Purity, Community, Conduct - Connecting Threads: Leviticus, Corinthians, Mark's Gospel

Julie South [00:00:05]:
Welcome to your Catholic Corner. I'm your show host, Julie south. Your catholic corner helps Catholics spiritually prepare for each Sunday's mass starting midweek each week. You can listen to your catholic corner@yourcatholiccorner.com today we're covering the biblical gems hidden in the books of Leviticus. We continue reading from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, picking up from last week. And we also continue with Mark's gospel again from where we left off last week in catholic speak. We're in the 6th Sunday of ordinary time in year B. The format for today's show is.

Julie South [00:00:51]:
We'll continue with last week's listener question of the week. And if you remember, it is what is Ash Wednesday? Which is coming up? What is lent, and where are these mentioned in the Bible? All great questions. Thank you very much. Because that was such a lengthy question, which is a good question. We answered the Ash Wednesday question last week. Today we're going to look at what is Lent. So that's coming up. After that, we will look at today's at the Sunday's Bible readings, which are Leviticus, chapter 13, verses one and 244 through 46 Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter ten, verse 31 through to chapter eleven, verse one.

Julie South [00:01:42]:
It's not as long as that actually sounds. And then we have Mark's gospel from chapter one, picking up from last week, verses 40 through 45. From those, we will look at what are the connecting threads so that you can hopefully get a better insight and a greater understanding when you go to Mass or when you read those Bible readings yourself. I will also share my reflections on them as well. Remember that when two or more are gathered in Jesus'name like we are now with you and me, he is here with us. After today's question of the week, we'll look a bit more closely at our reading, our readings, our Bible passages. We'll listen to today's three passages, and then I'll share my take on what I hear God saying to me through Moses, who wrote, who's the author of Leviticus, St. Paul and St.

Julie South [00:02:44]:
Mark.

Julie South [00:02:44]:
But before that, a quick word about your catholic corner, just in case this is your first time here, regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you've only just heard of that man called Jesus, you're new to Catholicism or you're a cradle catholic. My prayer is that your catholic corner will help bring God's word to life in your heart through insights, reflections and practical applications that help deepen your relationship with God. Every Thursday we'll start preparing for mass by uncovering the richness hidden in each Sunday's Bible readings, from Old Testament prophecies to gospel parables.

Julie South [00:03:26]:
I invite you to join me and.

Julie South [00:03:28]:
The parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, New Zealand, sponsors of your catholic corner so that together we can hear God's word and echo. Samuel, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Now let's get back to today's show.

Julie South [00:03:45]:
Like I said last week with the questions of the week, there were a few all rolled into one. What we're looking at today is what's Lent? Last week we talked about what is Ash Wednesday. So please, if you're interested in knowing more about that, please go back and listen to last week's episode, Lent. What is it? Well, Lent is a very special time spanning 40 days, where many christians pray fast, and that is, they don't eat for extending periods during the day, and they help others. It starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday evening, also known as Morndi Thursday evening, because it's tied into Easter, which moves from year to year, date wise, and because Easter is tied into the cycles of the moon. This means that the first day of Lent also changes from year to year. Lent always starts with Ash Wednesday, though Lent is considered by christians as a time to get ready to celebrate. Jesus is rising from the dead, which happens at Easter.

Julie South [00:05:02]:
That's a culmination of Easter. It's a 40 day period. And during this 40 day period, christians try to get closer to God and to Jesus by reading the Bible, helping others by giving donations and fasting and their time. The fasting is to bring themselves into more alignment with how Jesus might have been feeling himself while he was stuck in the desert for 40 days. Because of this, many people give up something for Lent. You've probably heard people say, what are you giving up for Lent? Well, it's actually not just about giving up something like treats. Instead, it's about changing our hearts to follow Jesus more truly, more honestly, maybe even better than we have been more dedicated.

Julie South [00:05:55]:
Perhaps.

