Volume II	Volume II Archive

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Contents: Volume 2: 5th Sunday (B) - February 5 2012
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2. -- Fr. Paul O'Reilly, SJ
3. -- Barbara Cooper, OP
4. -- Garth Stanton
5. -- (Your reflection can be here!)

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Year B: 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

"He went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils."

I think we've all had days when we felt like Job:

Yes, there are some very evil places in this world. Some years ago, I was part of a group of 4 Jesuits who were sent to set up a new community in the heart of Moss Side in Manchester. This is a place which is famous for being the drug trafficking capital of the whole of the North of England. And it has the poverty, the lawlessness, the prostitution, the homelessness, the street-crime and the casual violence that goes along with drug trafficking all over the world. And when I was there children as young as 12 years old were shot in the street in wars between drug-dealing gangs.

We were given a disused flat in a largely abandoned and eighty-five per cent derelict block of flats. This particular flat was supposed to have been empty for years, but it had obviously been squatted in more recently by some drug addicts. Written on the wall under the title "My Life" were the saddest few lines I have ever read:

"Heat the spoon,
watch it melt,
fill the syringe
and stab yourself."

I never met whoever it was who wrote those words, but I have often prayed for her or him. Because those are the words of a true addict -- a man or a woman whose life is dominated by an evil she or he cannot control -- someone who feels compelled twice a day to do something to themselves that they know is desperately harmful and will, in all probability, one day cause them to kill themselves. Their entire life has become constricted to a little pool of liquid containing heroin and to those desperate acts of crime they have to carry out in order to get the money to buy themselves some more heroin.

Job -- like all of us at times - is overcome by that evil. But the Good News of today's Gospel is that Jesus is not so overcome. There is something about his presence and his message that brings healing where-ever he goes. His healing frees people from the bodily and the spiritual diseases that afflict them. Throughout the towns and villages of Galilee -- he preaches the Good News of God's salvation and heals those who are sick. And we know that Jesus did not come only for the people of his own time. He came for the people of all times and of every place. The healing power of Jesus is present for us in the Church forever. He tells us: 'I am with you always even to the end of time.' (Mt 28;20).

Of course, our first reaction to encountering serious evil -- like those few lines of despair in Manchester - is to think that here we cannot be the followers of Christ. We alone cannot remove all the loneliness and fear; we cannot make a fever go away with a simple action, as Christ could. Yet, St Paul tells us, we have no choice -- we have the responsibility whether we like it or not. All of us can say with him "it is a duty which has been laid on me".

Jesus has healed us, forgiving us our sins and reconciling us with God. He asks us now to bring his healing to others, to become humble, persevering and patient disciples, helping him to win others to repentance and holiness by our imitation of him in his compassion, generosity and service of all. As St Teresa says: "Christ has no body now but ours." We are his eyes, his smile, his ears, and his hands, still mightily at work in the world. It is better to light one candle than to curse the dark!

Let us stand and profess our Faith in Christ our Light.

Fr. Paul O'Reilly, SJ <fatbaldnproud@yahoo.co.uk>

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5th SUNDAY (B) - February 5, 2012

Life was going along pretty good for Job. He had a strong family, much wealth, and most of all, he had a good reputation for being upright and pious. In fact, Job was so conscientious that when his children had a party, he would offer sacrifice "just in case" they had sinned. The man knew how to do his religion.

Then things fell apart.

Job's children and servants were killed, his cattle stolen, and his wife nagged at him. His whole body broke out in boils so he ended up sitting in ashes scraping at his festering skin. Just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, his friends show up.

I think we are always trying to find some meaning in the suffering of our world. Job's lament in our first reading is echoed by so many today. The answer that Job's friends presented was the accepted reasoning of the day: "You are suffering because you have sinned?" Even today I hear people ask: "What have I done to deserve this?" If only we could control things better, our lives would be happier, or so we seem to believe.

Job is secure in his knowledge that he has not sinned so that can't be why he is suffering. The "stock answers" don't work for him, as many times, they don't work for us. He is left with his agony, his lament, and three annoying friends.

After a long discourse where these friends try to convince Job that it's his fault he is suffering, God appears on the scene. In that encounter, played out in the final speeches of the play, Job says: "... what can I answer? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again: though twice, I will do so no more".

It's not that God demands servile, unthinking acceptance of trouble in our lives, but would have us realize the presence of Mystery. There is no "one answer fits all" solution to our pain and sorrow. The "stock answers" don't always work. Sometimes we just have to be still and listen. This is what Job opens himself to as he finally says to God: "I've heard of you by word of mouth from others, but now, my own eye has seen You." His inner sight has opened new dimensions for him.

Simon's mother-in-law lay on her sick bed suffering with a fever when he arrived with his perhaps noisy friends who filled what space was in the house. Then Jesus takes her hand, pulls her out of bed, and the fever is gone! I imagine her eyes opening wide and a great yell coming from her mouth when that happened!

All the people who were cured of various ailments must have had an "A-ha!" moment: That surprising encounter with the Mystery that is life-changing. John calls them "signs". They are meant to point the way, or confirm our direction. Like Job, those healed by Jesus are caught up in a new understanding of who God is and how God works. These "signs" are like "seals of approval" on Jesus' teaching.

It was a busy and exciting day for Simon and his friends. They watched as Jesus healed those brought to him with various kinds of pain and suffering. With "the whole town gathered at the door" I imagine them feeling pretty important. Actually, they were probably so puffed up with themselves they were in danger of exploding. So when Jesus goes off early in the morning to find a quiet place for prayer, they "pursue" him, ready to drag him back to town to work more wonders.

Jesus is one always faithful to his mission: to preach the Good News of God's Kingdom. It's so easy to get sidetracked, to focus on the approved answers to the questions of living or be mesmerized by an impressive and extraordinary sign.

Jesus never forgot.

He replied, “Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That is why I’ve come.”

(The book of Job is great reading, with some friends taking the different parts, (narrator, Job, three or four friends, God) as in a play.)

Barbara Cooper, OP
Vancouver Island, BC Canada
bcoop60@yahoo.com

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-- Fr. John

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