FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “B”

2009

For Jesus, it was the morning after what must have been an extremely hectic day. He had been teaching in the synagogue and with such authority that the people were astonished at what they heard. When His teaching was interrupted by a “man with an unclean spirit”, Jesus again amazed the people there as He commanded the unclean spirit to “come out of him”, and the man was immediately restored to health. When He left the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon Peter, just a short walk away, and there He cured Simon’s mother-in-law who was sick in bed with fever. Mark then reports that at sundown, all the people in the area who were sick, physically or spiritually, were brought to Jesus and Mark says: “He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.” (Mk 1:34) Jesus obviously wanted to heal the people then who came to Him with faith, and He wants to heal us now as well.

Early the next morning, Jesus rose and withdrew to a lonely place where He prayed. Jesus knew that the day beginning would be just as hectic as the last one. He knew that there would be many demands made on Him. He knew that the crowds would be pressing in on Him; ; He knew that wherever He went, people would be searching for Him, calling out His name and begging for His help. He also knew that there would be some Scribes and Pharisees around to challenge Him, to question His motives, to try and humiliate Him publically. He knew that His apostles would misunderstand Him, and try to get Him to do things their way. Above all else, Jesus knew that He had to find time to pray. When we are so busy that we feel torn one way and the other, where our days are hectic, do we realize that we too need to stop and pray? Or are we like the person who wrote the following poem:

“I rose one morning early, and rushed into the fray

With so much to accomplish, I had no time to pray.

Troubles tumbled ‘round me and heavy was each task,

But where was God to help me? God said, “You didn’t ask.”

I tried to see the bright side, but things turned grey and bleak.

I asked God for the reason. He said: “You did not seek.”

The famous scientist, Isaac Newton, was a man who did pray and often. He once said: “I can take my telescope and look millions and millions of miles into space, but I can lay it aside and go into my room, shut the door, get down on my knees, and see more of heaven, and get closer to God than I can assisted by all the telescopes and material things on earth.”

So we all need to pray to keep spiritually healthy, and we need to pray especially when we are having difficulties. It is hard to pray when we are sick. We just don’t have the strength to pray sometimes, but we should pray anyway as much as we can, and, of course, we need to pray for our loved ones and friends who are sick, because they too find it hard to pray in their weakened condition. Look at Job for example.

In the first reading tod ay we meet Job. He was a man who needed to pray, if anyone ever did. In this Old Testament story, Job is at the point where he seems to have lost everything. He has no hope, he sees no reason for living, so he says to his friends: “Does not the human being have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a labourer? “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope. Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.”(Jb 7:1;6-7) This guy’s in bad shape, really depressed, but later on in the book of Job, we read that instead of challenging God, or blaming God, Job listens to Him and he confesses to the Lord: “I know you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.... I have uttered what I did not understand, things to wonderful for me, which I did not know...... now my eye sees You, therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Jb 42:2,3,6) In chapter forty-two, verse 10 we read that “the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

Like Job we are all at times guilty of challenging God’s motives, of questioning why this or that is happening in my life, or why doesn’t God do such and such a thing we would like Him to do? We need to be like Job who learned to trust in God, who came to realize that God knows what is best, and that God loved him very much, even when and especially when he was in great suffering, just as God loved His Son Jesus when He suffered for us on the Cross. We need to be like Job who trusted in God’s word that there was meaning in his sufferings, that no matter what happened, his life was not in vain. Job got a new lease on life, not because he understood God’s purposes, but because he accepted God’s will for him in faith. Like Jesus, we must say: “Father Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus calls us to follow Him and that means to live as He did, always prepared to do our Father’s Will. Jesus assures us that we are loved by God, and that, even when we feel abandoned or alone, God does not ever abandon us. He is with us as Jesus is with us until the end of our lives on this earth.

Once there was a stately tree that saw that its strength was beginning to wane. When the wind was strong, the once proud tree shook ominously and made loud creaking noises. With great effort the tree grew some fine new branches and began to feel quite secure once again. Then the next gale came along, and the tree felt some its roots snapping and, had it not been for the support of a friendly neighbouring tree, it would have fallen to the ground. When the tree recovered from its shock, it turned to the tree who had saved it and asked: “How is it that you were able to not only stand your ground, but also help me out?” The other tree replied: “When you were busy growing new branches, I was strengthening my roots.”

To grow strong spiritually, to be able to cope with life’s problems and challenges, then our life with Jesus must be constantly strengthened at its roots, and what will do that for us is prayer. Jesus needed to find a quiet place to be alone with God. So much more do we need to do that on a regular basis. We need to spend quality time to communicate our thoughts and aspirations to our loving God. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is called His first disciple because of her unwavering fidelity to God throughout her life. She always was prepared to say: to God: “Let it be done to me according to Your Word.” At this Mass we ask her intercession with her Divine Son so that Jesus will heal us, in whatever way we need healing, and so we can become the persons He wants us to be, grateful for His love, and ready to follow Him wherever He will lead us.