4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Last Sunday we were reminded of the need to live out the gospel of Christ and be His true disciples, by listening sincerely, diligently and wholeheartedly to God’s voice, by accepting the Word of God and His message and lastly, by practicing our faith and living out the gospel of Christ we have received.
In today’s readings, we are reminded of what we need to pay attention to as we answer our call to discipleship. Moses in the first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy 18:15-20 relays God’s message to his people telling them, ‘I will raise up a prophet and I will put my words into his mouth.’ Of course we all as Catholic Christians have been raised to be God’s prophets in the world and we have His words in our mouth, but how often do we live like true prophets or disciples of Christ and proclaim His word with our mouths in our world today? To raise a prophet or a disciple, St. Paul in today’s second reading from 1 Cor 7:32-35 urges us to free ourselves of all anxieties and focus only on God if we want to be His disciples and prophets in our world today. Since we call ourselves disciples of Christ, do we let Him lead and guide us by freeing ourselves from all anxieties or worries and focusing only on God? Do we let the worries and troubles of the world distract us from focusing on God our Savior and Redeemer or do we let go and let God be in control? When we preach the gospel of Christ in our world today, do we teach or proclaim the gospel with authority as Jesus did in today’s gospel reading from the gospel of Saint Mark 1:21-28?
My dear brothers and sisters, let us not forget our call to discipleship, rather let answer that call today by proclaiming the gospel of Christ put into our mouths as emphasized in our first reading, by freeing ourselves of all anxieties and by focusing only on God so we can proclaim the gospel of Christ with great authority and with firmness of faith as Jesus did in the gospel reading. Amen!
