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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

View saints: Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest
Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (2Sam 24:2.9-17): King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, «Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number». Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered: in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand. Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people, and said to the Lord: «I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, Lord, forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish».

When David rose in the morning, the Lord had spoken to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying: «Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you’». Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: «Do you want a three years’ famine to come upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you, or to have a three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me». David answered Gad: «I am in very serious difficulty. Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful; but let me not fall by the hand of man». Thus David chose the pestilence.

Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out among the people. The Lord then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died. But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord regretted the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, «Enough now! Stay your hand». The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the Lord: «It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred».
Responsorial Psalm: 31
R/. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, «I confess my faults to the Lord», and you took away the guilt of my sin.

For this shall every faithful man pray to you in time of stress. Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him.

You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
Versicle before the Gospel (Jn 10:27): Alleluia. My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mk 6:1-6): Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

“Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands”

Fr. Miquel MASATS i Roca (Girona, Spain)

Today, the Gospel shows Jesus going to the Synagogue, in Nazareth, where He had grown up. The Sabbath is the day dedicated to our Lord when Jews get together to listen to God's Word. Every Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue to teach, not like the scribes and the Pharisees, but as one who had authority (cf. Mk 1:22).

Today, God also speaks to us through the Scriptures. At the synagogue, the Scriptures were read and, afterwards, the learned ones commented upon them and explained the sense of the message God wanted to transmit through them. The following thought is attributed to Saint Augustine: “As we speak to God through prayer, God speaks to us through reading.”

The fact that Jesus, the Son of God, is well known among His fellow citizens because of His work, offers us an unsuspected perspective for our ordinary life. Our professional activities are also a way for us to meet God and, therefore, a sanctified and sanctifying reality. Saint Josemaria Escrivà says: “Your human vocation is a part —and an important part— of your divine vocation. That is the reason why you must strive for holiness, giving a particular character to your human personality, a style to your life; contributing at the same time to the sanctification of others, your fellow men; sanctifying your work and your environment: the profession or job that fills your day, your home and family and the country where you were born and which you love.”

The text of the Gospel ends with the words: “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there… He was amazed at their lack of faith” (Mk 6:5-6). Today also our Lord demands more faith in Him to carry out things that overpower our human possibilities. Miracles show God's power and our need for daily dependence on God.

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “In God, power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom, and justice are all identical. Nothing therefore can be in God's power which could not be in his just will or his wise intellect.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas)

  • “Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, illuminates your life of Christian workers with his life of work. You also illuminate your work environment with the light of Christ.” (Saint John Paul II)

  • “The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and beneficiary. By means of his labor man participates in the work of creation. Work united to Christ can be redemptive.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 2460)