The Mark of Discipleship. The 22nd to the 26th weeks of Ordinary Time of Year B. The Gospels come from the 7th, 8th and 9th chapters of Mark. Our second reading comes from the New Testament letter of James. Living Seasons of Change radio show was hosted by Patti Brunner with Msgr. David LeSieur and was broadcast on PaduaMedia Radio, KDUA. Those who follow Jesus are marked by Baptism. Christians, as “Marked Man” are targets for those who do not accept the truth. Thus true disciples are ‘tested’ by the unbelievers—the rejecters of the kingdom. When you walk in the Way of the Lord: Serving, healing, with humility and justice, you might face hardship and trial but you will always receive the final recompense—eternal life within the Kingdom of God.
To Listen audio: Season of Mark of Discipleship Continue reading for more information and the script of this broadcast.
Those who torment you have already been judged and condemned. The Lord God grants Mercy to all who seek him with all their hearts. Those who seek only material gain and ‘status’ are turned away. Come with the simplicity of a child. Duplicity leads to destruction. As you seek the face of God it is always found. As you seek the kingdom of God, sometimes the delay causes some to lose heart—to give up. A true disciple receives the joy, peace; the signs of the presence of God. Turn away from jealousy and selfishness. As the world is “full” of jealousy and self-centeredness, without Truth it will indeed seek to destroy those who rub the innate conscious; these will seek to quiet the voice of truth so as not to be challenged to be the ‘servant’ but to remain the ‘served’. When the Lord showers blessings and power, those who stand on the outside covet these things and seek to ‘rob’ them; to obtain them by destroying those who contain them. When a disciple receives these blessings and runs into the opposition, they must turn with love not with vengeance—not with a passion to destroy before destruction takes place for themselves.
Transcript
Patti: Welcome to Living Seasons of Change and the Season of the Mark of Discipleship. We who follow Jesus are “marked men”; we are marked by Baptism as belonging to Christ. As Christians we are to live our lives in obedience to the teachings of Christ. Being “marked” also makes us a target for those who do not accept the truth. I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host is Msgr. David LeSieur, a Catholic priest of the diocese of Little Rock. Welcome, Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur: Thank you, Patti. The challenges that face disciples from opposition can strengthen us as we trust God. When you walk in the Way of the Lord: Serving, healing, with humility and justice, you might face hardship and trial but you will always receive the final recompense—eternal life within the Kingdom of God. Our Gospels for the 22nd to the 26th weeks of Ordinary Time of Year B come from the 7th, 8th and 9th chapters of Mark. Our second reading comes from the New Testament letter of James.
Patti: In these chapters of Mark, Jesus points out some of the things that we need to do as his disciples. Jesus also gives the first and second predictions of His passion; He tells us what to do but also explores the challenges of being a marked man. Baptism marks us to act in a different way as a Christian and Jesus tells us how the world reacts to that.
Msgr. David LeSieur: It is a tremendous privilege to follow Jesus but is also a great responsibility. It is not easy but it is the only way there is.
Patti Brunner: When the Lord showers blessings and power, those who stand on the outside covet these things and seek to ‘rob’ them; to obtain them by destroying those who contain them. In several of these readings we see how Christians are challenged with a certain sort of behavior; to be marked with obedience to God’s commands that takes them above their earthy impulses.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Mark 7:21 lists those “earthly” impulses: evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within.” [i]
Patti Brunner: Our first reading that Sunday is from Deuteronomy. Moses talks about the commandments and how we need to follow the commandments.
Msgr.: Moses tells the tribes of Israel: “Hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe that you might live.” “You shall not add to what I command or subtract from it.”[ii] In the Gospel Jesus tells the Pharisees “You cling to human tradition but disregard God’s commandments”[iii].
Patti: Also on the 22nd Sunday James challenges us. He says to be ‘doers’ of the word and not just “hearers”. There is a challenge to take action on what we hear. We hear the commandments, we hear the gospel but do we apply the ‘Good News’?
Msgr.: James is saying, “Faith without good works is dead.”[iv] If you are really hearing the word of God, that should lead you to action. In chapter 1, James writes: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.[v]” So, the mark of discipleship is not being tied down to just the letter of the law, not just hearing the word but doing the word, looking beneath the surface of what is being said. Jesus points out those who fall short. He says they are “Honoring with their lips but their hearts are far from me.[vi]” The Pharisees were guilty of a surface religiosity. We have to guard against this because we, too, are very traditional in our liturgy and our liturgy has many rituals.
