Deacon Matt's Reflection

Reflection for Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: January 28, 2024

Deut. 18:15-20: God’s relationship with us has always been that of a loving father; a wise and just disciplinarian. Our Heavenly Father; like any earthly father who loves his children, cautions… or even orders his children away from all that is evil, or all that could harm them. Our Heavenly Father directs us to follow honest prophets who will lead us to the truth and guide us in ways that will safeguard the health and safety of both our bodies and our souls.

Psalm 95: “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” This psalm beckons all of us to celebrate our God’s rule over us. The psalmist straightforwardly exhorts us to submit to God’s authority over us and to respond with obedience and devotion. After all, we’ve been commanded to obey legitimate prophets of God. We’re subtly warned not to disobey’ and are reminded that those who do so face significant consequences. Instead, let’s repeat the middle verse of the psalm… let’s offer God our adoration, worship and our reverence. Reflect that we owe our God endless thanks and praise through His Salvation of us through Jesus’ Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross!

1 Cor 7: 32-35: This passage isn’t merely a sales pitch for a celibate clergy. Be clear that when     St. Paul wrote these words, he and many others thought that Jesus’ Second Coming and, thereby, the end of the world was imminent. In essence, Paul is merely calling Christian disciples to cultivate single-minded and undistracted devotion to God and to the service of the Church. Celibacy does have an indisputable advantage for making one more completely and readily available for ministry. Disciples with spouses and, perhaps small children, would inevitably  experience role-strain and competing responsibilities. Complicated priorities such as these would be seriously challenging, but not necessarily impossible.

Mark 1:21-28:  Now, we complete our theme about our calling to listen to and obey legitimate prophets of God. In today’s  Gospel, Mark clearly presents Jesus as a legitimate and accurate teacher of God’s word. Jesus’ prophetic words are often accompanied by confirming miracles that should convince all who have any doubts as to Jesus’ authenticity as a prophet coming from God. Recall how Jesus said, “by their fruits you shall know them.” Well, here we have a prophet, (Jesus) teaching with great authority, a message of love, forgiveness, redemption and healing.
Notice that today the unclean spirit quickly recognizes Jesus as “the Holy One of God.” He sees Jesus as his enemy. Do we see Jesus as our Savior and our best friend? Consider this week how we can better hear, obey and welcome our Lord, our God and our Savior!

Reflectively,
Deacon Matt