  So while the Church does not say the death penalty is intrinsically immoral, it still insists in applying it as sparingly as possible and essentially says that the burden is on the state to show it is necessary to take human life, not on the human person to show that he deserves to live. The Church, in short, has a "preferential option for life" and always puts the burden of proof--a very heavy burden--on those who seek to kill or harm.

This common sense balance that emphasizes both the inter-relatedness of human life and human dignity and the proper hierarchy of various issues is at the core of Seamless Garment thinking because it is at the core of Catholic Social Teaching.  It is long past time for Catholics of all stripes to embrace the whole of Catholic teaching and not merely the parts that suit us.



 

Is Christ our savior? If we have been baptized, then the answer is “Yes.” Our sins have been washed away; we have become children of God and members of God’s family; we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

Is Jesus our Lord? An affirmative answer to this question requires more than just having received the sacrament of baptism. If Jesus is Lord, then we are called to follow him. Several times in the gospels, Jesus will define what is required to be his disciple:
If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. [Luke 9:23-24]

There is a cost for being a disciple. If Jesus is Lord, then we are not. Jesus is in control of our lives. Like Saint Paul states in Galatians:
I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. [Galatians 2:19-20]

Losing one’s life for Christ will be part of that cost. We see in today’s gospel at Mass [Mark 3:13-19] the selection of the 12 apostles. While they are not perfect, 10 of them will become martyrs, 1 will betray Jesus, and John will die of old age after having witnessing to the risen Christ for many years. Therefore we would say that only 11 of the 12 acknowledged Jesus as Lord. Judas was the exception.

Being a Christian in the early church, as we know, was dangerous during persecutions. Christians did not worship the Roman emperor, who was considered “god.” Therefore Christians were pagans. Today, we celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Agnes. She was a young girl when she suffered death. Her youth impressed those who witnessed her faith. But her youth did not prevent her from living with Jesus as her Lord. There is an account of her martyrdom:
St. Agnes was but twelve years old when she was led to the altar of Minerva at Rome and commanded to obey the persecuting laws of Diocletian by offering incense. In the midst of the idolatrous rites she raised her hands to Christ, her Spouse, and made the sign of the life-giving cross. She did not shrink when she was bound hand and foot, though the shackles slipped from her young hands, and the heathens who stood around were moved to tears. The bonds were not needed for her, and she hastened gladly to the place of her torture.
        Next, when the judge saw that pain had no terrors for her, he inflicted an insult worse than death: her clothes were stripped off, and she had to stand in the street before a pagan crowd; yet even this did not daunt her. "Christ," she said, "will guard His own." So it was. Christ showed, by a miracle, the value which He sets upon the custody of the eyes. Whilst the crowd turned away their eyes from the spouse of Christ, as she stood exposed to view in the street, there was one young man who dared to gaze at the innocent child with immodest eyes. A flash of light struck him blind, and his companions bore him away half dead with pain and terror.
        Lastly, her fidelity to Christ was proved by flattery and offers of marriage. But she answered, "Christ is my Spouse: He chose me first, and His I will be." At length the sentence of death was passed. For a moment she stood erect in prayer, and then bowed her neck to the sword. At one stroke her head was severed from her body, and the angels bore her pure soul to Paradise.

Her bravery at offering her life for Christ impressed the leaders of the early church enough that she is included as one of the saints mentioned in the first Eucharistic prayer.

In the first reading at Mass today [1 Samuel 24:3-21], David’s actions manifest that God is his Lord. King Saul has been trying to kill David. We saw one such attempt yesterday in the book of Samuel. Today, the king has 3000 soldiers to help him hunt down and kill David. Saul’s jealousy of David has no limits. David has a chance to kill Saul while Saul is in a cave going to the bathroom. [Yes, that is what Saul is doing] Yet David will not harm the one that God has anointed as king. David’s companions have a different opinion but David follows God’s will. The fifth commandment prohibits murder. In addition, David appears to be following Jesus’ instructions in the sermon on the mountain:
You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. [Matthew 5:38-39]
David’s actions seek to reconcile with his opponent (turn the other cheek) instead of eliminating his opponent, Saul. At the end of the reading, it appears that David has reconciled with Saul. But are Saul’s words really sincere:
Saul then said to David: "You are in the right rather than I; you have treated me generously, while I have done you harm. [v.18]

Christians still today give the ultimate witness of Jesus as their Lord through their martyrdom. The deaths do not make the nightly news, but it is occurring daily in our world. An article from a year ago about the persecution and martyrdom of Christians stated:
Every day around the world, 13 Christians are killed for their faith; 12 are illegally arrested or imprisoned; 5 are abducted; and 12 churches or other Christian buildings are attacked. … All in all, “More than 340 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith.” About 309 million of these Christians “suffer very high or extreme levels.  That’s one in 8 worldwide, 1 in 6 in Africa, 2 out of 5 in Asia, and 1 in 12 in Latin America.”
For the reporting period covered (Oct. 2019 – Sept. 2020), “4,761 Christians were killed for their faith”—a 60% increase from last year (2,983).  An additional 4,277 Christians were unjustly arrested, detained, or imprisoned; 1,710 were abducted for faith-related reasons; and 4,488 Churches or Christian buildings were attacked.