Patti: The Church is very careful in the development of rituals by giving rubrics for the sacraments including the mass. Understanding the background of the traditional rituals greatly enhances our participation. On the 23rd Sunday we hear from Isaiah and he is reminding us to be strong, to fear not because salvation is coming, and he starts listing the promises of that salvation. Then, with the gospel in Mark, Chapter 7, Jesus fulfills one of those promises. He heals a deaf and mute man which reveals Jesus is the one promised. I thought it was interesting that here Mark says they begged Jesus to lay hands and then they are astonished that they are healed.
Msgr.: The promises predicted by Isaiah are that the lame will leap like a stag, the tongue of the mute will sing, streams will burst forth in the desert, and burning sands will become cool. This week’s Gospel takes place in Tyre and Sidon, into the district of Decapolis—the ten cities—which was a pagan area. The people brought Jesus a man—deaf and mute of speech—and begged Jesus to lay His lands on him.
Patti: It goes to show that whenever you seek the Lord’s face, it is always found. And, yet, we can be surprised that we find the Jesus that we are looking for. I think we pray with hope but not always expectant faith.
Msgr.: It is difficult to come before the Lord and say, “Lord will you heal me?” You ask yourself “how long should I make this prayer?” I guess you pray until you are healed. Until you come to the realization that you are healed, inwardly if not physically. You have found peace. That is a healing. I guess you pray until you experience healing or peace.
Patti: Pray until you feel that you are healed or until the peace comes. I think that in itself is one of the marks of a true disciple; being able to find peace in turning it over to the Lord, whether you receive the healing or whether it is delayed. It is that peace of putting in the Lord’s hands. A true disciple receives the joy, the peace; these are the signs of the presence of God.
Msgr.: And saying, “I would loved to be freed of this but I am peaceful enough if Jesus doesn’t take the malady away, I can still be his disciple. It is not going to drive me away.
Patti: Sometimes we need soaking prayer. You keep petitioning the Lord like St. Monica did for her son St. Augustine’s conversion.[vii]
Msgr.: Yes. Maybe St. Monica was at peace enough to say, “I’ll pray ten more years or whatever it takes, I’ll keep praying. I know he is in God’s hands. I know that God hears me.” She had the peace to be persistent. Prayer for her son was her way of begging, like the deaf man with the speech impediment’s friends begged for him.
Patti Brunner: I wonder if St. Monica was astonished that her prayers were answered so abundantly that her son became a theologian for the Church and later named a saint. So, the deaf man who could not speak clearly was probably a Gentile; Jesus carries out a ritual of touching his ears and tongue. This shows that the salvation is available through Jesus to Jews and Gentiles alike. The healing was so complete that his ears were open and the speech impediment was removed.
Msgr. David LeSieur: You know, if you are deaf, it is very hard to speak. When I was in high school we had a science demonstration at an assembly one day and the man called for a volunteer and a kid came down. He put some kind of earphones over his ears where he could not hear himself speak. The man said, “Now, say the little poem ‘Mary had a little lamb’.” The boy stumbled all over it. His voice was okay, and he knew the poem, but it was very hard for him to speak it when he couldn’t hear. So, in the Gospel this man had both impediments. He could not hear and he could not speak.
Patti Brunner: In Mark Chapter 9 another deaf and mute man is healed by the removal of a demon. In both cases Jesus took care of everything. On the 23rd Sunday the reading from James talks about the rich and the poor. In those days, if you were rich you were considered blessed by God. These teachings are to show us, that the poor are blessed by God, too. You do not have to be rich to receive God’s blessings. In fact, Jesus says it’s even harder for the rich to receive God’s blessings. It is okay to be poor. It is not whether you are rich or poor; it is where your heart is.
Msgr.: God would not look at accident of birth or bank accounts, to choose whether or not to bless you. He loves everyone. Rich or poor, good and bad; He loves them all
Patti: Your status in life, being rich or poor, is not a mark of discipleship. That is not a measure.
Msgr.: No, it is not.
Patti: Bad health, good health is not. The “mark” is how you trust the Lord whatever your status.
Msgr.: How you live your life; how you trust Him; how faithful you are. Poor man or rich man can both be faithful to God. Hopefully, the rich man’s fidelity to God and the grace he receives would enable him to share what he has with someone who has less.
