​Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia,
 
I Know Who You Are
 
In our Gospel this Sunday from Mark 1:21-28, we hear the man with the unclean (possessed) spirit proclaim, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
 
Who is Jesus for you?  Is he someone from “back then” that we read about in the Bible or hear about at Mass?  Is he “out there” somewhere?  Pope Francis, in quoting words of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, reminds us: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”
 
Like the stillness of the water in the above picture, we have been given the opportunity to truly reflect on this question.  Being baptized in the faith, the most precious gift next to the gift of life, is one thing.  Being taught about Jesus in grade school is another.  Yet it is not until we have that encounter, that aha moment, that our relationship with Jesus becomes something real.  And Jesus becomes more than someone from “back then.”  Jesus becomes a friend, someone we can talk to, through prayer.  Someone we can encounter through the sacraments.  Someone who is alive in our world and in our hearts, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is this knowledge that has seen us through difficult times in the past, and will see us through difficult times that may come.  For it is indeed Jesus Christ who is navigator, today and always.  It is Christ who provides us with strength, comfort, and hope.  It is in Christ where we place our trust.
 
In the silence of your hearts this week, think about that aha moment in your own life.  Think about those encounters that you have had with Jesus on your earthly journey.  Pray in your own hearts, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
 
Rest assured of my prayers for each of you and those that you love.

Fr. Greg