Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time/B
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Mk 1:29-39) Jesus heals many people suffering from various illnesses and casts out many demons.
Because of his actions, Jesus is sought by many people, as Simon and the disciples report to him: ‘Everyone is looking for you’.
We, too, can certainly identify with those people who seek the Lord in various ways. But, it would be interesting to ask ourselves why and when we seek the Lord. In fact, in our lives we are stimulated to mature in many ways, but we risk remaining fundamentally childish in our relationship with God, or tied to positive or negative experiences we had as children.
In essence, we may be in the curious situation of not having a real ‘personal’ relationship with the Lord but, in some ways, only an ‘institutional’ relationship, mediated by an education received, experiences made, and a culture in which we have lived and live. In this context, perhaps we seek the Lord because – plastically – we have to burn some incense to him to avoid misfortune, or we seek him because he is part of the education we have received or the culture in which we live today, or perhaps we seek him because this enhances our image as credible and trustworthy persons.
We can seek the Lord for a thousand reasons, but we will find the true God when we begin to seek a personal relationship with Him, beyond the education we have received, the conventionally established right horizons, the things we have uncritically learned to be right or wrong. Then, within a personal relationship, we will begin to seek the Lord exclusively to be with Him, to experience His love and mercy, to hand over to Him our projects, our desires, our life. And, only in this dynamic, will we become capable of savouring “life in abundance”.
The communion antiphon for today’s celebration is taken from Chapter VI of Luke’s Gospel (Lk 6:17, 18, 19) with the following text:
“Multitudo languentium, et qui vexabantur a spiritibus immundis, veniebant ad eum:
quia virtus de illo exibat, et sanabat omnes.”
(A multitude with diseases, and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, came unto him,
because a power emanated from him which healed them all).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the ‘Chœur grégorien de la cathédrale d’Aix-en-Provence’ conducted by Pierre Taudou. The music track can be found on the CD ‘Grégoire Rolland: Les Sacrements’ published by Hortus in 2020 (https://youtu.be/581DxbAQAqE?si=FsWht91p6h0y12dv)
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
