Reflection on Today's Readings, Friday, 4th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, and the Memorial of St. Agatha, February 5th, 2021
Texts: Heb.13:1-8; Ps. 27: 1.3.5.8-9; Mark 6:14-29
Today we are reminded to live the faith and bear its fruits. We are to love one another. We love one another when we share our pains, sorrows, and joys together. For this to happen, we need to win the confidence of one another; we need to be concerned about the other person. It is the confidence that makes one open up wounds, pains, sorrows, and joys, and offer them up to be shared. Love is not all about feeling concerns for the other person and willingness to help, but it also includes willingness to open up for the other person to share from our lives, to partake of our joys, pains, and sorrow. Hence, brotherly love entails helping one another and gaining the confidence of one another; the confidence we gain helps us to penetrate one another's world that we may share one another's life as brothers. It is when this happens that we truly love as brothers. The love talked about in today's first reading is that of sharing one another's life. It says, "Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body."
We are to be hospitable to strangers; for we could by it honour divine visitation. Divine visitation often occurs in the persons of strangers to teach us to give without hoping to gain something from the recipient. Let us also learn to love those we do not know; our love should be all-embracing. The reading also reminds us that having body provided a basis for knowing the other person's feelings and to penetrate their worlds. Here, we see the value of our body; it is a means of entering into one another's world. Having body helps us to share the other person's feelings, pains, sorrows and joys, failures and successes. This shows that it is the will of God that we share one another's life; having body calls us to be compassionate, merciful, humane and empathic.
We are also called to honour marriage. The reading shows that immoral action and adultery defile marriage. Immoral action is that which violates the principle of goodness. We are to be content with what we have and be careful of love of money, for lack of contentment and love of money breed immorality. We should always trust in divine Providence, for God says, "I will never fail you nor forsake.
We should always follow the examples of holy men and women, imitating their faith, for as God was with them so also He will be with us. St. Agatha, whose memorial is today, left us exemplary life to follow: We are to love God till death. She was a virgin and martyr. In her days being a virgin was unusual; her love for God made her to take a different path by being a virgin and consecrated herself to God. She loved God and betrothed herself to Him. She accepted martyrdom to protect her virginity and spousal love for God; she paid the supreme price for her love for God. Her memorial gives hope to our promiscuous world that Virginity is still possible. Let us remember the life she lived and imitate it.
In today's gospel reading, we see what happens when we do not honour marriage; it leads to death. While Agatha died for love, John the Baptist died for the truth; God is love and the Truth Himself. As love is sacrificing, truth is bitter and painful. Truth is bitter because it is revealing; it reveals who we are. Truth is always bitter and painful to those who are afraid to confront themselves. The gospel reading shows that the immoral and wicked are often afraid to confront themselves, so truth is always bitter and painful to them. Herodias, in the gospel reading, is given as an example of immoral and adulterous person who was afraid to confront herself.
Lord Jesus Christ, give us your grace to live for You and bear fruits of love and truth. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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