February 24, 2025
Monday of the
Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 341
Reading 1
All wisdom comes from the LORD
and with him it remains forever, and is before all time
The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain,
the days of eternity: who can number these?
Heaven's height, earth's breadth,
the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?
Before all things else wisdom was created;
and prudent understanding, from eternity.
The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom
and her ways are everlasting.
To whom has wisdom's root been revealed?
Who knows her subtleties?
To whom has the discipline of wisdom been revealed?
And who has understood the multiplicity of her ways?
There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring,
seated upon his throne:
There is but one, Most High
all-powerful creator-king and truly awe-inspiring one,
seated upon his throne and he is the God of dominion.
It is the LORD; he created her through the Holy Spirit,
has seen her and taken note of her.
He has poured her forth upon all his works,
upon every living thing according to his bounty;
he has lavished her upon his friends.
Responsorial Psalm
R.(1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in
majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R.The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R.The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R.The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John
and approached the other disciples,
they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.
Immediately on seeing him,
the whole crowd was utterly amazed.
They ran up to him and greeted him.
He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
Someone from the crowd answered him,
“Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.
Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down;
he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.”
He said to them in reply,
“O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you? Bring him to me.”
They brought the boy to him.
And when he saw him,
the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions.
As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around
and foam at the mouth.
Then he questioned his father,
“How long has this been happening to him?”
He replied, “Since childhood.
It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him,
“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”
Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”
Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering,
rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it,
“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you:
come out of him and never enter him again!”
Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out.
He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, “He is dead!”
But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private,
“Why could we not drive the spirit out?”
He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022425.cfm
Commentary on Sirach
1:1-10
Today we begin reading the book of Sirach, and we will be
with it for the coming two weeks. It is one of the so-called deutero-canonical
books and is not part of the Jewish canon, nor recognised by many Protestant
churches. In older bibles, and in Universalis, it is usually called the ‘Book
of Ecclesiasticus’. In Greek it was known as the ‘Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach’,
from which the current name derives. The book, which was originally written in
Hebrew, dates from about 190 BC and was translated into Greek about 60 years
later. It is the Greek version which we normally translate from nowadays.
It has been described as an encyclopaedia on good religion
and wise living. In fact, it forms part of the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew
Testament. It was used so much by the Church over the centuries that it came to
be called “Ecclesiasticus”, the ‘Church Book’. The name is derived from ecclesia,
the Latin for ‘church’ and ekklesia, the Greek word used in the New
Testament for the Christian assembly (literally, the ‘gathering of those who
are called out’).
Today, the author speaks of the mystery of wisdom. He speaks
of true wisdom, namely, God’s external revelation of himself (later, in Jesus,
we can see the Incarnate Wisdom of God). Throughout the book he describes in
great detail just what wisdom is; sometimes it is divine; sometimes it is a
synonym for God’s law; sometimes it is human. But the author makes clear that
even human wisdom, properly understood, ultimately comes from God.
Today’s reading is a poem about personified wisdom as the
creation of the Lord God. It combines both the hidden-ness, the inaccessibility
of wisdom on the one hand, with its availability to humans, especially those
whose lives are in harmony with God.
All wisdom, says the author, originates from “the Lord”, its
ultimate source. The term ‘Lord’ (Kyrios) in the Greek Old Testament
(Septuagint) is the normal translation of Yahweh, the unspeakable
name of God in Hebrew. The author of Sirach uses the term constantly, even when
translating other divine titles.
Only God can grasp the enormity of our universe from end to
end. Its unfathomable immensity continues to boggle our minds as we penetrate
deeper and deeper into it. Only the Creator knows the number of grains of sand
by the sea, or can count the drops when rain falls, or the length of eternity.
Here we have the aspect of total wisdom as something unattainable, a theme
which goes throughout Sirach.
The implication is that only God possesses the fullness of
Wisdom. Only Someone who can understand all these things can have complete
Wisdom. Such Wisdom precedes all creation and has no beginning in time. Only
one Person knows the root of Wisdom, only one Person can understand its
subtlest elements:
There is but one who is wise, greatly to be feared,
seated upon his throne: the Lord.
He is the Source of all Wisdom:
It is he who created her…
Here the author makes use of an architectural image. Wisdom
is seen as a plan or model for creating the universe.
Here the author emphasises the uniqueness and sublime nature
of God. Wisdom is a special attribute of God which is reflected in the whole of
creation and is a special gift to humanity. Although it is personified with
‘she’ here and in other Wisdom literature, in this work it is clearly something
created and not to be identified as God. For Sirach, wisdom is in God and comes
from God, but is not God. For John, in the Prologue to his Gospel, there is a
somewhat different understanding: the Word was with God and the Word was God
and the Word existed from all eternity.
It is God who:
…poured her [Wisdom] out upon all his
works…
It is He who has passed her on to us and He who:
…lavished her upon those who love him.