Patti: Exactly!
Msgr. David LeSieur: The poor man he would bless with a grateful heart to receive, to be open to the grace of God. Physically, we might be poor or we might be homeless or whatever. Ultimately Jesus sends the right people into our lives and hopefully the people He wants to send to a poor person are listening so they can be sent to share.
Patti: On the 26th SundayJames talks about the wealth again. “Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded”[viii]. Let’s look at the big picture. “You are not taking it with you”.
Msgr.: James writes, “By cheating you lived in luxury. You murder the righteous one, he offered no resistance”. It almost sounds like the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man didn’t murder Lazarus, he just ignored him and Lazarus died. James continues, “Weep over your impending miseries.” “Your wealth is rotten.” James is merciless! He is really tough!
Patti Brunner: On the 24th Sunday, the first reading is Isaiah’s revelation of the suffering servant.
Msgr.: And in the gospel that day Jesus talks about His cross. At that point He reveals the cross for the first time.
Patti: Suffering servants are delayed the full benefits of the kingdom. You put yourself on the line for what you believe and who you are in Christ. There may be a current benefit for the hard work but it can’t compare the long range plan and the finished product. Like an athlete training for the Olympics or a college student working towards a medical degree or a mission trip to Belize to build bathrooms in an impoverished Catholic facility. The mark of a disciple of Christ includes serving and, many times, suffering in the short term.
Msgr.: Peter misunderstood that in saying, “You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the Anointed One.” He did not understand suffering for sure and maybe he did not understand servant hood, either. Jesus would have seen Himself as a suffering servant and Peter would see Him as a Messiah who would be above all that. “You are the conquering hero who has come back to free us.” I do not think Peter at this point grasped that Jesus understood Himself as a suffering servant. As a Messiah perhaps, as the Anointed One, but He is anointed for suffering. Set aside for that. He captures the spirit of the suffering servant of Isaiah’s vision.
Patti Brunner: The servants of the Lord continue to suffer. As the world is “full” of jealousy and self-centeredness, without Truth, it will indeed seek to destroy those who rub the innate conscious; these will seek to quiet the voice of truth so as not to be challenged to be the ‘servant’ but to remain the ‘served’. When the Lord showers blessings and power, those who stand on the outside covet these things and seek to ‘rob’ them; to obtain them by destroying those who contain them.
The Pharisees are trying to use the law to quench righteousness by erroneously interpreting law. It is the same thing as the abortion issue, trying to legalize humanistic tendencies. Our courts did that with Roe v. Wade. They put a legality in place that quenched righteousness, to allow an unrighteous act of murder in the name of the righteousness of a woman’s choice of medical treatment. It twisted the heart of the law to protect citizens to become a means of destroying them.
Msgr.: A woman’s right: they couched it in those terms. It is her right to privacy or a control over her own body even though she is carrying another person whose rights were totally ignored. They balked over whether that could be a person or whether it could be human. I think we have proven that it is human. And so God’s servants, such as Priests for Life and National Right to Life, are ridiculed as they protest the killing of babies. The Church also continues to step forward in love for those women who have had abortions through groups like Project Rachael.
Patti: Love is definitely a mark of a true disciple. Sometimes in the short run you do suffer or experience persecution; but you do have to be a servant and put yourself out and do things that take the risk of hardships; accepting that God’s timing is not necessarily the world’s timing. It is that eternal long run, understanding the timing of eternity versus the “now” that strengthens us—Jesus taught this through his example.
Msgr.: Jesus had that vision. He knew His Father’s will, His Father’s kingdom was what He was all about. He knew that his Father’s kingdom is bigger than this earth, bigger than this life.
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Patti Brunner
Welcome back! You’re listening to Living Seasons of Change. I’m Patti Brunner and I am talking with Msgr. David LeSieur about the Mark of Discipleship.
Msgr. David LeSieur: St. Paul says if we live for this life only, we are the most pitiful of men, if this is all there is to it. Jesus would have agreed with that. He was committed to His mission of preaching the kingdom and freeing people from the bondage of satan, casting out demons; All kind of bondages that people have, including bondage to the law. Jesus came to free us from all of that. He was so intent on his job that He let it lead Him to His death. His mission was as Jesus, the Son of God, who was also human—that’s why His death was salvific.