A martyr is simply a witness to the faith. While living our faith in this country does not require the sacrifice of one’s life as it does in some parts of the world, living with Christ as Lord, and following him, still requires sacrifice. A Christian pastor is being persecuted because he published a small booklet outlining the Christian teachings on sex and marriage. In November, 2021, I read this article about a Finnish pastor,:
Pastor Rasanen is being charged with “hate speech” for respectively writing and publishing a 24-page booklet in 2004 that explains basic Christian theology about sex and marriage, which reserves sex exclusively for within marriage, which can only consist of one man and one woman, for life. The Finnish prosecutor claims centuries-old Christian teachings about sex “incite hatred” and violate legal preferences for government-privileged identity groups.

The Right-to-Life march is today in Washington, D.C. Should life at all of its stages be respected? Sadly, a sizeable percentage of Christians would answer “No.” Respecting life at all stages requires sacrifices on our part. Maybe that is why it is not always accepted.

Jesus as my savior. That is easy to accomplish. Jesus as my Lord. That requires a lifetime of:
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

 

He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, "You are the Son of God." He warned them sternly not to make him known. [Mark 3:10-12]

These words are part of today’s gospel at Mass [Mark 3:7-12]. When I read that Jesus healed those who were possessed by unclean spirits, if you are like me, our minds race to the idea of exorcisms and people truly possessed by satan. However, do we ever consider the unclean spirit of sin that possesses all of us? “Repent” was one of Jesus’ first words as he began his public ministry in Mark’s gospel. In today’s first reading at Mass [1 Samuel 18:6-9, 19:1-7] we see how Saul is possessed by several unclean spirits and in need of repentance.

Saul is possessed by the unclean of jealousy. There was a hint of this problem in yesterday’s reading from 1 Samuel. Someone had to battle the giant, Goliath, and David, who had been a shepherd before his anointing to replace Saul as king one day, volunteered for the job. Saul responded by saying:
David spoke to Saul: "Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine." But Saul answered David, "You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth." [1 Samuel 17:32-33]
Saul’s words might reflect his concern for David. Or they might reveal his jealousy. What if David does kill Goliath, who will be more popular? We see this concern come true in today’s reading from 1 Samuel. As David and Saul passed by, the local women sang:
The women played and sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought: "They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me. All that remains for him is the kingship. [1 Samuel 18:7-8]

Pope Francis in a daily homily discussed jealousy and said:
Jealousy and envy are the doors through which the devil entered the world as the bible states: through the devil’s envy evil entered into the world. … Jealousy and envy open the doors to every evil thing”, causing strife even between believers. When “some members suffer jealousy and envy, they end in division”. This division is a “strong poison”, the same poison that is found in the first pages of the Bible, in account of Cain and Abel.

Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 instructed us last Sunday that all of us have been given supernatural gifts called charism; these gifts are given to us for the building up of the body of Christ. When we are jealous, we forget our charisms and talents and focus on what we don’t possess and probably never will possess. In a sense, we become like the servant who buried his talent in the gospel parable in Matthew 25:14-30. The end result for this servant was not very pleasant:
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. [Matthew 25:28-30]

Anger is the second evil spirit that lives inside of Saul. Anger, as a emotion, is neither good nor bad. What we do with our anger is important. In the first reading at Mass, Saul’s anger is leading to sin, or, to “stinking thinking” as I sometimes say. His anger is leading to an attempt on David’s life. Murder! But this won’t be the last time, either. Saul’s anger possesses him. As one author wrote about anger:
Anger is a wind that blows out the lamp of our mind.

How many times has anger led us to say or to do something stupid? Instead of doing stupid things, anger can reveal that we are Jesus’ disciples. All that we have to do is change our focus. Stop thinking about the anger and what someone did or did not do and instead pray for the person:
 I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. [Matthew 5:44-45]

Saint Paul offers similar advice when we are upset and angry:
if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. [Romans 12:20-21]

If forgiveness is required in our letting go of our anger, then Christ is the one that we need to seek. In confessions when someone tells me that he or she is angry at someone and don’t want to forgive the other person, I remind that person how dangerous unresolved anger is. Whenever we pray the Our Father, we tell God that we have forgiven the other person and so we are ready to receive God’s forgiveness for our transgressions. Obviously, this statement made to God is a LIE! Dangerous? YES!!

