In Communion

A life in Christ is a life in communion: communion with love, truth, peace, kindness, faithfulness, mercy, forgiveness, and with one another. Jesus was sent to bring us all into the Father’s heart and to unite us in His love. He showed this over and over again by healing the sick who were often outcasts, restoring lepers seen as unclean, driving out demons that separated people from the community, reaching out to the sinners to give them back their dignity, and always bringing the little ones into the fold. These were all demonstrations of wanting us to live in harmony and peace with one another. Those cast aside, forgotten, ridiculed, judged, humiliated, regarded as less than, misunderstood, lowly, weak, etc. were Jesus’ main focus. He was constantly moving toward the sinner, the leper, the blind, the lame, the judged, and the sick, because he knew they were on outside and his mission was and is to bring them in. How does he still bring them in? Through us, his hands and feet here on earth. He tells us, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.” Even though I never watch the news anymore, I’m pretty sure that our kingdom is currently divided. How can we restore unity? We cannot, but God can and so we need to release God into the world. How? We take our cues from Jesus constantly moving toward the marginalized and blessing them rather than cursing them. We cooperate with the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to love everybody always. We invite God into every single interaction we have with others and allow Him to do the loving, the saving, the delivering, the healing, the mercy, the forgiving, and the blessing. 

A life in Christ is a life in communion; a life not in Christ is divided. Jealousy, envy, pride, prejudice, and arrogance are all ways the enemy uses to separate us from one another. Let’s be extra diligent in guarding our souls against these things. The same Spirit that came upon the Apostles at Pentecost lives and dwells within each of us, and that is the Spirit that longs for us to be united in God’s love. We get to work with that Spirit or against that Spirit. And based on the warning given at the end of today’s gospel, I only want to work with the Holy Spirit. As we go about our day, perhaps we can imagine living in the center of the perfect unity of the Holy Trinity, where the love between the Father and the Son releases the Spirit of unconditional love and mercy to everyone. It is well with my soul.

Reading 1 2 SM 5:1-7, 10

All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
“Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back.
And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.’”
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,
King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,
and they anointed him king of Israel.
David was thirty years old when he became king,
and he reigned for forty years:
seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah,
and thirty-three years in Jerusalem
over all Israel and Judah.

Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem
against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.
David was told, “You cannot enter here:
the blind and the lame will drive you away!”
which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”
But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.

David grew steadily more powerful,
for the LORD of hosts was with him.

Responsorial Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 25-26

R.    (25a)  My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.”
R.    My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”
R.    My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.”
R.    My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

Alleluia 2 TM 1:10

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.  
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”

For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”