Greetings on this the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Dt 18:15-20; Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28
Notes
Brothers and sisters: I should like you to be free of anxieties.
Anxiety accompanies us in two major circumstances (see https://www.dictionary.com/browse/anxiety):
- Unease about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.
- A desire to do something yet being ill-at-ease about it.
Summary
Brothers and sisters: I should like you to be free of anxieties.
Saint Paul desire here is to help us understand more fully the anxieties of being a Christian and the sometimes competing concerns between relational life and the building up of the kingdom of God. Paul is speaking from the heart. For Paul the primacy of relations is our relation the Lord. This must be first among the many relationships that we have. First, but not the exclusion of the other relations, and these other relations must be foundationed on the love that is the divine presence.
The psalmist says: Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” Contention and Trials come and these events cause anxiety and cloud the relationship. We know that God cares for us. Yet difficulty shades these as to be invisible.
Reflection
In our first reading today Moses had “street cred”. How could he not? The wonders of the Exodus event and the journey through the desert places Moses first among those who has the ear of the Lord. He, then, prophesizes that A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen. A prophet like me. Jesus and his miracles and teachings clearly places him in the position as being described as a prophet like me. Paul for his part had street cred. The story of his conversion and his letters and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles all clearly show a man whom, too, was like Moses.
Jesus in word and deed wants us to be anxious about nothing. Trust in the Lord, yourself, your family and your community. Act rightly, and everything will be OK.
Personal Reflection
Anxiety is a dear friend to me. It is of course not a good state of mind to STAY in but it is a good warning that my heart is ‘off focus’. Anxiety is my good friend to warn and alert me to the primacy of trusting the Lord. For when I trust, my anxiety is removed.
Build a life centered on love and anxiety has no place in you. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death, light has arisen. Jesus has defeated all anxieties including death.
First Reading
Moses spoke to all the people, saying: “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.
Responsorial
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Second Reading
Brothers and sisters: I should like you to be free of anxieties.
Gospel Acclamation
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death, light has arisen.
Gospel
Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;… Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry