Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – In Australia we celebrate “the Sunday of the word of god, - Sunday, February 7, 2021

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – In Australia we celebrate “the Sunday of the word of god, - Sunday, February 7, 2021

(the yellow highlighted sections are the bits that were used in 2021.  the rest was left unused for a future time)

Readings for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
FIRST READING: Job 7: 1-4, 6-7
Ps 147: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. “Praise the Lord, who heals the broken-hearted”
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 9: 16-19, 22-23
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Matt 8: 17). Alleluia, alleluia! He bore our sickness. And endured our suffering.
GOSPEL: Mark 1: 29-39

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*Prologue- (Fr paul) - On the 1600th anniversary of the death of the great Scripture scholar and biblical translator, St Jerome, (on 30th September last year), pope Francis announced a new Sunday celebration (around the world it is to be celebrated on the Third Sunday of Ordinary time – but the local conference of bishops moved it here in Australia to the first Sunday in February – due to our national Holiday celebration overlapping it earlier), This celebration will be known and commemorated as the “THE SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD” .

 

The Risen Jesus, instructing two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45). Christ continues to do this in our day too.

Also, in this week focusing on the word of God, has everyone discovered that wonderful gift to the whole church that is the Prayer of the Church, or the Liturgy of the Hours.. also known as the Divine Office? This is an official series of prayers, psalms and readings for the different parts of each day. This is of course not just for priests or religious, but for all people…
Liturgy of the Hours (online service called Universalis)
{The prayer of the universal Church, seven times a day.

Office of Readings - Morning Prayer (Lauds) - Mid-Morning Prayer (Terce) - - Midday Prayer (Sext) - Afternoon Prayer (None) - Evening Prayer (Vespers) - Night Prayer (Compline)}

There are also official books available with the whole set of four weekly cycle prayers. To truly savour God’s living word, day and night!

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The book of Job haunts me.  It is a powerful reflection upon the reality of suffering and loss in our lives. Job calls out to God in prayer and God is faithful to him, but it does not preserve him from the suffering, tragedy and disasters of life, which befall him in a massive way. God does not give him clear answers to his question about why there is suffering, but God does something even better.. He tells Job, trust in my goodness, justice and care. Never doubt my faithfulness to you, even in terrible seasons. Never stop trusting in my compassion and love for you even when you don’t understand.  In Job, his friends come to support and comfort him. We are told that they sit with him for seven days and say nothing.  One Jewish tradition is that people who come to offer comfort to a bereaved person should not speak until the mourner speaks.  This is really good wisdom. As shown in this book too,.. for when the friends eventually start speaking they try to explain and justify why these terrible tragedies have occurred. And they make Job’s suffering worse. In fact, Job is tempted to listen to their well-meaning platitudes, and start to doubt God’s goodness.  His friends tell him, you must have done something to deserve this.  Not helpful at all. Job is a just man. He has not done anything to deserve this. Their speculation is wrong and hurtful and amplifies his pain.  They mean well, but they do damage.  They are right that God is good but they are wrong that bad things only happen to bad people. Very wrong.  They should have helped more by staying silent and supporting Job in his grief and depression. God cares very much about Job’s condition and wants to heal his broken heart and smashed dreams. Eventually God’s healing and faithfulness does indeed bring him renewed hope and strength.

Jesus travels the countryside preaching his message of the Kingdom of God, and enormous crowds of people gather. He teaches them, he heals them, he frees them from their sins, and he releases their burdens….

One gets a sense of a sea of need…. - a vast, continuous, endless line of people seeking help, searching for hope, reaching out for a helping hand.

Jesus responds to this…. what is to be done??…….So much!! – It is truly overwhelming how much need and pain and suffering there is in the world. 

Then, we hear that he rises very, very early, and goes off to a lonely place to pray to his Heavnly Father…..to connect…. To re-focus… to re-energise. (He didn’t have any time in his busy day, so he made time in the quiet hours, because it was the absolutely vital source and meaning of everything he did. This gospel also shows us the importance of prayer…… Connectedness in our relationship with God…… it is absolutely vital that we too, take time out…. take a step back…. and see the big picture…… to connect to (God the father), the source and the power and the reason behind all our efforts and actions

Meanwhile, the crowds continue to search for him, and his disciples search for him and inform him that everyone is looking for him…..

The needs of these crowds are most certainly real… and they are urgent…. and immediate….. Yet, Jesus informs them that the message of his gospel is absolutely vital and so he needs to continue his journey to other people and places.  

Jesus, aware of the many urgent demands of the crowds… chooses to move on… to keep moving on;…. because “vital” overrides “urgent”…./ just as “important” overrides “pressing”. (also, a worldly person might think to themselves, I will stay in this place, help these people, I can live comfortably having impressed this group of people and there is more than enough work here in this one place…  but Jesus is a perfect leader..  he is here to serve all, not just some, and he is not here to cement his own situation but for the good of others.   He must continue on his way… moving once more out of the familiar into the new… 

It must have been heartbreaking that he couldn’t alone have individually touched and transformed each and every person he met. But there was no time.. and his mission was urgent, vital, and time was short// and his mission was on-going……

He leaves behind crowds of people still looking for healing, peace and hope….but he does not abandon them….His message… his presence for a short time has already brought the seeds of that hope taking root there…. In each of those many people in the many crowds, in all the places Jesus visited - ……. so many people will take away with them, deep in their hearts and minds, Christ’s lifegiving message… and they will run with it…….

As Jesus message spreads to other communities… those people, too, receive his message and consolidate it, nurture it, allow it to become part of them, abiding deep within them. The holy Spirit builds on it (in and through the people who hear and respond to this)….. //

It’s reassuring to us…. There is still so much to be done… so much we can do…. so little time to do it….. never enough hours in the day, //…days in the year….. // we do what we can…// and keep our eyes on the big picture…. and draw strength, inspiration and vision from our prayerful “time-out with God”…. to focus our energy… direct our choices and …. lead us mindfully through the “busy-ness” of our days with its many different possibilities and needs….. We can’t do everything… We are all too aware of our limitations…. so we ask the Lord to help us do what we can do, well!  – With focus, clear priorities, and above all with love and compassion.

Lord, (in this), help us to know what is urgent… And help us to know what is vital - ….. (and adapting the words of the serenity prayer), Lord, give us the strength to leave behind even the urgent, when the vital calls us…….. and help us to know the difference…….

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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly

 

Life Application Study Bible Large Print. 2007. Carol Stream, Illinois.: Tyndale House Publishers. Pp  1054-1055.

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. ID: 666869200 Job and his three friends. By askib