Saints + Scripture: IV Sunday in Ordinary Time

'Tis the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Book of Deuteronomy, chapter eighteen, verses fifteen thru twenty;
Psalm Ninety-five, verses one & two; six & seven; & seven, eight, & nine;
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter seven, verses thirty-two thru thirty-five;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter one, verses twenty-one thru twenty-eight.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in our Gospel Jesus came to Capernaum and entered the synagogue on a Sabbath, where he began to teach. Then it says that the "people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes." The ordinary teachers would have appealed to their own teachers and authorities, and finally to Moses and the Torah, which were unassailable.

Now what would prevent the people from saying that he was just crazy? Well, watch what happens next. Into the synagogue there rushed a man with "an unclean spirit." And he knows who Jesus is: "I know who you are—the Holy One of God."

But then Jesus demonstrates his authority: "‘Quiet, come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit convulsed him with a loud cry and came out of him." The claim to God’s own authority is now ratified by showing power over the spiritual realm.

And now they—and we—have to make a decision. Are we with him or are we against him? If he is who he says he is and who he demonstrates himself to be, then we have to give our lives to him.

Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M. (Franciscan Media): United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Video reflection by Jeff Cavins (Ascension): Encountering the Word.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.

Mass Journal: Week Five
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

The first Christians were not perfect; nor were the saints. They lived in communities that were torn by strife in ways remarkably similar to what we are experiencing today, & they struggled with the brokenness of their own humanity in the same way You & I do. But they were dedicated to the basics. The first Christians intrigued the people of their time. So did the saints, & so do ordinary people who embrace the Christian life today. In the great majority of cases they don't do anything spectacular. For the most part they commit themselves to doing simple things spectacularly well & with great love, & that intrigues people. We need to intrigue the people of our time in the same ways. Whom does your life intrigue? Not with spectacular accomplishments, but simply by the way you live, love, & work.

Otherwise, 28 January would be the festival of Blessed Charlemagne, Confessor (742-814), Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Franks: Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest & Doctor of the Church, O.P. (1225-1274), the "Angelic Doctor" & the "Great Synthesizer:" Doctor-link ūnus, Doctor-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his paretns' hope that he would choose that way of life & eventually become abbot. In 1239 he was sent to naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle's philosophy. By 1243 Thomas abandoned his family's plans for him & joined the Dominicans, much to his mother's dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother & kept at home for over a year. Once free, he went to Paris & then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with [St.] Albert the Great [15 November]. The Summa Theologiae, his last &, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals witht he whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on 6 December 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, "I cannot go on… All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen & what has been revealed to me." He died 7 March 1274.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Joseph Freinademetz, Priest, S.V.D. (1852-1908): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Olympia Bida, Martyr (1903-1952, A.K.A. Ohla Bida), martyred in the reign of the Communist dictator Joseph Stalin: Martyr-link ūna, Martyr-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link (list).

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace."
—St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church (1225-1274, feast day: 28 January)