Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Liturgical Year B, Cycle 11
By Charles Muchiri
Readings for Mass
First reading: Second Samuel: 24: 2, 0-17
Responsorial Psalms: Psalms 32: 1-2, 5, 6, 7
Gospel: Mark 6: 1-6
The most striking verse on
today’s readings is certainly from the Gospel (Mk 6: 6) “He was amazed at their
lack of faith.”
Jesus happens to be in his
native place, Nazareth and as it is; everyone associates Him with where he has come
from: “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and
Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" (Mk 6:
2-3)
There is a lot of disdain
about Him, and nobody wishes to appreciate a prophet who has come from their
midst! And even so, Jesus isn’t just a prophet. He is the Messiah: The one whom
all the prophets before Him had come to foretell about.
Yet, it takes lots of
faith for this village to believe in this chap whom they saw as he grew from a
boy to a man, born of a carpenter for a father. To believe in a God whom they now
see with their very own eyes!
And Jesus is Amazed at
their lack of faith.
Now, faith is confidence
in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11: 1)
Faith is one amongst Three
Cardinal Virtues: There is Faith, there is Hope and there is Love: These three.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “By faith, man completely submits his
intellect and his will to God; With his whole being man gives
his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to
God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith”
The
Church’s Catechism further points out: “To obey (from the Latin ob-audire,
to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that
has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself.
Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. The
Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.”
Indeed,
Hebrews Chapter 11 is a classic dedication to this very basic aspect of our
Christian life: Faith.
By Faith,
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses are all exemplified as
patriarchs who were able to achieve the seemingly unachievable! (Hebrews 11: 1 –
39)
So, here
goes the question: What’s the status of your Faith? Is it worth an example
amongst the people around you?
If and when
Christ looks at you as a person, what does He see? Is He amazed by your lack of
Faith, or is He proud of what he sees?
That’s
the question for all of us, on this day.
/Follow this writer on
Twitter: @muchirimuchoki/
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