Julie South [00:05:56]:
During this time, we're invited to consider our baptism, where we received the sign of Jesus, sometimes as babies, when we may not even remember, and other times for others. Maybe that's you as an adult. And when we do this, when we think about what being baptized means, it enables us to call on God's strength, on Jesus's strength and saying no to sin and to living or starting our lives with him. Remember that when we are baptized, we are crossed. The priest the minister puts a cross on our foreheads as a sign of being aligned with Jesus, with God. Many people know about not eating meat on Fridays during Lent as well, though it's also a time for us to practice self control in other ways. Like I said just now, it's for us to think about why we fast during Lent, which is to align ourselves with Jesus in the desert and what it must have been like for him at that time. It's also a time for us to consider giving more to those in need, not just money, but also perhaps as a way of sharing our time and our skills.

Julie South [00:07:17]:
I remember my father in law, Mary, he rest in peace, telling me one year that all he had to give was his time. And he was up for sharing that with people who didn't have anyone in their lives to come visit them with their time. Jack willingly and generously shared his time and his attention with many people. They would have been very much richer for spending that time with him. I know that I certainly was as a christian leader, St. John Chrysatom said, if we don't help the poor with what we have, it's like stealing from the because what we have is also meant for them. I'll say that once more, because it's quite powerful if you allow yourself to think about it. If we don't help the poor with what we have, it's like stealing from them, because what we have is also meant for them.

Julie South [00:08:19]:
In Lent, those who are already baptized, christened, baptized. I actually refer to it as christened, but I know that many Catholics refer to it as being baptized. They, and we are encouraged to remember and live out our baptism promises at the same time, around the world, many thousands of people right now. Well, if you're listening to this, as I'm preparing it, as I'm recording it, many people will be in the final preparation stages of becoming Catholics. That's pretty exciting. It's pretty awesome. Pretty amazing. These six weeks of Lent, these 40 days, will be a time when they are spiritually deepening their connections with God on their RCIA.

Julie South [00:09:06]:
The right of catholic initiation for Catholics to join the Catholic Church. When you go to mass through the weekends, through Lent, there may be, your parish may have different services, different procedures, protocols that you as a parishioner can become part of to help support these new Catholics in waiting. This was where I was back in 2007. I was finishing up my six months of the RCIA journey, and there were about ten others on the program with me. I was blessed to have Monsignor Brian Arahal and Sister Francis of St. Michael's parish in Remuera in Auckland, New Zealand. As my spiritual directors and mentors at the time, I remember Monsignor Brian describing Lent as being a bit like cleaning out the lint, the fluff in your clothes dryer. He described how he was doing his laundry during Lent one weekend, and as he was defluffing his clothes dryer and taking all the lint out of it for him, that kind of reminded him a bit of what lint is like.

Julie South [00:10:24]:
The dryer still works with a bit of lint in it, but then it gets to a point where it doesn't really work that well at all. But when you clean the lint out, when we go to reconciliation and we clean out the fluff and the lint of our lives, and we confess your sins to God, our failings to God, what we have done and what we have not done, what we have thought and what we have failed to think, our lives work a lot, a lot better. So as well as aligning ourselves more with Jesus in that desert through the 40 days of Lent, Lent is also an opportunity for us to clean out the lint in our lives through reconciliation, through confession. Here we are this Sunday in the 6th Sunday of ordinary time. It's going to be the last ordinary time that we're in for a little while now because we are about to enter the season of Lent. And then from Lent we have the season of Easter. That's all happening coming up. Today's readings on the 6th Sunday of ordinary time are Leviticus, chapter 13, verses one and 244 through 46.

