{"id":18252,"date":"2015-03-09T00:57:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T06:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=18252"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:58:45","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:58:45","slug":"stubborn-and-blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/stubborn-and-blind\/","title":{"rendered":"Stubborn and Blind","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Monday of the Third Week of Lent, March 9th, 2015<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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IN<\/strong> truth, we are surrounded by the miraculous. You have to be blind\u2014spiritually blind\u2014not to see it. But our modern world has become so skeptical, so cynical, so stubborn that not only do we doubt that supernatural miracles are possible, but when they do happen, we still doubt!<\/p>\n

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Take for instance the miracle at Fatima witnessed by upwards of 80,000 people, including atheists. Today, it stands as truly one of the great unexplained miracles of our time (see Debunking the Sun Miracle Skeptics<\/a><\/em>). So desperate is our generation not <\/em>to believe in God and to only trust that which can be reproduced in a laboratory, that the obvious becomes mysteriously elusive.<\/p>\n

Like the king of Israel in today’s first reading, the hyper-rational mind of “modern”\u00a0man can scarcely dare to believe in the supernatural (of course, vampires, zombies, and witches are fair game). Like Naaman, we hesitate, rationalize, debate, doubt, and ultimately dismiss what we cannot explain. Take the origin of the universe. Something<\/em> was created out of nothing<\/em>. And yet, our generation of scientists, unlike their predecessors, simple cannot face the obvious. \"\"Then there’s the physical healings: limbs straightening, eyesight returning, cancer disappearing, mute ears hearing, and bodies being raised from the dead (not to mention the incorruptible bodies of saints, some who have been dead for decades\u2014and they look better than me after burning the candle at both ends).<\/p>\n

Ho hum. Another day, another miracle.<\/p>\n

In the first reading, when Naaman the leper finally humbled himself enough to trust the Lord’s word through a “little girl”, he entered the waters and washed seven times. When he emerged,<\/p>\n

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His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, our hearts need to become “like the flesh of a little child” again. But this generation is too busy erasing the footprints of the supernatural and throwing the evidence of God over the cliff\u2014like they tried to do with Jesus in the Gospel today\u2014instead of becoming spiritual children. Humble<\/em> children. I mean, we think we’re pretty smart. We can make big screen TV’s, LED\u00a0watches, and land on space rocks. We can even grow aborted baby’s organs in a pig. [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. wnd.com, March 7th, 2015<\/span><\/span>