Mediator of a Better Covenant

Jesus preaching from a boat“For God says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”  Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.”

These words in scripture are found in the last verses of the first reading for Mass today.  They are beautiful, because Jesus is the mediator in our own life.  He paid the price for the things we did wrong during our lives, and still found good in us.  He is perfection, but he loves the imperfect.  This reading says that Jesus is:

“The true tabernacle that the lord, not man, set up.”

We make so many plans in our lives.  When we pray to God for solutions to our problems, they are often focused on getting the new job, healing a relationship, or figuring out a solution to a another difficult situation in our lives.  We ask Jesus to show us the way.  Help us get that new job, heal a relationship, or figure out a problem that we need to work through.

We beat our heads against the wall sometimes, trying to figure out the right thing to do.  Trying to put into place, God’s will for our lives.  We are usually pretty good at it.   We’re intelligent beings after all.  God gave each of us intellectual talents too, in our own way.

In the midst of our frustration, heartache, brokenness or anger, Jesus shows us a different way in today’s gospel.

Sometimes we just need to stop whatever it is that we are doing.  Stop struggling and just be still.  Enter into communion with the Lord Jesus and experience his physical presence in our lives, either by going to Mass and receiving Him in communion, or by entering into his presence at Eucharistic adoration.

We can’t solve all of the problems of the world by ourselves.  Like the sick people who came to see Jesus in today’s gospel, some things are just out of our control.

What can we do?  We feel so helpless, so vulnerable sometimes, when something is heavy on our hearts.

The people in today’s gospel only knew their pain, their suffering and their hopes.  They did not think of the Lord Jesus himself, because they pressed up against him so much they nearly crushed him.  Jesus had to get in a boat to protect himself from the crowds.

Still, they were healed.  Simply being in Jesus’s presence healed their infirmaries and their spirits.  The evil spirits departed people when they came into contact with the Lord.  The same is true for us, when w go to confession, and Eucharistic adoration.  The evil in our hearts dissipates.  Our selfish desires dissipates, opening our hearts, and freeing us to the action of the Holy Spirit.

We get in the way of our own problems sometimes, because we are so full of our own wants, desires and needs that we don’t give the Spirit room to work.

Today, let’s give Jesus some space in our lives, to heal us, and help us solve our problems.  We don’t have to think.  We simply have to seek him out and be near him, to be in his presence, and bask in his healing light.

About the Author

Hello! My name is Laura Kazlas. As a child, I was raised in an atheist family, but came to believe in God when I was 12 years old. I was baptized because of the words that I read in the bible. I later became a Catholic because of the Mass. The first time my husband brought me to Mass, I thought it was the most holy, beautiful sense of worshiping God that I had ever experienced. I still do! My husband John and I have been married for 37 years. We have a son, a daughter, and two granddaughters. We are in the process of adopting a three year old little girl. We live in Salem, Oregon in the United States. I currently serve as the program coordinator for Catholic ministry at a local maximum security men's prison. I‘m also a supervisor for Mount Angel Seminary’s field education program, in Oregon.

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