My suggestion: admit that one is struggling to forgive and that one needs God’s assistance. Christ came to heal us of the evil spirits that possess us and to heal the wounds that divide the body of Christ. If we are sincere in this petition, God will definitely answer our prayer. Maybe the answer will require a lot of spiritual work and effort on our part to be released from our anger and to be able to forgive from the heart. But the struggle will be beneficial to our spiritual health and to that of the body of Christ.

 

The story of David and Goliath is a very familiar one to us and is the first reading at Mass today [1 Samuel 17: 32-33, 37,40-51]. While the reading at Mass does not include this detail, Saul initially tried to have David prepare himself with the typical armaments of that time. However, David, being a shepherd, was not familiar with all of the battle gear and found it cumbersome. Instead as we hear in today’s reading, David would depend upon God for victory against the giant, Goliath:
“The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine.”

Jesus in today’s gospel at Mass [Mark 3:1-6] is facing a battle similar to that which David confronted. Jesus heals on the Sabbath day. Usually that means that Pharisees and the religious authorities are watching. As we see in the gospel account of Jesus healing the man with the withered hand, the religious leaders consider that Jesus is performing forbidden work on the Sabbath. The man’s withered hand was not a life-threatening condition and, therefore, could have been done the following day.

Jesus changes the context of the healing miracle. Instead of doing work on the Sabbath, Jesus is doing good and saving a life.
Then he said to them, "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. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. [Mark 3:4-5]
Doing good and saving a life is allowed on the Sabbath, so Jesus is not performing forbidden actions.

Jesus’ action angers the religious leaders and now they are determined to eliminate him. Jesus is a threat that must be removed:
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.[v.6]
The remainder of Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God will be opposed by the powerful, wealthy religious leaders. Jesus enters into his own David versus Goliath battle for the rest of Mark’s gospel.

As Jesus’ disciples and as his ambassadors, we face a same David-Goliath struggle. We are called to be the light of the world, a light that is not to be hidden but displayed for all to see. Yet we live in a world of increasing darkness caused by sin. We are called to transform the culture around us into one of truth and life, holiness and grace, and justice, love, and peace. Yet we have most of the powerful media opposed to us. We are reprimanded if we make our faith public and told that religion is allowed only when practiced in private. We are called to be holy as God is holy. Yet the world is filled with temptations as well as the daily obligations which seem to occupy our time. Despite these challenges, we are always instructed at the end of Mass to go in peace and announce the gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ.

I have always liked Fr. Roland Rolheiser’s comments on the David-Goliath battle and what it teaches us when we see the overwhelming forces opposed to us and our mission on behalf of Christ. In Rolheiser’s commentary which I share with you, David was successful in a battle which seemed impossible because of the daily doing the things that deepened his relationship with God. The daily ritual actions might have seemed small, but they were not. These actions were the preparation for victory in his battle with Goliath.. What this means for us is that our daily dedication to prayer despite the many commitments that we have; the coming to Mass on the Sabbath and during the week, if possible; the daily struggle to do God’s will despite the difficulties and opposition that we might experience – all these little things prepare us to be victorious in our vocation as ambassadors for Christ. We just need to be courageous, depend on the Lord as David did, and then act on behalf of the Lord. As Rolheiser comments on this story:
When David reached into his shepherd's pouch and took out a slingshot and a pebble, you can be sure that this was not the first time he had done this. As a shepherd, in the fields by himself, he had spent countless hours practicing with his slingshot, searching for just the right pebbles, and then holding the pebbles in his hands in order to know their exact feel, to really make them his own. When he walked out to face Goliath his weapons may have looked pathetic in comparison to his opponent’s steel and iron, but David knew the possessions in his pouch; they were an extension of himself. And in that is the lesson. Long before we walk onto any battlefield to confront what opposes God, love, truth, and holiness, we too need to spend countless lonely hours holding and touching what's in our shepherd's pouch - prayer, sacraments, our traditions, and especially our charity and respect. These are our weapons against evil and that which is opposed to God. We need, through many lonely hours, to hold them, to press them in our hands, and to give them the feel of our own skin. Then, when we fling them at the giant called evil or darkness, they will penetrate the iron and hardness that stand in the way of God.

David trusted in God’s presence and protection in his battle with Goliath. Saint John Paul II wrote that, for us, it is the primacy of God’s grace that will be our strength in our daily vocation as Christ’s ambassadors:
There is a temptation which perennially besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that the results depend on our ability to act and to plan. God of course asks us really to cooperate with his grace….It is prayer which roots us in this truth. It constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness. When this principle is not respected, is it any wonder that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of frustration?
The lesson for us today? Continue to do those daily small things that deepen our relationship with Christ. While small and seemingly insignificant, these actions to learn to depend upon God and His grace are the source of our strength and victory.