Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where we read the daily gospels and the saint of the day.
Let’s get started! Today is Monday, January 19th, and the gospel reading is Mark 2, 18-22, and the scripture to reflect on is Mark 2, 20.
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and they will fast in that day.
Pretend that Jesus is sitting in the chair next to you, and we could ask him anything.
We could ask him to tell us all kinds of stories of all the amazing things he did.
We could ask him about how he walked on water.
We could ask him about how he fed 5,000 people.
We could ask him about how he made the blind man see and a crippled man walk.
We could ask him what heaven is like and what it’s like to create the whole world.
Wow, that would be so cool if Jesus was sitting right here.
But what if you walked into the room and someone said you can’t visit with Jesus unless you follow these rules?
Sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, hop three times on one foot, hop three times on the other foot.
Jesus would be sitting here wondering what’s wrong with you.
Why are you trying to follow all these rules when I am right here waiting to be with you?
Jesus just really wants our heart, not a bunch of rule keeping.
Today’s saint of the day, Saint Fabian.
He was born 200 and died 250.
He’s the patron saint of potters.
In the year 236, the church in Rome needed a new leader or pope.
Priests and bishops were gathered to choose a new leader.
Many important people insisted that they should not have been chosen.
I have land, one would say.
I have money, said another.
Fabian would come to the meeting, but he was not important.
He came to help choose a leader, but not to become one.
But as the story goes, a beautiful white dove flew down and landed on Fabian’s head during the middle of the argument.
Everyone stopped talking and started then chose him as the new pope.
Fabian must have thought, me?
I’m not important.
I don’t have money or power to give.
But God doesn’t need our power and money.
God works wonders through people who give their hearts to them.
When a cruel new Roman empire diocesis decided persecuting Christians, Saint Fabian had the courage to speak out against him.
So today’s reflection is that Jesus brings joy, not just rules.
Being with Jesus is better than fasting.
God’s new way, Jesus, is different from the old ways, Pharisees rules.
Fasting is for when Jesus, the bridegroom, is gone to help us remember that we need God.
Fabian carefully preserved the martyrs' bodies to honor them and help the church remember them.
With an eye for the future and growth of the church, he also sent out missionaries.
With these actions, Fabian started the importance of balancing a respect for the past with an eye always to the future.
Fabian shows how the church is always called to be on the move, evangelizing and spreading the kingdom of God, but also that new growth is always rooted in tradition.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to remember to live for you out of love, not just for the rules.
And help us to be a witness for you and your gospel.
Saint Fabian, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!