Patti Brunner: Only the sacrificial suffering and death of Jesus saves us. Our own sacrifices couldn’t do it.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Right, no matter how committed we were. Like Oscar Romero or Martin Luther King, Jr. Their missions led them to their death; it helped people but it wasn’t redemptive in the sense Jesus’ suffering and death was. He was God’s Son. His sacrifice was a perfect gift; more so than yours or mine would be because we are sinners. The sacrifice of any martyr would be in the spirit of Jesus. I think Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Romero, and every martyr’s death was helpful to the world; a martyr’s life, his teachings, his death is helpful. But it can’t save people. Only Jesus saves because He is God’s Son.
Patti: Just like the law cannot save us!
Msgr.: Exactly! It is limited. We are limited; Jesus was not limited. But the marvelous thing was He did this as a human. That is the great thing.
Patti: As we seek the kingdom of God, sometimes the delay of the fullness of the kingdom of God causes some to lose heart—to give up. The martyrs, they did not give up despite the delays. They knew the end result; that is eternal hope.
Msgr.: Just like Jesus did, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”[ix] Jesus lost His life for the sake of something else. His Father’s will; His Father’s kingdom; His Father’s love. His life was at the service of something bigger than Himself. Even though He is God, His mission was to obey His Father and to bring His Father’s love and life to the world.
Patti: Talk about a role model to follow, think about God Himself becoming the servant!
Msgr.: The servant of all. The suffering servant.
Patti: Yes, the suffering servant – not an easy way. When you walk in the Way of the Lord: Serving, healing, with humility and justice, you might face hardship and trial but you will always receive the final recompense—eternal life within the Kingdom of God. On the 25th Sunday the book of Wisdom reports, “the wicked say, “Let us put the just one to the test.” We are tested also by the wicked. Just remember: Those who torment you have already been judged and condemned.
Msgr.: They’ve got nothing to lose.
Patti: They’ve got nothing to lose. The Lord allows them their say and they torment us. True believers, true disciples are also ‘tested’ by the unbelievers—the rejecters of the kingdom, rejecters of the Word of God. Either they have heard the word and they have rejected it or they refuse to hear it.
Msgr.: Sophisticated. The learned and the clever.
Patti: We see a lot of that going on in our time. There is also incidence of being tormented by demons: spiritual warfare. That has gone on for all time, I guess, starting with the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden and continuing today.
Msgr.: Yes, it is all around us. St. Ignatius of Loyola who developed a method of discernment of spirits would say a person who has a conscience is bothered by things that are not right. He can tell when something is wrong in his own self. His conscience will accuse him. When a good person is bothered by his conscience, it is working properly. But when a person whose conscience is so hardened, who is so immune to sin, he is not bothered by it. That is a very bad sign. A person who is not bothered by evil may in some sense have given himself over to it. As you said a moment ago, the disciple would suffer. The disciple of Jesus Christ is very sensitive to the evil of the world, or things that are going on. He is very sensitive. He can notice things that maybe another person might not.
Patti Brunner: The closer we are to the Light of Christ, the clearer we see sin—especially our own.
Msgr. David LeSieur: A truly evil person would be consoled, as Ignatius says, he will be consoled by the devil. The person who is good and is really trying to follow the Lord will be desolated by the devil. A person with a close relationship with the Lord will know when things are wrong. He will be bothered. The wicked person is bothered by good. The Pharisees and Scribes were bothered by good; bothered by Jesus.
Patti: They fight truth because truth would invade their conscious and cause them the pain of knowing their own sinfulness; they are going to put you down to assuage their own conscience.
Msgr.: They will snuff it out, because they are leaning the wrong way. They are just going in the wrong direction. Ignatius shed some light on that. This is his example: he says if you are a good person and the devil is bothering you, it will be like water dropping off a rock, it splatters, makes a mess, it’s noisy and it bothers you. If you are an evil person, the devil’s words and actions and influence will be like water on a sponge. You just absorb it all.
On the other hand, the evil person when he is confronted by good, it will be like water dropping off a rock. It will bother him. He does not like it. Look at the way the opposites work in us. Depending on where our bent is. If our bent is towards good and we are following Jesus, certain things will bother us and it should. If our bent is away from God, good things will bother us. So, we are all bothered by something. It just depends on which way we are headed.
