Sunday after the 10am Sunday Mass on the Preschool Playground.
Deacon Adam invites you to enter into the story of Mark's gospel.
Please bring a chair, a bible, a notebook and something to write with.
Bible study will continue every Sunday after Mass.
Please feel free to come and go as you wish.
If you are unable to attend the outdoor sessions, something for you to reflection on will be posted here later in the week.
Comments and questions can be emailed to Deacon@stangelamerici.org
Mark 5
Thoughts from Deacon Adam
It has been said that every one of us is fighting a secret battle, so a little patience goes a long way. However, some personal battles are not so secret. Jesus frees a man who was living under the influence of so many demons that life had become unbearable.
There are many names for many spirits that daily try to whisper to our own hearts, trying keep us away from the Person of Love. Fear, Sadness, Shame, etc. The fruit of the unholy spirit.
However, despite all these feelings, the Holy Spirit breaks through to each of us, so that like the dear, desperate man in this Gospel passage, we too might move beyond all we think we know in order to fall at the feet of Jesus.
A woman suffering terribly for years spends all the money she has in search of a cure until she meets the Cure. Breaking all social etiquette and polite manners she pushes through the crowd and reaches out for Jesus as her only hope. And feeling God’s healing power flowing through Him again, Jesus stops what He is doing. He stops for the one. He stops for relationship.
Considering the lyrics to this song, can we imagine ourselves in these situations, and can we imagine Jesus holding us, right in the midst of our brokenness?
“To all the weak the meek the poor, I am knocking at your door
To you who search for one more high, Embrace the cross on which I died
To you who sell yourself for love, But never look up above
Your worth is found in something more, a God you've never seen before
I paid for you to enter in, So let the work of grace begin
Come now I will take you as you are, you have never gone too far
My mercy still remains
My love has broken every chain, you will never be the same
Dear child please come back home
To you who think that all is lost, that life is far too much a cost
To all with razors in the dark, the scars go deep within the heart
To you who strive pursue and fight, but nothing seems to turn out right
I hope that you can understand, what you're searching for is in my hands
Love is lost in a sea so brilliantly, tossed around and mocked
By the soldiers by the families who were at the cross
Women, children men and thieves, harlots dying and in need
Love is cheap, you can buy it on the streets as drunken men walk by
Refusing life and drinking bitter wine to end their strife
With the women who have said that their love to them is dead
But God is strong and He will heal the hearts of all who come to sing His song
Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and He has reconciled the fall
Of all man with His own life, with the blood that paid the price
Jesus' blood has paid the price to redeem”
“Come Back Home,” by The School of Worship
Mark 4
Thoughts from Deacon Adam
Jesus tells a foundational parable about planting seeds, one that provides the context through which to understand all of His parables. When the disciples spend time alone with Him, then He explains the mysteries of God. Do we want to spend time alone with Jesus, learning to hear Him speaking to us? He is always speaking, for any who will listen. His voice often sounds like our own thoughts, but it always brings the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, and patience.
While situations, circumstances, and symptoms so often influence us, Jesus showed us how to live so deeply under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that the situations, circumstances, and symptoms begin to change around us. A great preacher once said, “The reason why Jesus could calm the storm on the outside is because there was no storm on the inside.” We grow from the inside out, or else not at all. How close to God do we want to be?
What captivates us? Where is our attention? Who do we listen to the most? That is what influences our thoughts, feelings, and relationships, more and more. Whatever we get into, gets into us. Whatever we focus on, we empower in our lives. We become what we behold (Mark 4:24).
Chapter one of St. Mark's Gospel.
Click here to listen to this chapter.
Thoughts from Deacon Adam
In the first chapter of St Mark's Gospel, we hear St John the Baptist announcing that God is showing up in a new way, and that all who want Him will be baptized, or saturated, with the Holy Spirit! We watch as Satan tries to tempt Jesus into self-reliance, as he does with each of us. And we feel the awe of the crowd as Jesus instantly sets people free from both diseases and demons. What is the Holy Spirit highlighting for you at this time in your life?"