5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Español) (Vietnamese)
Our commentary this week is provided by Auxiliary Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of San Diego. For a PDF version, visit http://www.christ-ion.com
Prayer
Father, you heal us and gather us to yourself. You do not
leave us abandoned. Your desire is for us to be in
communion with you. Heal us and restore us to that most
perfect life with You and with your Son and Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.
1st Reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the king responds
to his daughter’s desire to get rid of his knights
since he no longer needs them. He says, “Man’s
life’s as cheap as beast’s.”
Indeed! For humanity, life is cheap. Or, it certainly
has become cheap. How often do we read and hear of
victims of mass shootings, gang violence, war, and even poverty
as if it were a part of some daily TV series? It’s all too
much. So we tune it out.
Life is cheap! What do we have as human beings to remind us
otherwise?
As people of faith, we believe our answer lies in God who is
love. We trust that someone believes in us, even when we do
not believe in Him or in ourselves. But what if we don’t believe
God loves us?
The story of Job is such an important one for us because even
he believed that his life was worthless. “My life is like the
wind,” he said. Job’s faith in a God who loved him was put to
the test. Of course, the story does not leave us in despair. In
the end, God does believe in us. For God, our life is not cheap.
It is precious. And he does everything to heal and restore it.
Question
Do you believe that you are precious to God?
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23
There is a freedom in knowing that God loves in us and
believes in us. We believe that we are God’s special
possession.
We have no further place to go than to the cross itself to find
how much our God loves us.
For this reason, St. Paul proclaimed the
Gospel with everything he had. He said,
“Woe to me if I do not preach it!”
St. Paul knew that the Lord had healed and
restored him from his past ways and
brought him into communion with those he
had previously persecuted. He was fully
alive! Living in Christ, Paul knew that his life was not
cheap.
However, as free as he was to life a life in Christ, he
willingly placed himself under the mantle of obedience. He
said, “I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as
many as possible.” Following Christ, Paul was willing to
make his life cheap (in the worldly sense) in order to
proclaim the Good News that we are highly valued by God.
Question
Would you call yourself a slave or servant to the Gospel?
Gospel: Mark 1:29-39
Our world has suffered greatly since the beginning of time.
Both human and natural disasters cause us to want to either
give up on life or fix it ourselves.
It is good that most of us want to make
life a better place. Indeed! We should
all desire to leave this world in a
better condition than when we had
first encountered it when we were
born.
However, as we try to heal and restore
this world, we know that it is going to
eventually fade away. Both faith
leaders and scientists can agree on
this. So why are we even trying?
The answer is simple. Nobody wants
to give up on our world quite yet. In
fact, many are looking to preserve our
lives, restore our planet, and rescue us
from the brink of destruction.
People are always looking for
something or someone to heal and restore the world that
we know. This was true even for Simon and the disciples
who found Jesus praying by himself. Knowing that Jesus
just healed Simon’s mother-in-law and expelled a few
demons, Simon said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
But Jesus had other plans. He came to proclaim His world
that was life giving. His kingdom would bring our broken
world to wholeness and to Himself. He said, “For this
purpose have I come.” For Christ, even in our brokenness,
our life is not cheap. He restores us to Himself.
Question
Who in your life needs healing?
This Week's Task
In just a few weeks, we will begin the Season of Lent.
Make it your aim to find a friend or neighbor and share
Christ in Our Neighborhood with them. Invite them into
your existing group or start a new group just for the six
weeks of Lent. Visit the website for information on how to
host a group.
Pray the following from Bishop Fulbert of Chartres (970 AD):
How trivial are our concerns compared with the
complexity of your universe. How stupid we are
compared with the genius of your
universe. Yet, during every minute and
every second of our lives you are present,
within and around us. You give your
whole and undivided attention to each
and every one of us. Our concerns are
your concerns. And you are infinitely
patient with our stupidity. I thank you
with all my heart, knowing that my
thanks are worthless compared with your
greatness.
The prayer continues with Psalm 147
Response: 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.
Conclude with an Our Father
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