Patti: And Jesus says his Way is narrow. The Lord calls us to servant hood; that keeps our conscience in the right formation—the rock versus the sponge. That is a good analogy.
Msgr.: It’s St. Ignatius’ examples. The Lord’s words to us, even to a good person, could challenge us and bother us sometimes when we need correction of course. If we listen to it properly it will give us peace because we will know it is from Him. Even if we do not like what He says, like when Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, satan.” Jesus’ direction was towards God, and Peter’s words were like water splattering off a rock to Him. It bothered Him and He responded. Peter finally got it. Jesus’ words to Peter were like water splashing off a rock when he said. “I must suffer and die.” But Peter was converted. We can always undergo deeper conversion to the Lord’s ways. Even if we are heading in the direction of following Him, there will be things that bother us that should lead us to conversion.
Patti: James, on the 25th Sunday, says where jealousy and selfish ambition exists there is disorder[x]. Duplicity leads to destruction. For deeper conversion we could just step back and say, “Okay, is there disorder in my life? Is there disorder in my workplace? Is there disorder in my relationships? Then: Why?” Look back and see.
Msgr.: Perhaps you have a friendship in your life that keeps you from being at peace. Step back and see if there is disorder about this person that is affecting you the wrong way. Is the person dragging you down? Is the person influencing you? That is why parents are always on the lookout for their kids’ friends. They can see the affect that this person has on their child. It could be a good effect or it could be a bad effect. I did not like it but my parents were careful with me about my friendships. There was a kid down the street they did not want me to hang around. They thought he was a bad influence and I tried to convince them otherwise. They were right. The kid did not corrupt me but he had some bad habits.
Patti: I have come across this more than once. You have to be careful when you are reaching out to help someone, too, that they do not drag you down. Especially when you are young–in age or in relationship with Jesus, or if the person you are trying to help is involved with substance abuse or perhaps someone of the opposite sex who is having marital issues. True disciples are ‘tested’ by the unbelievers—the rejecters of the kingdom. We do have a Christian duty to help others but you just have to be so careful. It’s wise to follow the saying: talk to God about man before talking to man about God.
Msgr.: Even a strong person who wants to do good for someone else can be adversely affected. That’s why I think they need someone, a spiritual director, or someone to help them with this instance to keep rooted or grounded.
Patti: It’s a very good idea to be grounded with someone that is keeping an eye on the situation with an impartial eye. Wisdom is full of mercy and brings good fruits. We’ve talked about some very challenging marks of being a disciple. Yet, Jesus draws us to come to Him with the simplicity of a child.
Msgr.: At the end of the day children trust their parents to take care of them. I always use the gospel from Mark chapter 10 at baptism where Jesus says, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”[xi] I like to use the example that says the kingdom belongs to the children because they will accept it. They are open to it. They are trusting.
Patti Brunner: Jesus uses the innocence and simplicity of children to teach us. How simple he makes following him! In the Gospel, on the 25th week, Jesus takes a child and places it “in their midst, and putting his arms around it he says to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me.”.[xii]” Straight forward. No duplicity. What easier way is there to receive Jesus? One thing about children is that they accept love and they give love so freely. They are trusting. They trust their parents. They trust that they will be provided for.
Msgr.: Jesus brings up children because the disciples are arguing about who was the most important.
Patti: They are into that status again. The Lord God grants Mercy to all who seek him with all their hearts. Those who seek only material gain and ‘status’ are turned away. The Lord calls us to turn away from jealousy and selfishness.
Msgr.: Yes, this is right after Jesus gives the 2nd prediction[xiii] of his passion and all they can think about who is the most important. This goes so counter to what He is trying to teach them. “I am a suffering servant and you are talking about who is the most important”. And it is ego, you know. Jealousy and ego, which is, basically, an insecurity about oneself. We all have an ego. We all from time to time need a little bit of stroking, support, whatever. But, ultimately, our trust is in God who gives us the ultimate security. He loves us. He loves us enough to challenge us and help us grow. He promises eternal life where there will be no more jealousy and fighting.
Patti: Moses talks about being jealous of people in ministry in Numbers, chapter 11, on the 26th Sunday. They have a list of 72 on whom Moses is going to impart a portion of his spirit, his anointing, so they can hear the Lord’s word and speak it in prophecy and can help Moses take care of the people. Two of them remained in the camp; they didn’t make it into the tent. But they got the anointing even though they weren’t there.
