Archive for February 4, 2012

February 5th 2012 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: February 4, 2012 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections
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Sunday Bible Reflections with Dr. Scott Hahn

Raised to Serve

Readings:
Job 7:1-4, 6-7
Psalm 147:1-6
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Mark 1:29-39

 

In today’s First Reading, Job describes the futility of life before Christ.

His lament reminds us of the curse of toil and death placed upon Adam following his original sin (see Genesis 3:17-19). Men and women are like slaves seeking shade, unable to find rest. Their lives are like the wind that comes and goes.

But, as we sing in today’s Psalm, He who created the stars, promised to heal the brokenhearted and gather those lost in exile from Him (see Isaiah 11:12; 61:1). We see this promise fulfilled in today’s Gospel.

Simon’s mother-in-law is like Job’s toiling, hopeless humanity. She is laid low by affliction but too weak to save herself.

But as God promised to take His chosen people by the hand (see Isaiah 42:6), Jesus grasps her by the hand and helps her up. The word translated “help” is actually Greek for raising up. The same verb is used when Jesus commands a dead girl to arise (see Mark 5:41-42). It’s used again to describe His own resurrection (see Mark 14:28; 16:7).

What Jesus has done for Simon’s mother-in-law, He has done for all humanity – raised all of us who lay dead through our sins (see Ephesians 2:5).

Notice all the words of totality and completeness in the Gospel. The whole town gathers; all the sick are brought to Him. He drives out demons in the whole of Galilee. Everyone is looking for Christ.

We too have found Him. By our baptism, He healed and raised us to live in His presence (see Hosea 6:1-2).

Like Simon’s mother-in-law, there is only one way we can thank Him for the new life He has given us. We must rise to serve Him and His gospel.

Our lives must be our thanksgiving, as Paul describes in today’s Epistle. We must tell everyone the good news, the purpose for which Jesus has come – that others, too, may have a share in this salvation.

Come Away and Rest in Mary

Posted: February 4, 2012 by CatholicJules in Meditations, Memory Book
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Here we discover something that must be considered attentively: Mary’s mediation implies that we rest in her as the place God has given us to enable us to contemplate, to go to the end in love. To recognise Mary’s mediation practically and divinely is to rest in her in our contemplation. It is to rest in her heart, a heart transformed by the fullness of charity, to rest in her wounded heart, in the seven wounds of her heart. If we do not rest in Mary’s heart, we only live by her moral mediation, by her mediation as advocate. We do not live by the proper mystery of Mary’s mediation, which is that of the cross, where in unity with Jesus, she communicates grace to John- grace in superabundance – as instrument of the Holy Spirit for him. Under the motion of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us by Mary’s prayer, by the deep unity between Mary’s royal priesthood and the priesthood of Jesus(Jesus and Mary become sources for us – instrumental sources yet sources – of the gift of the Holy Spirit), we understand that having received the Holy Spirit through Mary, we must rest in her since an instrument is one with the principal cause. Thus the Holy Spirit can ask us to have in our contemplation this attitude of littleness, of trust, of love for Mary, this attitude that consists in resting in her and even accepting to find no rest except in her. Jesus and the Holy Spirit can remain hidden, the Father can remain silent in order for Mary to be alone, so that we may place all our trust in her and rest in here alone, as we rest in the one who carries us and is the maternal source of divine life for us.

Father Marie-Dominique Philippe O.P. +2006