Julie South [00:11:57]:
Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter ten, verse 31, all the way through to chapter eleven, verse one. It's not that much as you will hear. And the from Mark's Gospel, chapter one, verses 40 through 45. Okay, what's today's connecting theme? Is there anything that connects all of these together or just the reading from Leviticus and Mark's gospel? Let's have a look, because as you'll hear in a bit, these passages each deal with different subjects on the surface, but they share, I think, an underlying theme, or themes, plural, related to purity, community, conduct. And then the example set by Jesus in the first passage from Leviticus, believed to be written by Moses, it deals with the laws concerning leprosy and the procedures for those who have that disease. The passage talks about how people with leprosy, and it's not leprosy per se as we know back then, it was any skin ailment which had this big global kind of heading category called leprosy. So anybody with leprosy, anybody with a skin condition, the laws were that the had to be separated from the community to prevent the spread of the disease and to maintain the ritual purity required in the community. Then we've got in Paul's letter to the Corinthians is Paul's instruction to the Corinthians about doing everything for the glory of God and being considerate of others in their actions.

Julie South [00:13:42]:
Paul encourages the believers to not only seek their own good, but also the good of many so that they may be saved as well. In chapter eleven, verse one, he urges them to follow his example, just as he follows the example of Jesus. And then in Mark's Gospel, Mark recounts Jesus as healing a man with leprosy. So leprosy comes back into it again and it's a skin condition, remember? But unlike Leviticus, where the leper is isolated, instead Jesus touches and heals the man, showing compassion rather than division and restoring him to the community. After the healing, Jesus instructs him to show himself to the priest and offer sacrifices required by the law of Moses, which also reflects obedience to the law because, remember, the laws back then were very strong and it serves as a testimony to the priest. The connecting threads, though, among these passages include the juxtapositions of different themes, opposite sides of the same issue. For example, we have purity and impurity. We've got Leviticus discussing ritual purity in a physical sense.

Julie South [00:15:01]:
While one Corinthians and Mark's gospel address purity in a spiritual or a moral sense, then we have community and isolation, lots and nothing. Leviticus prescribes isolation for the leper from the community, whereas in Mark, Jesus breaks down this barrier by healing the leper and then he restores him to the community. Then we have the obedience to God's law. Leviticus gives the law, Corinthians discusses doing everything for God's glory, and Jesus in Mark fulfills the law by instructing the healed man to follow the purification rituals. We have the example of Christ in Corinthians. Paul calls on believers to imitate him as he himself imitates Jesus in Mark. Jesus himself is the direct example of compassion and service to others, even those considered impure or outcasts. Then we have the good of others.

Julie South [00:16:06]:
The theme of seeking out not only personal benefit but also the good of others is present in both Leviticus through the laws meant to protect community health, and the first letter to Corinthians and Paul's exhortation to consider others in your own actions. Listen out in a bit, because these passages connect in their own way with their concern for right, living before God, care for others within the community. And then, following Jesus'example. Of love and service, a reading from the book of Leviticus. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, if a swelling or scab or shiny spot appears on a man's skin, a case of leprosy of the skin is to be suspected. The man must be taken to Aaron the priest, or to one of the priests who are his sons. The man is leprous. He is unclean.

Julie South [00:17:20]:
The priest must declare him unclean. He is suffering from leprosy of the head. A man infected with leprosy must wear his clothing torn and his hair disordered. He must shield his upper lip and cry, unclean, unclean. As long as the disease lasts, he must be unclean, and therefore he must live apart. He must live outside the camp. The word of the Lord. A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians.

Julie South [00:18:11]:
Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do at all, do it for the glory of God. Never do anything offensive to anyone, to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God. Just as I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not anxious for my own advantage, but for the advantage of everyone else, so that they may be saved. Take me for your model as I take Christ. The word of the Lord. A reading from the gospel according to Mark. A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees. If you want to, he said, you can cure me.

Julie South [00:19:12]:
Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. Of course I want to, he said. Be cured. And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, mind you, say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery. The man went away, but then he started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him. The gospel of the Lord.