Msgr.: Joshua, the young aide of Moses, noticed the two are acting in the Lord’s power even though they missed the ceremony.
Patti: He brought it to Moses attention and said, “You got to stop them! They are out there prophesying!” [xiv]
Msgr.: “Make them stop!” This is similar to the beginning of the Mark’s Gospel of the 26th week when John the apostle caught someone, who was not a member of their following, who was driving out demons in Jesus’ name. John wanted to stop him and Jesus said, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”[xv]
Patti Brunner: When a disciple receives these blessings and runs into the opposition, they must turn with love not with vengeance—not with a passion to destroy before destruction takes place for themselves. Once again the Lord calls us to Turn away from jealousy and selfishness. Joshua and the Apostle, John, seem a little jealous because they were part of the “inner circle”,
Msgr.: These scriptures show us that even spiritual gifts can cause jealousy. That’s the world inserting itself into a spiritual matter. Gifts of the Spirit can lead to jealousy if they are not received in the right humility. God should be praised when these gifts are manifested in others even though they are not manifested in us. It takes bigness of spirit to realize that and to praise God for it. It is hard not to feel jealous sometimes but it is more important not to react in jealousy. With God’s grace you can hold back from reacting and the temptation to act in a jealous manner and maybe you can control the feelings, too.
Patti: As we continue the gospel on the 26th Sunday, Jesus goes into the extreme about how you react to temptation and sin: “Cut it off.”… If your hand leads you to sin, cut it off.
Msgr.: I know in the Muslim world, if your hand leads you to sin somebody else will cut it off.
Patti: This extreme instruction of Jesus points out that we must hold no tolerance toward sin. We think of tolerance as being tolerant toward wrong individual choices but true tolerance is recognizing and accepting the goodness of others. It is not that we allow sin to manifest. That is not tolerance. Jesus wanted the apostles to be tolerant of those who did good works in the name of Jesus even thought they weren’t part of the disciples.[xvi]
Msgr.: Tolerance is also viewed, sometimes, as gritting your teeth and bearing something. Just putting up with something while you wait on the Lord! When a person tempts you to be intolerant toward them, if you can find goodness in them, it does help. Hopefully, tolerance of their goodness will lead to appreciation even though they might still bother you, sometimes. Everybody has their quirks.
Patti: The mark of a disciple is to recognize the Lord’s presence in others, even when they come from “outside the tent”. And to live your life so others can recognize the Lord’s presence in you. St. Frances of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
Msgr.: There is another saying, too, that might apply here. If you were accused of being a Christian would there be enough evidence to be convicted? “We find this person innocent of being a Christian. Not enough evidence!”
Patti Brunner: That’s one time I want to be convicted! Monsignor, would you give us your blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur: [blessing]
Patti Brunner: Amen! Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website patriarchMinistries.com and to listen to this show or previous broadcasts click paduamedia.com [spell Padua media .com] and Living Seasons of Change.
Tom: please note that this show covers 5 weeks and starts at the end of August.
Approximate minutes recording times:
Part 1 14.45
Part 2 11.55 26.40
Insert A 3.25
Insert B 1.15
Total 31.20
Reference:
[i] Mark 7: 20 “But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. 21 From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. 23 All these evils come from within and they defile.”
[ii]Deuteronomy 4:1, 2 “Hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe that you might live.” “You shall not add to what I command or subtract from it.” NAB
[iii] Mark 7: 8 You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
[iv] James 2: “17 So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
[v] NAB James 1: “27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
[vi] Mark 7: 6 “He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”
[vii] St. Monica lived 332-387 and successfully prayed for the conversions of her husband, her mother-in-law and her son, Augustine who was baptized at age 33
[viii] James 5: ” 2 Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, 3 your gold and silver have corroded,”
[ix] Mark 8: 35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”
[x] James 3:16-4.3 “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder”
[xi] Mark 10:“13 And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” NAB
[xii] Mark 9: “36 Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me.”
[xiii] Mark 9:31 second passion prediction, “31 He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death he will rise.” NAB
[xiv] Numbers 11: “27 so, when a young man quickly told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” 28 Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “Moses, my lord, stop them.”
[xv] Mark 9: 38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” 39 Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who
performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. 40 For whoever is not against us is for us.” NAB
[xvi] Mark 9:40 “For whoever is not against us is for us.” Accept those working in the Name, true tolerance is recognizing goodness.
