The Gospel of Mark 9:38-48 is a difficult one. Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom or God is worth any price...including your own hand, foot, or eye — if they cause you to sin. Jesus even goes so far as to say it is better to drown than to cause “little ones who believe in me to sin.”

Father Cooper had three main questions to help us all apply this teaching to our lives:

1. How do non-teachers lead others to God?
2. When have you experienced the Spirit of God at an unexpected time, from an unexpected source?
3. What leads you to sin? How do you cut it off or remove it? How do you remove the “millstone” from your neck? It could even be a relationship that needs to be severed.

We must also remember “big tent Christianity”. We may not understand what another denomination does, but “whoever is not against us is for us.”

Father Cooper asked us today, “Has a child ever taught you anything about Gospel values?”

Jesus told the disciples, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me” (Mark 9:37). To love a child is a full reflection of Christian love and service. Parents don’t count the cost of late nights, nor extra food or expenses because they move beyond self love to care for another.

The disciples are talking about which of them is greatest, but Jesus makes clear the great paradox of discipleship. If you wish to be first, you must be last. To be great, you must be small. To be master, you must be the servant of those you wish to rule. Receive a child, and become self-giving.

Children are not cynical or jaded, and they never cease to be amazed. The faith of a child is anything but childish. The uncomplicated and genuine faith of a child leads them to love God and others without condition.

How can you be more childlike?

On September 16, we learned a lot about what it means to live your faith through the work you do (James 2:14-18) and thinking as God does, not as humans do (Mark 8:27-35). Peter does what he usually does...gets something right (recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah) and then immediately getting something wrong.

When Jesus says he has to be killed to rise again after three days, Peter is dismayed. Mark says he even “rebuked him”! Jesus gives it right back to Peter, calling him Satan and exhorting him to think not as humans do, but as God does.

Can we try to look at things and people as God does? Can we carry the cross he has given us? How much more love would we show to others if we looked at them through God’s eyes? What good works would we do then?

On September 9, Father Cooper dove into the Gospel of Mark 7:31-37. Jesus heals a man by physically touching him, so that he can both hear and speak. How does Jesus touch us? What is Jesus trying to tell you today?

Bishop Martin Baharona visited our parish on September 2nd and confirmed many of our young adult parishioners. In preaching the Gospel of Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23, he emphatically shared the message that it is not enough to wash our hands. Christ washes our hearts, minds, and spirits clean.

Father Cooper asked during the homily on August 26 "How much do you trust God?"

This question was inspired by that week's Gospel reading, John 6:60-69. Read the text in your Bible and imagine being a disciple, trying to comprehend his teaching. Would you respond like Peter and stay, or return to your former way of life like so many?