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Reflection for Sunday 2/19/12

Readings for Today:
Isaiah 43:18 –19, 21– 22, 24b – 25
Corinthians 1:18 – 22
Mark 2:1–12

Readings for Next Week:
Genesis 9:8 –15
Peter 3:18 – 22
Mark 1:12 –15

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
James Joyce concludes his epic Ulysses with Molly Bloom’s unique soliloquy that begins and ends and many times repeats the word yes. Joyce says the word suggests acquiescence and a lack of resistance. Paul tells us it is the supremely Christian word because it summa-rizes Jesus’ life and ministry. Jesus was the “yes” of the Father who brings the “yes” of God’s promises into our lives. Today’s readings proclaim the “yes” of God and call us to perceive and proclaim it in our lives. Isaiah bubbles with the “yes” energy of God. Creation is being made new, he announces. Don’t you sense it? Yes. The signs are all around you. Don’t you see them? Crowds gather around Jesus because they sense the newness that rushes in wherever he goes. They feel, hear, and even touch the “yes” of his ministry. So when the stretcher-bearers come and find the way blocked, they open up the roof and make a way to the “yes” that was in Jesus, and Jesus gladly gives it. His “yes” shocks the “no” in the hearts of the scribes. Jesus asks the scribes which “yes” is harder to speak: “Yes, you are forgiven,” or “Yes, you are healed.” Then he tells the man that he is both healed and forgiven. Yes. Go forth. Yes. Carry your mat. Yes. Go to your home. Yes. Take my “yes” with you. Glorify God with it. And when they say, “We have never seen anything like this,” say yes!

“For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

SHARING FAITH
Isaiah’s prophecy suggests there may be signs of God performing wonders all around us that we fail to see. Can you sense the stirring of grace in your life?

LIVING THE LITURGY
Decide what was the most important “yes” you’ve said in your life, and then list five ways your life would be different if you had said no.
for these people.

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