Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Missal January-February 2024

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
1st week of the Psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Job (Job 7:1-4, 6-7)
Job spoke, saying: “Is not man’s life on earth a hard service, and are not his days like those of a hired laborer? Like a slave who longs for the shade, and like a hired laborer who waits for his wages, so I have been assigned months of futility, and nights of misery have been allotted to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ The night drags on, and I am wearied with tossing until dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is but a breath; my eye will never again see happiness.” – The word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

This statement by Job is dramatic: he sees no hope of healing; rather, he bitterly declares that his days pass “without a thread of hope.” It is the cry of a man who does not know why things happen and, above all, does not understand the mystery of suffering. In recent times and in our Italian literature, Giacomo Leopardi takes up this cry and rebels against a “stepmother” nature, against a blind destiny, asking what meaning this life can have as it passes from one pain to another and then ends in nothingness. Don Divo Barsotti comments that these laments against destiny in Leopardi and Job are deeply religious, in the sense that the dramatic absence of God rather presupposes his presence. Somewhere there must surely be an answer to all this… The cry of these poets can be summed up in the words: “O God, where are you?” God himself gave the answer through his death on the cross, when, taking all human suffering upon himself, he gave suffering the meaning of eternal salvation, because he gave everything out of love and forgave sinful humanity. 

SECOND READING

From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23)
Brothers and sisters, preaching the Gospel is not a reason for me to boast, because an obligation has been imposed on me: woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I do this on my own initiative, I have a right to a reward; but if I do not do it on my own initiative, it is a responsibility entrusted to me. What, then, is my reward? To preach the Gospel free of charge without making use of the right conferred on me by the Gospel. For although I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all in order to win over as many as possible. I have become weak for the weak, to win the weak; I have become all things to all, in order to save at least some. I do everything for the sake of the Gospel, so that I too may share in its blessings. – The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

These few lines constitute the “magna carta” of all evangelization. Bringing the message of salvation is not one of the Church’s activities, but a necessity. People need to know that there is one Savior for all, and that he is Jesus, God incarnate, who died and rose again to open the kingdom of heaven to us and give meaning to our lives. And since we are the Church, this passage concerns everyone. Chesterton writes: “A messenger does not speculate about what the message might be, nor debate what it ought to be; he delivers it as it is. Not a theory or a fantasy, but a fact.” Thus, we are all messengers, and of something that surpasses and transcends us. All human sins and errors do not obscure the power of the message we carry, and the proclamation is one: God came into the world, made himself known, and gives himself to us to make us participants in eternal life, which is love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. The ultimate meaning of the Church in the world is precisely to keep alive the reality of liberation from evil by proclaiming the name of Jesus, the one Savior.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mark 1:29-39)
At that time, Jesus left the synagogue and went at once to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they immediately told him about her. He approached and raised her up, taking her by the hand; the fever left her, and she served them. When evening came, after sunset, they brought him all who were ill and those possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons; but he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and withdrew to a deserted place, and there he prayed. But Simon and those who were with him set out in search of him. When they found him, they said: “Everyone is looking for you!” He said to them: “Let us go elsewhere, to the nearby villages, so that I may preach there too; for this is why I have come!” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

In a few lines, the “typical” day of Jesus’ first evangelization is described. The elements are: teaching in the synagogue, healing the sick of physical illnesses, freeing those possessed from the presence of the devil, and personal prayer in solitude. Remaining alone in prayer means speaking with God the Father, filling oneself with him and his consolation, and being encouraged by his strength and love. Then one acts upon people’s hearts through teaching and convinces them through the extraordinary gifts of bodily healing. All of this is accompanied by the indispensable cleansing of souls, driving out demons who are unwelcome and unauthorized occupants. These are things that priests and Christians in general must do even today. Let us not hold back by saying that we are unable to drive out demons, perform miracles, teach people, or pray in solitude… Jesus does not want this unjustified timidity from us, because it is not we who act, but the Holy Spirit whom he has given us in abundance. The only limit to his action is our lack of faith. The saints did all these things and were people like us, fragile and limited, but in love with Christ.