He has shared his Wisdom with all creation. A deep study of
nature reveals the Wisdom of God present everywhere. As the Jesuit poet Gerard
Manley Hopkins wrote, “the world is charged with the grandeur of God”. And God
shares it in a special way with us and, most of all, with “those who love him”.
There is a special wisdom for those who are deeply united with God in love and
service. In fact, we can and do say, that to love God is the beginning of
wisdom.
As mentioned, Wisdom here is personified as a ‘she’ and so
some like to see the Spirit of God as feminine. God, of course, and the Trinity
are above and inclusive of all genders and sexes. The Father is not exclusively
male, nor is the ‘Son’ of God who proceeds from the ‘Father’. The Incarnate,
Enfleshed Son in Jesus is male, but many would see in Jesus’ character all the
best characteristics of both the masculine and the feminine—an ideal for all
men and women. Our Creed says that the Second Person of the Trinity was made
‘human’ (homo)—which applies equally to male and female.
Wisdom is not a question of knowledge, although some
knowledge must be a constituent element. Wisdom is the gift to be able to see
the whole, and to see the inter-relatedness of all the parts. It can only come
from experience and applied insight. It is not normally a characteristic of the
very young or the very superficial. It is a question of looking into,
not just looking at. It’s the difference between being dazzlingly
knowledgeable, or perhaps very clever, but not wise.
Ultimately, to grow in Christ is to grow in wisdom. It is to
grow into a deeper understanding of the meaning and direction of life. It is a
gift God wishes us to have, so let us ask him for it today.
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Commentary on Mark
9:14-29
As Jesus comes down the mountain of the Transfiguration with
Peter, James and John, they find the rest of the disciples surrounded by a
large crowd. They are in a deep argument with some scribes, the experts on the
Jewish law. Jesus wants to know what they are arguing about.
A man comes forward and describes some terrible symptoms his
son is experiencing. He had asked Jesus’ disciples to exorcise this demon, but
they were not able to do so. Reading the passage with contemporary eyes, it is
possible for us to see the boy’s symptoms as perhaps some kind of epileptic
seizure. It is understandable that people in those days would see in it some
kind of evil possession. A person having epilepsy may seem to behave in very
bizarre ways and even to be in the control of some external power.
Jesus exclaims:
You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with
you? How much longer must I put up with you?
He asks that the boy be brought to him. Immediately the boy
has another attack, lying writhing on the ground, foaming at the mouth—all
typical symptoms of a seizure.
The father says the boy has been like that since birth and
then he makes a heart-rending plea:
…if you are able to do anything, help us! Have compassion
on us!
Jesus’ response is immediate:
If you are able! All things can be done for the one who
believes.
Jesus does not just help people who ask. They must have a
firm trust and confidence in God. We were told earlier that in Nazareth Jesus
was able to do very little healing because the people there had no faith or
trust in him.
The man comes back with a magnificent response,
I believe; help my unbelief!
That is the paradox of faith. It is something that we must
have in order to come under the power of God, and yet it is also something he
has to give us first.
This was enough for Jesus. He immediately drove out the
force that was afflicting the boy. It involved one more last attack, leaving
him lying on the ground like a corpse so that the onlookers thought he was
dead. Someone with a seizure disorder can certainly look like that at the end
of an attack.
Then Jesus took the boy by the hand and lifted him up:
…and he was able to stand.
As often happens in the Gospel, healing and a restoration to
wholeness means standing up, sharing in the resurrection, the new life, of
Jesus.
Afterwards, when Jesus’ disciples were alone with him, they
asked why they could not heal the boy. Jesus tells them that this kind of
problem:
…can come out only through prayer.
Did that mean that they had been trying to heal the boy by
their own efforts? Were they beginning to think that the power that had been
given them was their own? Had they failed to realise they were just channels of
God’s healing power? Jesus spent long hours in prayer before and after his
teaching and healing works. We cannot expect to do otherwise.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1072g/
Monday, February 24, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father, keep before us the wisdom and love you have revealed
in your Son. Help us to be like him in word and deed, for he lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading -
Mark 9: 14-29
As they were rejoining the disciples they saw a large crowd
round them and some scribes arguing with them.
At once, when they saw him, the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him. And he asked them, 'What are you arguing about with them?' A man answered him from the crowd, 'Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to drive it out and they were unable to.' In reply he said to them, 'Faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.' They brought the boy to him, and at once the spirit of dumbness threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' 'From childhood,' he said, 'and it has often thrown him into fire and into water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.' 'If you can?'retorted Jesus. 'Everything is possible for one who has faith.' At once the father of the boy cried out, 'I have faith. Help my lack of faith!' And when Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit. 'Deaf and dumb spirit,' he said, 'I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.' Then it threw the boy into violent convulsions and came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, 'He is dead.' But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand.
