The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                                               Called Today                                           

                                The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 6, 2022

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

 

          The call of Peter in Luke’s Gospel is so human and ordinary that many of us can relate to his pushing away Jesus because he doesn’t not feel worthy of being called into discipleship. Within the early part of the Spiritual Exercises, there is a meditation that shows us what would happen if Jesus obeyed Peter, or Jesus obeyed us, when he told him to go away. What is Jesus honored our request and did not enter into this relationship with us? What would our lives be like? Thankfully, as people of faith, we don’t have to experience that, and yet there are many people who are not in a friendship with Jesus. 

 

Imagine how we would respond to Jesus if we were at our jobs or in our homes and he asked us to be serious about following him today. We would not likely say, “Pardon me, but I think you’ve got the wrong person. You must be mistaken.” We would most likely protest a bit more until he reassured us that we are indeed the person he seeks. And then, what does following him look like today, especially in a world that seems broken in many ways?

 

We might likely find ourselves with People of Good will all around us, and we would be asked to have an attitude of openness to the ways of the Holy Spirit. We wouldn’t be concerned with only the internal affairs of the church as we would have an outward thrust trying to interact with those who are seekers, with those who do not yet have a name for God. We would enter into the door of the secular world so that through our actions and words, using their own words and experiences, we would bring them to knowledge of God. We would seek out people of different Christian religions, people of different faiths, and not hold them in suspicion or ill-judgment. We would try to understand how they are experiencing their holiness and to see what feeds their dignity. We would be willing to go to the frontiers, to the margins, where there are no borders, so we can seek out the lost and let them know of the joy we have because we live for Christ. Our joy will be the proof of our salvation.

 

Perhaps we do not use the language of sin or reform, but we use words that speak of right action and positive choices. We might want to encourage, affirm, build up, and behold the dignity that already exists in the person, and them help them to attain their potential as a righteous person of extreme worth and value. Our language will be a peaceful vocabulary and will adapt to their situations whether they are the influential, the marginalized and excluded, the youth, or any other situation. We must find the good in others, uphold it, and seek to do better.

 

We will demonstrate our ability to enter into and to sustain dialogue, so that we may come to understand and appreciate. Dialogue is the way of the future, and it will be the model for the church, as it moves to the Synod. Dialogue bears the fruit on comprehension without seeing the need to change anyone. We will examine our existing structures together to see what is right for the world and what might need to better adapt to our extraordinary times. Through dialogue, we will deepen our spiritual lives so we stay attuned to the Spirit’s movements and promptings, and we will come to live in awe of the ongoing work in the world and in our personal development. At the end of the day, we will sigh and say, “This is truly a remarkable mission. I’m grateful that you have called me to the mission to see and to learn of your mystery in this present age. Amen. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (2 Samuel 15) An informant came to David with the report, “The children of Israel have transferred their loyalty to Absalom.” At this, David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: “Up!  Let us take flight, or none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave quickly, lest he hurry and overtake us.

 

Tuesday: (2 Samuel 18) Absalom unexpectedly came up against David’s servants.
He was mounted on a mule, and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth, his hair caught fast in the tree. He hung between heaven and earth while the mule he had been riding ran off.

 

Wednesday: (Malachi 3) Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

 

Thursday: (1 Kings 2) David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. The length of David’s reign over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

 

Friday (Sirach 47) He added beauty to the feasts and solemnized the seasons of each year So that when the Holy Name was praised, before daybreak the sanctuary would resound. The Lord forgave him his sins and exalted his strength forever; He conferred on him the rights of royalty and established his throne in Israel. 

 

Saturday (1 Kings 3) Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?”

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 5) Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.

 

Tuesday: (Mark 5) One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.”

 

Wednesday (Luke 2) When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

 

Thursday (Mark 6) Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick –no food, no sack, no money in their belts.

 

Friday (Mark 6) King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;
that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” 

 

Saturday (Mark 6) “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

 

Saints of the Week

 

February 6: Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs (d. 1597), were martyred in Nagasaki, Japan for being Christians. Miki was a Jesuit brother and a native Japanese who was killed alongside 25 clergy, religious, and laypeople. They were suspended on crosses and killed by spears thrust into their hearts. Remnants of the Christian community continued through baptism without any priestly leadership. It was discovered when Japan was reopened in 1865.

 

February 8: Jerome Emiliani (1481-1537), was a Venetian soldier who experienced a call to be a priest during this imprisonment as a captor. He devoted his work to the education of orphans, abandoned children, the poor and hungry. He founded an order to help in his work, but he died during a plague while caring for the sick. 

 

February 8: Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) was a Sudanese who was sold as a slave to the Italian Consul, who treated her with kindness. She was baptized in Italy and took the name Josephine. Bakhita means fortunate. She was granted freedom according to Italian law and joined the Canossian Daughters of Charity where she lived simply as a cook, seamstress, and doorkeeper. She was known for her gentleness and compassion.

 

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 12: Mardi Gras is your last chance to eat meat before Lent. This is the last day of Carnival (Carne- meat, Goodbye – vale). Say goodbye to meat as we begin the fasting practices tomorrow.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• February 6, 1612. The death of Christopher Clavius, one of the greatest mathematicians and scientists of the Society. 
• February 7, 1878. At Rome, Pius IX died. He was sincerely devoted to the Society; when one of the cardinals expressed surprise that he could be so attached to an order against which even high ecclesiastics brought serious charges, his reply was: "You have to be pope to know the worth of the Society." 
• February 8, 1885. In Chicago, Fr. Isidore Bourdreaux, master of novices at Florissant, Missouri, from 1857 to 1870, died. He was the first scholastic novice to enter the Society from any of the colleges in Missouri. 
• February 9, 1621. Cardinal Ludovisi was elected Pope Gregory XV. He was responsible for the canonization of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. 
• February 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. 
• February 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. 
• February 12, 1564. Francis Borgia was appointed assistant for Spain and Portugal.