You are God’s Reflection: The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

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    You are God’s Reflection:

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

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February 9, 2020

Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalm 112; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16

The readings speak about our moral conduct as people who are Light of the World and Salt of the Earth. Light is not so much about what you see directly as that by which you see everything else. The same with salt, that preserves food and calls forth the flavors inherent to it. Think about how much we enjoy sunrises when the new light casts long shadows on the day, or the sunset brings about a brilliance in the sky as the setting light cast pink, orange, and red illuminations on the clouds. The brilliance of light during the golden hours of the day is when it is set in contrast with darker areas and we marvel at what the light lets us see.

We are not the source of the light, but we are the reflection that the light is shining upon and shining through. All the good that we do is a reflection of Christ’s presence within us, and we know that God loves people and things by becoming them, and we become Christ when we consume him. God loves things by uniting them, reconciling them, by gazing upon them to make them whole, not by excluding them.

Isaiah calls us to share our basic resources, to give shelter to the oppressed and homeless, whether actual or spiritual, to care for each other’s daily needs, and not to turn our backs on our neighbors. If we do that, he says, then light will rise for us in the darkness, and the dark areas of life will be overcome by the brilliant daytime light. Our actions, our faith, will rest upon the power of God.

A mystery of our faith is that our actions both reveal and hide Christ. We can see aspects of the world that people who do not have faith cannot see. We see ourselves as part of a greater whole, as people who can see and love the world the way God sees and loves the world. The Christ who resides and abides by us makes a difference in the way we walk through our day, when we can see Christ in every person we encounter. Events that once seemed hollow and meaningless suddenly make sense and are part of a whole that we can only begin to grasp. We see all things as part of a whole that is being brought together, even if it does not make sense to us, and we realize our task is to reconcile, unify, and celebrate what is good and right with the world.

Behold your immense goodness. Consider that Christ chooses to exist within you and allows others to see your goodness. Christ loves us by becoming one with us. God will make manifest your goodness even in those areas of your life you consider dark. These areas will be filled with a spiritual energy that reveals God’s nearness to you. Through you, God will make God’s self known. Through you, God’s glory will be evident. Through you, others will come to know the God you know and love, and they will experience the indwelling presence of God, and no one will ever feel alone again.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (1 Kings 8) The elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the children of Israel, came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion.

Tuesday: (1 Kings 8) Solomon said, “LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart.

Wednesday: (1 Kings 10) The queen of Sheba came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject in which she was interested. King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there remained nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her.

Thursday: (1 Kings 11) When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his father David had been. By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites, Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD.

Friday (1 Kings 11) “Take ten pieces for yourself; the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s grasp and will give you ten of the tribes. One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant, and of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.’”

Saturday (1 Kings 12) Jeroboam thought to himself: “The kingdom will return to David’s house. If now this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me.”

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 6) After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

Tuesday: (Mark 7) When the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders.

Wednesday (Mark 7) Jesus said to the crowds, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

Thursday (Mark 7) Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Friday (Mark 7) And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)

Saturday (Mark 8) In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.

Saints of the Week

February 10: Scholastica (480-543) was the twin sister of Benedict, founder of Western monasticism. She is the patroness of Benedictine nuns. She was buried in her brother's tomb; they died relatively close to one another.

February 11: Our Lady of Lourdes is remembered because between February 11 and July 16, 1858, Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in a cave near Lourdes, France eighteen times. The site remains one of the largest pilgrim destinations. Many find healing in the waters of the grotto during the spring.

February 14: Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishop (Ninth Century), were brothers who were born in Thessalonica, Greece. They became missionaries after they ended careers in teaching and government work. They moved to Ukraine and Moravia, a place between the Byzantium and Germanic peoples. Cyril (Constantine) created Slavonic alphabet so the liturgy and scriptures could be available to them. Cyril died during a visit to Rome and Methodius became a bishop and returned to Moravia.

February 15: Claude La Colombiere, S.J., religious (1641-1682), was a Jesuit missionary, ascetical writer, and confessor to Margaret Mary Alocoque at the Visitation Convent at Paray La Monial. As a Jesuit, he vowed to live strictly according to the Jesuit Constitutions to achieve utmost perfection. Together, they began a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Feb 9, 1621. Cardinal Ludovisi was elected Pope Gregory XV. He was responsible for the canonization of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier.

·      Feb 10, 1773. The rector of Florence informed the general, Fr. Ricci, that a copy of the proposed Brief of Suppression had been sent to the Emperor of Austria. The general refused to believe that the Society would be suppressed.

·      Feb 11, 1563. At the Council of Trent, Fr. James Laynez, the Pope's theologian, made such an impression on the cardinal president by his learning and eloquence, that cardinal decided at once to open a Jesuit College in Mantua, his Episcopal see.

·      Feb 12, 1564. Francis Borgia was appointed assistant for Spain and Portugal.

·      Feb 13, 1787. In Milan, Fr. Rudjer Boskovic, an illustrious mathematician, scientist, and astronomer, died. At Paris he was appointed "Directeur de la Marine."

·      Feb 14, 1769. At Cadiz, 241 Jesuits from Chile were put on board a Swedish vessel to be deported to Italy as exiles.

·      Feb 15, 1732. Fr. Chamillard SJ, who had been reported by the Jansenists as having died a Jansenist and working miracles, suddenly appeared alive and well!