Reflection on Today's Readings, Monday, 4th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, February 1st, 2021
Texts: Heb. 11: 32-40; Ps. 31:20-24; Mark 5:1-20
In today's first reading we see how powerful our faith is. It brings to mind the words of St. Paul: "Glory to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine" (Eph.3:20). Here, the power is faith. By faith kingdoms are conquered, justice enforced, promises are received, miracle wrought, strength is won out of weakness, and resurrection attained.
Faith makes us walk a difficult path to glory. It makes us disregard pains, shame and insult so as to wear the crown of glory. By faith we are able to give up our lives for God. Faith makes us a mystery, for by it we could achieve what is beyond human strength and power. It is faith that can make us escape the worst situations in life.
By faith individuals and societies are built, for it is by faith that justice is enforced. The problems we are going through today is as a result of loss of faith. What we have today is no longer faith but lips-service; such faith is dead because it has no works.
The reading, today, reminds us of the pains of faith. It says, "Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering over desert and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." Faith is not without pains; we confront and bear the pains by God's power. While the pains are time bound, its joys know no bound. The pains of faith are momentary while its joys are everlasting. A psalmist says, "His anger lasts but a moment, his favour through life; in the evening comes tears, but with dawn cries of joy" (30:5).
The reading reminds us, who received the promise of a Saviour, that we are more advantaged than the people of old who lived such exemplary life of faith in hope of receiving the promise. It says, "And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." They laboured to receive the promise so as to be made perfect, but did not, until the fulfilment of the promise in our time. Those of us made perfect by receiving the promise are now better positioned to win the race and enter the place of rest, where Jesus Christ has gone before us. This is a challenge for us to do more in our faith because we are now under perfect covenant, enjoying the grace and mercy of God.
Today's gospel reading shows how Jesus Christ has made us perfect: He delivered us from the power of the evil One; He set us free from that which held us captive and prevented us from enjoying the grace and mercy of God. He sets us free from the world of the dead and gives us everlasting life. Let us hear Him saying to us, today, "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." The man who was healed, in the gospel reading, enjoyed God's grace and mercy because he contributed nothing, not even an act of faith, for he was in no position to do so. The grace of God brought him out and His mercy found him. This shows us how we are saved; when we were dead in sin, He showed us mercy and saved us.
God our Father, you have given us such a faith by which we conquer the world, grant us the grace to bear its pain, which is for a moment, so as to possess everlasting joy. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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