When he had gone indoors, his disciples asked him when they
were by themselves, 'Why were we unable to drive it out?' He answered, 'This is
the kind that can be driven out only by prayer.'
Reflection
The Gospel today informs us that the disciples of Jesus were
not able to cast out the devil from the body of a boy. The power of evil was
greater than their capacity. Today, also, there are many evils which surpass
our capacity to face them: violence, drugs, war, sickness, jobless people,
terrorism, etc. We make great efforts in life, but it seems that instead of
improving, the world becomes worse. What good is there in struggling? Keeping
this question in mind, let us read and meditate on today’s Gospel.
• Mark 9: 14-22: The situation of the people: despair without solution. Coming down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, Jesus met many people around the disciples. A parent was in despair, because an evil spirit had taken possession of his son. With detail, Mark describes the situation of the possessed boy, the anguish of the father, the incapacity of the disciples and the reaction of Jesus. Two things strike us in a particular way: on one side, the confusion and the powerlessness of the people and of the disciples in the face of the phenomenon of possession, and on the other hand, the power of faith in Jesus before which the devil loses all his influence. The father had asked the disciples to drive out the devil from the boy, but they were not able to do it. Jesus becomes impatient and says: “Faithless generation! How much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” Jesus asks information regarding the sickness of the boy. And from the response of the father, Jesus knows that the boy, “from childhood,” was affected by a serious illness which endangered his life. The father asked: “But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us!” The phrase of the father expresses a very real situation of the people: (a) they are faithless; (b) they are not in a condition to solve the problem, but (c) have such good will.
• Mark 9: 23-27: The answer of Jesus: the way of faith. The father answers: Lord, I believe! But help my lack of faith! The response of the father has the central place in this episode. It indicates that this should be the attitude of the disciple, that, in spite of his/her limitations and doubts, he/she wants to be faithful. Seeing that many people were coming, Jesus acted rapidly. He ordered the spirit to get out of the boy and not to return “again ever!” This is a sign of the power of Jesus on evil. It is also a sign that Jesus did not want any popular propaganda.
• Mark 9: 28-29: Deepening this with the disciples. In the house, the disciples want to know why they were not able to drive out the devil. Jesus answers: This is the kind of evil spirit that can be driven out only by prayer! Faith and prayer go together. One does not exist without the other. The disciples had become worse. Before they were capable of driving out the devil (cfr. Mk 6: 7, 13). Now, no more. What is lacking? Faith or prayer? Why is it lacking? These are questions which come from the text and enter into our head in a way that we can proceed also to a kind of revision of our life.
• The expulsion of the devils in the Gospel of Mark.
During the time of Jesus many persons spoke of Satan and of the expulsion of
the devils. People were afraid and, there were some persons who profited and
took advantage of the fear of the people. The power of evil had many names: Demon, Devil, Beelzebul,
Prince of Demons, Satan, Dragon, Domination, Power, Beast-wild animal, Lucifer,
etc. (cfr. Mk 3: 22-23; Mt 4: 1; Rv 12: 9; Rm 8: 38; Eph 1: 21). Today also, among
us the power of evil has many names. It is enough to consult the dictionary and
look for the word Devil or Demon. Today, also, many dishonest people enrich
themselves, profiting of the fear which people have of the devil. Now, one of
the objectives of the Good News of Jesus is, precisely, to help people to free
themselves from this fear. The coming of the Kingdom of God means the coming of
a stronger power. The strong man was an image which indicated the power of evil
which maintained people imprisoned by fear (Mk 3: 27). The power of fear
oppresses persons and makes them lose themselves. He does in such a way that
they live in fear and death (cfr. Mk 5: 2). It is such a strong power that
nobody can stop it (Mk 5: 4). The Roman Empire with its “Legion” (cfr. Mk
5: 9), that is, with its armies, was the
instrument used to maintain this situation of oppression. But Jesus is the
strongest man who overcomes, seizes
and drives out the power of evil! In the Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul
gives a list of all the possible powers or demons which could threaten us and
he summarizes everything in this way: “I am certain of this: neither death nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing
still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created
thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to
us in Christ Jesus, our Lord!” (Rm 8: 38-39).
Nothing of all this! And the first words of Jesus after the
Resurrection are: “Do not be afraid! Rejoice! Do not fear! Peace be with you!”
(Mk 16: 6; Mt 28: 9-10; Lk 24: 36; Jn 20: 21).
Personal Questions
• Have you ever lived
an experience of powerlessness before some evil or violence? Was this an
experience for you only or also for the community? How did you overcome it
• Which is the type
of evil today which can only be overcome with much prayer?
Concluding Prayer
The precepts of Yahweh are honest, joy for the heart; the
commandment of Yahweh is pure, light for the eyes. (Ps 19: 8)
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