5TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Over the past few days we have been celebrating Catholic Schools week. We have taken the time to think about the good that has come from our schools. We have also taken time to thank god for our school teachers and our parents who in our homes are our first teachers. But as we thank God for our schools and our teachers we remember that learning is a lifelong experience of so many things.
In the Gospel Reading for this Sunday, Jesus comes to Peter’s house, he finds that Peter’s mother-in-law is sick, and he heals her. The whole town hears of her healing and rushes all their sick to Peter’s house. The house is surrounded, and so is Jesus. Now, all of a sudden, Jesus seems to have become a one-man hospital the man who heals all their ills. He is so besieged that he can’t even pray in the house. He has to head out into the countryside secretly in the dark of morning. When his absence is detected, his disciples go looking for him. when they find him, they tell him “Everybody is looking for you!” We Christians of today have many advantages over the people of Capernaum of that day. They saw Christ with their eyes as a man of power amongst them; we see him with the eyes of faith as he really was and is the Son of God who came on earth as man in order to make us the family of God. We know who he really was and we know the full meaning of his mission. We have seen that mission completed amongst us by his death on the cross and his resurrection. By his death he conquered death by his resurrection he opened the gates of heaven for us and shows all his followers the road we must take to get there. The road we have to take is not easy and many people have chosen other roads. But I believe that people of all ages are out there looking for Jesus seeking the things of lasting value they are out there looking for Jesus and they are finding and following him. Jesus is alive in our midst through the lives of faith we have together. He is our way, Leave him and we may well get lost. He is our truth. Ignore him and his teachings and we may well mess up our lives. He is our life. Turn our backs on him, and our spirits, minds and hearts, might just shrivel up and die for lack of nourishment. Many have come to know that the things of God are built on solid foundations of the rock of faith instead of the things and values of the world that are built on sand and have no lasting value.
Last Friday we celebrated the feast of the presentation of Jesus in the temple and we blessed the candles for use in the Church. The candles represent the light of Christ will we be the light of Christ in all the places and situations we will find ourselves in as we head towards the season of Lent? Will we be the people who point others along the right roads that lead to Jesus by our words and actions during the season of Lent and beyond?
Fullerton T 