Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

1st Reading: Job 7:1-4,6-7

2nd Reading: 1Cor 9:16-19, 22-23

Gospel: Mark 1:29-39

Reflection: “Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible.”

There are many instances in our lives that we are not able to find joy in whatever we do, much more when it is about God’s will in our lives. Many see God as the antagonist to their freedom and security. When the will of God runs contrary to our will, we tend to rebel against Him and everything that is associated with Him.

We can see in our 1st Reading this day the person of Job who is reluctant to do God’s command and has fallen into the mire of pessimism. His disposition seems to be like a person who has lost the joy of life and cannot find hope. When we fall in this kind of attitude and our emotion has reached its rock bottom, we have to take courage that God has something to tell us, that we have to go through this feeling or emotion to be able to understand what we are going through in life. Each moment of our lives we are being brought to the better version of who we are, but we have to go through the hardships and joys of life, there are no shortcuts. Here we find ourselves as we are, that we are humans.

In our Gospel we find Jesus healing the mother-in-law of St. Peter. In her sickness, she finds a God who understands her situation and who heals her. Our frailty as human beings are not foreign to the God who walks with us. He understands our weaknesses and pains, and it is for this reason that He came, to bring us the Good News, that God knows our struggles and pains, our sins and weaknesses. Jesus came to show us the way through which we will be able to cope with our needs. He came to bring healing and forgiveness, to strengthen us and give us the graces that will bring us to holiness and wholeness.

We must never tire of continuing the journey of life even in the midst of all hindrances that will keep us from fulfilling the will of God in our lives. When we have reached the apex of our conversion process, we can joyfully resonate with St. Paul’s words, “I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.” We are called to be witnesses of Christ especially in the most trying moments of life. We are called to bring out the fullness of Christ in our daily lives, that whether in weakness and in health, in pain and joy we are images of Christ  to others. 

May we be like St. Peter’s mother-in-law always ready to serve, but first let us allow the Lord to heal us. Let us allow the grace of God flow freely in our lives by going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and commune with the Lord in the Eucharist that we receive.