February 7, 2015
 

New Cycle B - Guiding Light Homily Book

Given February 3, 2015

Dear Friends,

I give my heart to Jesus and Mary with you in love.

Well thank God we are finally able to resume the Priestly Mailing of Fr. Joe's last homily book.

This was delayed for almost 2 months and
God really wants this to reach our beloved priests.

That means we send out at least 35,000 of Fr. Joe's Homily books yearly to priests and hierarchy. 
This is a weekly Newsletter, Jesus says.
If a priest preaches to  parishioners every weekend
they could reach so many people with the focus on the Word of Fr Joe's insights and knowledge he offers-the history of the scriptures and the Eucharist. 

There are so many priests in New York this is the next mailing.
We will need $2,000 for the postage if we can mail it by next Monday.

Please help us with a donation for the postage if you can or the expense of this mailing now.

We need your prayers

We need your help

Thank you
Love in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Rita

We are praying for you  Feb 2 thru 5  and Feb 10 thru 13.
Please be united
We have had the exposed Eucharist in China 8 years today.

We had Eucharistic adoration for about 11 years for 24 hours a day.
 

Thank you.

Rita

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
 

INTRODUCTION – (Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39) We hear from Job in our first reading. He was prosperous and happy. Then suddenly he lost everything; hostile tribes destroyed his cattle, his sheep, his camels and his workers. A violent wind collapsed the house where his children were gathered for a meal and it killed them all at once. Soon after Job’s health began to deteriorate and his skin was covered with sores. He was not a happy guy as he laments: “I shall not see happiness again.” Job, who was always faithful to God, complained God was being unfair to him. At the time this book was written, God’s people believed that if we are good, all will go well, and if we’re not, all kinds of terrible things will happen to us. At the same time they were beginning to discover that life doesn’t always work that way. Like Job we still struggle to answer the question of why good people suffer? The gospel is in contrast with the pathetic story of Job where we see Jesus at work trying to lessen people’s sufferings by his many exorcisms and healings.

Contrary to Job who is deeply depressed, St. Paul, in today’s second reading, is full of enthusiasm with his ministry of preaching the gospel. He’s not doing it because he wants to get rich (actually, for the most part he provided for his own needs, working as a tentmaker). He is using himself as an example for the Corinthians to follow in teaching them to unselfishly serve God and lovingly serve one another.

HOMILY – I want to talk mostly of the picture St. Mark gives us of a day in the life of Jesus. It is a busy day as we will see. I will stick to this topic except for a brief theological digression. So first we start with this “eventful day” in the life of Jesus. It is told with some details suggesting this comes from the recollection of an eyewitness. The “eventful day” began with last Sunday’s gospel with Jesus at synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. He was teaching there. A man in the congregation, who was possessed by an unclean spirit, challenged Jesus for being there and Jesus, with a simple command, expelled the demon. Today’s gospel continues on with Jesus going to the home of Peter and Andrew after the service was over. There has been some archeological work in Capernaum which gives us a picture of how people lived then. I remember being at the spot where the synagogue once stood where Jesus taught. Nothing is left of it now except the foundation. Nearby was the home of Peter. It was part of a complex of about five small dwellings connected together, gathered around a courtyard, that would have housed related families. Living in that complex would be uncles, aunts, children, grandparents, cousins, etc. It may seem fanciful to imagine that people have identified where Peter lived, but it is well supported that this was the home of Peter because one particular room has been venerated and preserved as Peter’s home since the mid first century. Most probably Peter and Andrew were bringing Jesus to where they lived to get something to eat. But Peter’s mother in law, probably the main cook, was sick. One can assume that Peter was married at the time of his call. There is a passage in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:5) that suggests that his wife accompanied him on his apostolic journeys. That Peter’s mother-in-law got up immediately and waited on them shows that Jesus’ healing was effective.

Since this was still the Sabbath, it was not until evening, after sunset, when the neighbors could bring to Jesus many who were sick or possessed. (To transport them during the Sabbath would have been an offense against the Law.) In the Jewish culture the day ends at sunset and a new day begins (just as we end our day at midnight and begin the next day at that time.) So the Sabbath was over when the sun set and people could bring the sick to Jesus. Mark said he cured many whereas Matthew said he cured them all. The meaning is the same (Mark means that there were many and he cured them.)

Now a theological digression. You might have noticed that when the priest consecrates the wine during Mass, he says “this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” It used to say “it will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.” This change has troubled some people. The original Greek uses the word “many” which our theology teaches us means everyone. Paul says it clearly in 2 Cor. (5:14-15) If some people are troubled by the use of the word “many” in the consecration of the wine, because they fear that implies that some people will not benefit from Christ’s saving death, they should be especially troubled by a number of parables where Christ clearly teaches that many will not enjoy the blessing of his saving death, through their own choice, for the invitation into his kingdom has been offered to all, but not everyone chooses to respond.

Back to Mark’s story, the next morning, Jesus is up before anyone else and goes off to a quiet place to pray. Notice how important prayer was to him. He needed to gain strength from his Heavenly Father, as we all do, in order to deal with everyday challenges.

To save all people, which is God’s desire (“God wants all people to be saved” according to Paul (1 Timothy 2:4)), Jesus knew he couldn’t just settle down in Capernaum to teach and heal and cast out demons. So he moved on, and he continues to move on today, offering eternal life to anyone who chooses to believe in him and follow him. That’s what brings us here today. We believe he is the way to God, so in faith we offer him our love and ask him to walk with us as we make our journey through life. Amen.