In the initial weeks of Ordinary Time beginning in January, the first chapter of Mark’s gospel is proclaimed during weekday Masses. After Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River and the call of his first disciples, he seeks out people in need of healing. These stories reveal Jesus’ desire to reach into the suffering depths of humanity and to bring the intimacy of the Father’s love to earth. The mission of Christ Jesus is restorative and forgiving without societal boundaries.
The mission of Jesus Christ breaks through to us in the opening chapter of this gospel. These stories immerse us in the deep mission of the church. Our baptism calls us to serve among people who live in pain, who need forgiveness, love, and physical and spiritual healing. Jesus’ presence among the ill, among outcasts and lepers and demoniacs, reveals to us the places of redemption, forgiveness, and peace. This opening chapter is a job description for our pastoral ministry as Christians and as professed religious. These passages show us that we are part of the healing mission of Jesus Christ in people’s need and sorrow, in their struggles and insecurities.
As a young priest, I heard God challenging me from this gospel to step out into the world so to encounter the suffering of people. I listened as a warrior of hope for the marginalized, for people waiting to belong in community, for people who ached to discover genuine meaning in their lives. I heard the task of the gospel to enter the unknown territory of people’s pain, to help fix their circumstances, and claim my own sense of justice for the lives of those I named broken. I listened with unmeasured energy and the conviction of youthful zeal, assuming the posture of helper, fixer, and interpreter for other people. Certain that I carried God’s answers in my every step along the way, the gospel fueled me to work tirelessly for the sake of the lost and on behalf of the church.
I finally learned after many mistakes and stumbles that people often do not want to be changed, and that my answers for their lives were not their answers to their questions. As I look back on my experiences, I now see that God invited me into situations and places of ministry to change me as well, because I carry the potential for healing in my heart only after I allow God to heal me. I, too, am the hurting leper who hesitates to belong. I, too, am the demoniac who lashes out because others do not take me seriously. In all the healing possibilities of Mark’s first chapter, I have learned to read and re-read, to ponder and re-ponder the message of God from this sacred text. I have learned to relax in the beauty of God’s soulful response to people’s pain and to see myself as one of the people who need such love, redemption, and accompaniment. This gospel has called me into acknowledging my own deep humanity and my spiritual quest for the person of Christ Jesus.
Even though I know the sacred text will flow from my lips every year as I proclaim Mark’s opening chapters, I am caught off guard. I pause because of the surprising places the gospel passages take me. I now know how these stories have changed me over the years. I remember the hurting and ill people whom I have encountered, and I see how I have been changed by the depth of their suffering, their life questions about survival, meaning, and relationships.
My hearing has changed and deepened over the years. I have slowed my response, listened again, asked new questions; I continue to learn and to be changed by grace. I carry within me the people whom I could not reach, a litany of names and circumstances of those who could not believe in a loving God because of the enormity of their pain. I have learned from people’s fear, and certainly from my own. From these experiences, I surrender to this gospel every year, and no matter from where or in what community I proclaim it, I remain awed by the grace that flows from this text of good news.
For all who have waited a lifetime for healing and a new view on life. May all people who face constant pain find calm and wholeness in Christ Jesus. May the diseased skin of people reveal the smooth healing of Christ. May people who suffer mental illness or who face evil be offered sure comfort and calm. May our loved ones who are bedridden discover the miracle of God’s healing grace to protect them in the nighttime. May every human being facing illness and disease know a deeper love of God and the miracle of faith, hope, and love. We pray to the Lord.
For all who claim to fix other people’s problems. May we know our own limitations, our own sins, our own ways of being of assistance to others. May we realize our inability to impose our answers on other people. May we not become bloated with self-sufficiency or solve our own spiritual hurts. May God offer us wholeness and tenderness so to listen to others. We pray to the Lord.
For all who are deaf to God’s healing presence. May we sit among the marginalized with compassionate ears. May we listen well beyond words and even beyond the silence that rises from pain and fear. May God reveal hope among us who wait for healing, change, and consolation. May our human bodies become a true home for God’s miracles of mercy and healing remedy. May our ears hear the tender voice of God among people who teach us about suffering and longing. We pray to the Lord.
For a deeper and more reverent reading of the gospel. May we all sit with our own struggles and listen with profound faith in the ways Jesus served people in need. May the ill, the outcasts, and the fragile show us how to receive miracles beyond our imagining. May we be more than attentive to the reality of other’s struggles and human concerns. May we not turn our back on Jesus’ journey of healing, nor on the people in our midst who most need Christ’s loving presence. May the Holy Spirit show us how to engage in the mystery of God’s healing redemption. We pray to the Lord.
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About:
Rev. Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C., serves as religious superior of Holy Cross House, our retirement and medical facility at Notre Dame, Indiana. He is an award-winning author, blogger, and visual artist. Learn more: ronaldraab.com
Artwork:
Fr. Ron created this image, The Baptism of the Lord, in 2018. Fr. Ron’s artwork has been published in parishes, dioceses, and ecumenical settings around the world.
Provided by Rev. Ronald Raab, C.S.C., December 2025
