DAILY- HOMILY

February 4, 2018 - 5th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Cycle B. Green.

Jb 7: 1-4, 6-7 / 1 Cor 9: 16-19, 22-23 / Mk 1: 29 -39

FROM THE 1ST READING:             Jb 7: 1, 6- 7

Man's life on earth is a thankless job, his days are those of a mercenary....

My days pass swifter than a weaver's shuttle, heading without hope to their end. My life is like wind, you well know it, 0 God; never will I see happiness again.

GOSPEL READING:           Mk 1:  29- 34

On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew with James and John. As Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever, they immediately told him about her. Jesus went to her and taking her by the hand, raised her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening at sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had evil spirits; the whole town was pressing around the door. Jesus healed many who had various diseases, and drove out many demons; but he did not let them speak, for they knew who he was.

Very early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus when off to a lonely place where  he prayed.  Simon and the others went out too, searching for him; and when they found him they said, "Everyone is looking for you."  Then Jesus answered, "Let's go to the nearby villages so that I may preach there too; for that is why I came." So Jesus set out to preach in all the synagogues throughout Galilee; he also cast out demons.

REFLECTION

In today's first reading, we come face to face with one of life's most difficult questions, "Why do people suffer?" In the Gospel reading, we see Jesus the Redeemer healing the sick and driving out evil spirits as he preached about the coming of the Kingdom of God.

We hear Job's lament before God, "Man's life on earth is a thankless job." Like Job we are called to face evil and suffering with honesty before God. Job comes to God for help, "Why, Lord?" So should we because God is always ready to listen to whatever we want to tell him.

In today's Responsorial Psalm we say, "Praise the Lord who heals the brokenhearted." When we suffer, we are brokenhearted: we should trust that God will heal us. In the Gospel reading, as he so often did in his public ministry, Jesus healed the sick and those in need.

We trust God will never leave us in our suffering, if we approach him with honesty and hope. He will be there for us, whatever happens..

Though Jesus healed many, many more were not healed by him.  What happened to those he did not heal? There must have been countless blind people, people with hearing defects, lepers and people suffering from evil spirits: how many were healed by Jesus? We do not have answers to these questions just as we do not have the answer to why people suffer.

But we are asked to be patient and to trust: in God's good time, things will work out for us, perhaps and most probably not as we would have wished, but in God's inscrutable ways.

Faced with sickness and suffering, we can approach the Lord Jesus with trust that he understands our pain and suffering. In his life on earth, he was like us in all things except sin: he must have gotten sick; in his agony in the Garden and in his passion and crucifixion, he knew and experienced extreme suffering. We trust he understands and will help us.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     Ma. Lourdes M. Jimenez

     Annie Montano

     Catherine M. Porte

     Jaykob Phoenix Sy

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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