As a college student, my prized possession was an after-market car stereo. It was my pride and joy: glorious audio, eye-catching display screen, and multi-disc CD changer. It drained my hardearned dollars, but it was totally worth it. It drenched me in music everywhere I drove. On Ash Wednesday of my senior year of college, Father Tom, the Jesuit priest at my university said, “Pray for God to tell you what he wants you to sacrifice for Lent.” I did. In my heart, the answer came: “Give up listening to your car stereo for forty days.” I winced. Not possible, I thought. Can’t do it. I made other plans. The next morning, I was stunned to find that my car had been broken into, and my fancy stereo ripped out and stolen.

A covenant is a formal agreement between two parties. Assuming both parties enter into the covenant of their own free will, it is a bond that cannot be broken. As time goes on, that covenant will be tested and its validity questioned by skeptics, but it will remain I f it is real.

God's covenant with his people is real. It began with a promise made to Noah and was renewed in the person of Jesus Christ. It has been tested by man through sin and by evil through Jesus' trials in the desert. But here in 2024, it still remains as strong as ever.

Recently I had a skin rash, and it was awful. (Please don’t tell anyone.) I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t handle it well. Complaining, whining, begging for sympathy, and crying were my responses to the merciless itching and burning. In the aftermath, a silver lining emerged. I feel a new heartfelt sympathy for all those vexed with chronic skin problems. If you’ve ever had a seemingly unending skin problem, you know how that sympathy flows up from deep inside.

The four parts of the Gospel today consist of: First, Jesus heals the mother in law of Peter. Second, news spread of the presence of Jesus; He heals and casts out unclean spirits after sunset. Third, early morning, Jesus withdraws to a deserted place to PRAY. Fourth, Jesus visits synagogues and casts out evil spirits.

The readings give us a wide range of human experiences, from the darkness and hopelessness of Job, losing everything (1st reading), to the joy of healing and freedom from evil spirits provided by Jesus.