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WORD FOR MISSION Every week CIAM offers to lay, religious people and priests an itinerary of reflections on the Sunday Liturgy in a missionary prespective. These are elements for a missionary meditation, individual or in community, on the Word of God , which constantly and surprisingly continues to enlighten, strengthen and sustain the missionary journey of the Church, for the life of the World.
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The proclamation of the Gospel is an act of love
Year B - 05.02.2006
Each of the 1. He heals Peter's mother-in-law.
Let us consider the details: the disciples mention her to Jesus, ask for his
help; he goes to her (closeness); he takes her by the hand and lifts her
(Mark uses the Greek verb ‘egeiro’, which is proper to resurrection).
He cures her in body and in spirit, so that ‘she began to wait on them’
(v.31). The restoration of health leads straight to a service to be rendered.
The 'dénouement' of the whole scene is the service of others, because service
is the highest expression of life! 2. Jesus heals “many who were suffering
from diseases of one kind or another” (v.34), drives out demons, etc.,
but avoids publicity. This kind of scene, which is repeated often in the
Gospel, allow us to contemplate how God reacts to suffering: he listens to
the pleas, he is moved, he intervenes, he resolves some cases. But he does
not eliminate evil from the world. Indeed, Jesus himself will be an
innocent victim of evil. But why? Why so much evil in the world? For as long
as we are in the world the answers, even those of Faith, will be only
partial. All we can do is place our trust in God. He knows why! 3. After an exhausting day, Jesus allows
himself a brief period of rest. He gets up early and goes off to a
lonely place to pray (v. 35). In the morning of the Sabbath Jesus had
already prayed in the synagogue (v.29) with the community; now he prays
alone. He feels an intimate need to talk with his Father, to understand His
will, to be faithful to Him. Out of love! In his prayer Jesus, the missionary
of the Father, grows in understanding of what his mission is and how to
accomplish it. 4. Everybody looks for Jesus, but they want
him for themselves. Jesus rejects this approach, and his reply shows the
universal nature of his mission: “Let us go elsewhere... so
that I can preach there too” (v.38). The mission of Jesus, and of the Church,
is to move on, to go beyond, cross barriers, not being limited to satisfying
a few, not settling into positions gained, not resting on one's laurels.
Because the natural field of mission is the whole world. In today's Gospel
the words all and many are used at least six times. It is
not only suffering that is the universal heritage; salvation too is for all,
offered freely by God! The Apostle Paul (Second Reading)
understood this very well, and made the proclamation of the Gospel to the
pagans the purpose of his life. He felt the urgent duty of it: “I should
be punished if I did not preach it!” (v.16). He preaches with no thought
for gain, makes himself the “slave of everyone” (v.19), and his one
passion is the Gospel to be preached (v.23). thinking back to the conversions
of St. Paul, (the Feast was celebrated only recently), we realise that
on the road to Damascus it was not just the Christian Paul who was born, but Paul
the Missionary - indeed, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, of the
pagan nations. It applies to us, too. Baptism makes a
missionary of every Christian. For life! A man/woman of love, as Pope
Benedict XVI reminds us. * The proclamation of the Gospel to the
nations is an exquisite service of charity and of love; it is the most
complete answer to human suffering and need. It is the best integral
service that the Church - and every believer in it - can offer
the world.
Benedict XVI
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Edited by Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci - Former Director of CIAM, Rome Website: www.ciam.org “Word for the Mission” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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