REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 01/11/22 (Tuesday)

Mark 1:23-25

23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"

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Blessed Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time! Today, we see the Divine authority of Christ as He taught in the synagogue. People acknowledged that He taught with authority unlike the scribes. Then, a man possessed by unclean spirit was in the synagogue who recognized who Jesus was. The evil spirit knew that He's the Savior. But, why did He rebuke and silence him? The evil spirit was not genuinely praising our Lord. He was trying to "flatter" Jesus, but He did not seek fame from other people. It could also be that when the evil spirit recognized the presence of Christ, he made that statement in order to be acknowledged by the people watching the possessed man. This shows that Jesus desires that we praise and love Him, not with an unclean lips, but with a pure intention. 

Jesus knows the depths of our hearts. He knows the reality of our sins even more than we do. In His Mercy, He wants to save us, and that's why He reveals to us His teachings. When we recognize our sinfulness, we may seek to repent and turn to God. However, there is a tendency where we may want other people to acknowledge us. Because we are ashamed of our sins, we may think that other people should know our piety and spirituality, so we can have a good image to them. When we adore Jesus in the Mass, some of us desire to be seen and considered as "holy" by other people. Unfortunately, this is a temptation from the evil spirits. Seeking attention from other people may hinder us in our path to heaven. This is why He wants us to be fully detached, even to the praises of other people, so we can be fully attached to Him. Jesus wants us to practice humility when we devote our time solely in following His will regardless of what other people will say about us. We don't need to please other people. God is pleased when we recognize our brokenness and trust in Him, and He will bring us to real happiness. Our Lord Jesus wants us to have our full attention to Him, so we can receive fully His Infinite Mercy. We do not need validation from other people. His loving gaze towards us is more than enough.  

May we silently ponder in our prayer whether we have a pure intention in serving our Lord. If we examined ourselves and discovered that we still want attention from other people, let's seek forgiveness from God, and may we ask for the grace of detachment. Jesus will send to us the Holy Spirit who will guide us and help us in following His commandments. True wisdom is found in praising God as the Holy One, and not seeking any praise to be called "holy" by others.

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic