Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
February 07, 2021 11:30 am · Sergio Muñoz Fita
This Sunday's Gospel is beautiful because it offers us a description of what could well be a regular day in the life of Jesus during his public ministry in Galilee. I think we can all learn a lot from this "schedule" of the Lord.
The first thing that Christ did was to pray, for a long time: “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”
The Lord was very clear about his priority: his entire apostolate was born from his intimate relationship with the Father, to whom he went to love him and to be loved by him.
Notice that Jesus wakes up early after a very long day the day before, in which he has been preaching and receiving the people until very late: “When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons.”
Long days and very short nights. The Lord worked hard and rested very little. We can imagine Christ exhausted at the end of the day and yet patiently receiving the sick and demon-possessed. We can imagine him opening his eyes “very early”, feeling tired, perhaps not fully recovered physically from the previous day’s work, and yet rising, escaping from the company of men to tend to his relationship with God. Many people were looking for Him, but He was seeking early the silence of prayer.
All of this speaks to us of Jesus' commitment and priorities! It reveals to us where He had His heart set: God and men, prayer and apostolate, contemplation and action, appeal to his Father and zeal for the salvation of souls. We must imitate and participate in these attitudes of the Heart of Christ.
First of all, our priority should be the relationship with our heavenly Father and with his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Benedict wrote in this Rule, Nihil amore Christi praeponere, “Put NOTHING before the love of Christ.” The first thing for a Christian should be God and our relationship with Him: not an urgent, quick, distracted, inconsistent, lukewarm prayer. Prayer is like a warm furnace, an encounter with the infinite Love that awaits me to transform me. "Estarse amando al Amado" - “in love with the beloved”, as Saint John of the Cross beautifully described. Do you give God that priority? Do your days begin with serious prayer, not just a quick thought? Are your life and works born from intimate contact with God? Are you a good disciple of Christ?
Second, the salvation of souls. Christ goes out of his way to proclaim the Gospel: "We are also going to nearby towns. I cannot remain still. The whole world must know my Father's love and open itself to Him." Today's Gospel says that he traveled ALL over Galilee. It also says that he attended to people even after sundown. Quis non amantem redamet. How can we not love such a God? The Lord lived what that Saint Paul expressed in the second reading: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! (…) I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel.”
As we can see, Saint Paul did have the attitude of the Heart of Jesus. Do we? Does this thirst to proclaim the Gospel consume us, too? Do we have this zeal to save souls, to wear ourselves out for Christ, to give ourselves so that others may live? Do we serve our family like this? When you are tired, where do you go to rest? When you finish your work day and are exhausted, do you still spend time with your children? Do you listen to them? Do you serve to your family with joy, or do you hide yourself away so that no one bothers you? How much time do you dedicate to the evangelization of your family, of your community, of the world?
We all need to meditate on this carefully, slowly reviewing our life and adjusting it according to the model of the life of Jesus Christ. This Sunday, let's ask the Lord to learn from Him to be clear about our priorities, to give our relationship with God the priority it deserves, and then, “to become all things to all, to save at least some.”