Water Love

4th Sunday In Ordinary Time 31 January 2016

First reading   Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19

In the days of Josiah, the word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying:

‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

before you came to birth I consecrated you;

I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.

‘So now brace yourself for action.

Stand up and tell them

all I command you.

Do not be dismayed at their presence,

or in their presence I will make you dismayed.

‘I, for my part, today will make you

into a fortified city,

a pillar of iron,

and a wall of bronze

to confront all this land:

the kings of Judah, its princes,

its priests and the country people.

They will fight against you

but shall not overcome you,

for I am with you to deliver you –

it is the Lord who speaks.’

Psalm                                                                            Psalm 70:1-6,15,17

               

Second reading                                                          1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

  If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

  Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

  Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

  In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Gospel                                                                       Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’

  But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’ And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

  ‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’

  When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

Reflection

By Anabelle Payod-Balla

There is a saying that "Familiarity breeds contempt." But let me add, "only if we allow it." We have also heard this line before, "The grass in greener on the other side." But there is a new version of this that says, "The grass is greener where you water it."

It is what we think and what we do that determines the outcome.

Why was Jesus not accepted in His home town? Is it because of His background as son of a carpenter? Or it is because of people's perspective of Him? The people have chosen to look at Him as a son of a carpenter rather than Someone who heals the sick, who casts out demons, who makes the blind see and the lame walk.

I remember the beautiful sermon from the wedding I recently attended. It was said that in marriage, what matters is not the love that the couple found in each other, but how much love they put into their relationship each day.

We need to water love to make it grow. It will not grow in itself. Same with faith, we need to feed it to make it grow stronger. We can also get to know better our loved ones, be more familiar with them and grow our love for them, not hate them. We can deepen our knowledge of God and the more we know Him, the more we can love Him.

We have a choice to love, to water love.

Prayer

Father, thank You for giving us the freedom to choose. Help us to choose wisely. To love more, to strengthen our faith, to get to know You better and to stay close to You always. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.