Readings
for
9 February 2003
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's First Reading is from The Book of Job, beginning at the 7th
Chapter and the 1st Verse (Jb 7:1-4, 6-7):
Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the
days of a hireling? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a
hireling who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say,
`When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing
till the dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come
to their end without hope. Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will
never again see good.
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 147: (Ps 147:1-2,
3-4, 5-6):
R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.
Praise the LORD, for he is good;
sing praise to our God, for he is gracious;
it is fitting to praise him.
The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem;
the dispersed of Israel he gathers.
R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He tells the number of the stars;
he calls each by name.
R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
to his wisdom there is no limit.
The LORD sustains the lowly;
the wicked he casts to the ground.
R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.
Today's Epistle is from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians,
beginning at the 9th Chapter, and the 16th Verse (1 Cor 9:16-19,22-23):
For if I preach the gospel, that
gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me
if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I
have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make
the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all,
that I might win the more. To the weak I became weak, that I might
win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means
save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share
in its blessings.
A Reading from the Gospel of Mark, beginning at the 1st Chapter,
and the 29th Verse (Mark 1:29-39):
And immediately he
left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James
and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately
they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted
her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. That evening,
at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And
he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons;
and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And
in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely
place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him
pursued him, and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching
for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that
I may preach there also; for that is why I came out." And he went
throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Sermon
for
9 February 2003
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Depressives should not read the Book
of Job -- it is almost all downers. Job gets beat up big-time, and
without benefit of anti-depressants, either. With friends like he has,
who needs enemies?
We all feel like Job -- some more than
others, and some more often than others. Despite the rosy outlook of
many of the Psalms, the world is, in general, a pretty rough place.
My friend the psychologist says that
just about everyone he runs into nowadays is wounded in one way or another.
We are all in need of healing.
When we're down and hurting, there
isn't much energy or motivation left for loving your neighbor. We get
grouchy and hostile. We snap and we hit. This is just human nature
-- doin' what comes natcherly.
The message of the Gospel, however,
is that we don't need to be wounded. There is healing, there is an
end to suffering -- in Christ Jesus.
In today's Epistle, Paul talks about
how he is driven to preach the Gospel. It is not something he can avoid,
even when he doesn't like it, doesn't want to do it. "Woe to me if
I do not preach the Gospel!"
He talks about having "..made myself
a slave to all, that I might win the more..." To serve others in humility,
so as to lead them to the Faith, the healing, that the Gospel brings.
In today's Gospel, we see Jesus going
out into the world -- just after He had spoken with an authority new to the
people of the Synagogue of Caparnaum. Not only does he preach a new
Gospel -- he puts his money where His mouth is, and cures people.
He drives out a demon who has been
tormenting a man -- as many of us are tormented by anger, and addictions,
and depression. He cures Peter's mother-in-law. He cures everyone,
and they flock to him.
The message of the Gospel is that,
as John says, "God is Love". God so loved the world, that He sent his
only-begotten Son into the world to save sinners.
To save them -- and to cure them. The
message of the Gospel isn't just salvation in heaven -- "pie in the sky,
bye and bye" -- but healing in the here and now. In the end, even Job
is healed and given peace of mind and happiness.
We need -- all of us -- to turn to
Jesus, to heed the word of the Gospel, and give up our familiar pains, our
familiar anger, our familiar grudges, and learn to love ourselves and our
fellow man. We need to embrace Him, who spreads His arms to embrace
us.
Let us pray that we can open ourselves
to the Love of the Father, and show it to all our brothers who toil with
us in this valley of tears . . . .
In the Name of the Father +
And of the Son +
And of the Holy Spirit +
Amen.
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