Julie South [00:20:00]:
Sad saying to you, remember that we each hear God differently depending on what's going on in our lives at the time. What God is saying to me may not be what God is saying to you, or vice versa. There are some pretty powerful metaphors going on in each of these passages today, but let's not get too deep and meaningful. Instead, let's keep it simple. So maybe, just maybe, we don't feel overburdened with doing heavy stuff when all God is asking of us is to glorify him every single day. Your first passage from Leviticus was very obviously talking about what to do when someone has a skin disease like leprosy. However, the deeper meaning here could be about how we, me, I, you, us, handle things that are wrong in our lives. Not just sickness, just like sick people had to be apart from others.

Julie South [00:21:22]:
Sometimes perhaps we need to step back and think about what's not going right in our lives and perhaps fix it before it affects others. In the second reading, when the Bible says to do everything for God's glory, it's like saying that everything we do should be our best. Like we're doing it for someone very important. It's also saying we should think about how what we do makes others, other people feel and follow good examples ourselves. Just like following a good leader who shows us the right way to go. I remember years back when your catholic corner was on the radio as an AM show, way before we even moved to fm. When this show was a couple of airwaves generations old, it was probably ten or more years ago. I interviewed Father Dan Johns.

Julie South [00:22:16]:
May his soul rest in peace. Father Dan. For cathedral listeners your may remember he was originally a priest from Fiji. I remember him telling me that he wished people in New Zealand took their standards of dress more seriously when they attended mass in Fiji. Going to church is a big important deal because for him and for us, for you and me, every time we attend mass, we're joining Jesus at his table. And therefore Father Dan believes, believed Jesus is deserving of us getting dressed up for that event, for that occasion. We're sitting at the table, at the altar with Jesus. This Bible passage from one corinthians brought back that memory today for us to do everything we do for God's glory, including how we show up to others and to how we show up at church when we go.

Julie South [00:23:22]:
Now, I'm pretty sure that God is just happy that we're attending, but I wonder whether the Father, so that's God is happy. Remember, we have a trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So God is happy that we're attending. But I wonder whether the Father might be a bit more appreciative if we took a bit more effort in how we dress and how we turn up. Maybe it's not our dress code that needs to change. Maybe it's to pay more attention to turn up, maybe mentally, spiritually. When we are sitting in the pew to pay more attention. Perhaps when the offertory procession is taking place, you'll know the times, which you tend to space out if you space out, if you zone out.

Julie South [00:24:13]:
Maybe that's how we can make this passage today from corinthians be more relevant today. And then in Mark's gospel here we've got Jesus healing a man with a serious skin problem. This passage might mean more than just the healing if we let it. It can show us that anyone, no matter how left out or different they feel, is important and can be helped. When the man who was healed tells everyone, even though Jesus asked him not to. Why did he do that? Do you think maybe it was that he was so happy, so excited? Can we also be so happy and so excited because we've got Jesus in our lives? Can we start sharing the good news more often with more excitement and happiness? Those are my thoughts and my reflections on these passages. What about you? What was God saying to you? I hope you found all of this interesting and helpful. I hope this podcast helps you prepare and maybe even understand just a teeny, tiny, incy wincy, dinky bit better.

Julie South [00:25:36]:
The wonderful world of God and the wonderful word of God and the catholic faith thank you for spending the last half an hour or so of your life with God, Moses, Paul, Mark and me. I pray that each of these men, coupled with my little bit of input, has been able to make the difference that God wishes for you today in their own way, in your life. Thank your for getting this far. Can I ask you to do me a huge favor? Please? If your enjoyed today's show, can you please help me spread God's word about your catholic corner? It's easy. All you have to do is just tell three friends or family members about this podcast so they can hopefully benefit as well. Letting them know is easy. Just invite them to visit yourcatholiccorner.com where they can subscribe and follow the show. From there.

Julie South [00:26:32]:
It's free. It honestly doesn't cost anything. Thank you. Wherever you are, I pray that God's glass of love overflows in your heart and your life and that when your ready, you're able to accept God's invitation to you to join him to share in Holy Communion this week at your local parish. And finally, I'd like to say thank you to the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary who helped me bring this podcast to you today. This is Julie south signing off until next week. Peace be with you. God bless.