TODAY'S WORD

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Mark: 3:4 "Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent."


TODAY'S REFLECTION

The 1st reading mentions of this mystical figure of Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God.

His name means “king of righteousness” and he is also the “king of peace” (Salem).

Melchizedek is a prefiguration of Jesus who is the Prince of Peace and who came to reconcile us with God and with one another.

Yes, what we truly desire and yearn for is peace in our hearts and that comes from a right relationship with God and with others.

In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus does good on the Sabbath; he does God’s work on the Sabbath by healing the withered hand of a man in the synagogue.

Yet, because of the good that Jesus did, some religious and political leaders immediately began to plot together to destroy Jesus.

This is only the beginning of the third chapter of Mark’s gospel, and, yet, it points ahead to the end of the gospel story.

It was because Jesus was faithful to doing God’s good work that he was crucified. Jesus’ life shows very clearly that the good that we do does not always bring a reward; sometimes it can bring the opposite of a reward.

It is a strange paradox, but one that is often true to life, that good sometimes generates evil.

The goodness of some brings out evil in others. Yet Jesus was faithful to the good work that God gave him to do, regardless of how negatively it was received by some.

Jesus teaches us that goodness is its own reward. We try to be faithful to what God wants of us, because it is what God wants of us and not because of any benefit it might bring us.

We remain faithful to our calling to share in Jesus’ work of bringing healing and life to others, even though it may, at times, bring us suffering.


RESOLUTION

Let us resolve to go to Jesus with our withered hearts so that we will be healed by His love and have peace in our relationships.

Have an awesome day knowing that Jesus is our Healer God.

Let's pray for broken families and those families that are on crossroads.


SAINTS OF THE DAY


ST. SEBASTIAN, MARTYR


ST. FABIAN, POPE AND MARTYR


We should ask St. Sebastian for the understanding of the moral profile of the Catholic hero. We should also ask him to obtain from Our Lady the grace of defeating the false piety that presents the saints to us in a sentimental and fake way.

St. Fabian, your papal death proved to the faithful that their leaders personally accepted what they demanded of others. Slaves, prisoners, women, outcasts, and popes all died for the faith. Help us, Fabian, to be further links in the Church’s long chain of Christian witnesses.


STS. FABIAN AND SEBASTIAN, PRAY FOR US.