God's Serene Voice

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

31 January 2021 

 

First Reading:  DT 18:15-20

Responsorial Psalm:  PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9

Second Reading:  1 COR 7:32-35

Gospel:  MK 1:21-28

 

Reflection

By: Carlo Alexis Malaluan

 

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?" These were the words asked by the evil spirits to Jesus but wasn't it the same question that we ask when we are clouded with doubt and anxiety? Do we also question God in the midst of uncertainty and suffering?

The global pandemic caused by CoVid-19 has posed a great threat not only in the present situation of our society but also threatens the security of our future, thus we feel a deep and profound uncertainty on how we will live our daily lives. The pandemic is getting worse each day, jobs are scarce, education seems to be an ever-growing challenge, the political and social climate are in turmoil. Our inner peace has been disturbed. We are not used to this kind of life. And in these situations, we would often fall into the thinking: Have you come to destroy us?

In the readings, Paul tells us to be free of all anxieties. To divorce ourselves from the daily preoccupations of life and to focus to what is essential who is God. Sometimes, we espoused unnecessary things, we cannot separate ourselves from what is giving us pain and suffering. But Paul urges us to divorce from the worldly concerns that diminish our faith and to put our trust in the Lord.

 

In the midst of the noise of the world, we must turn to the God of Silence and Sound who tells us, like Jesus in the Gospel, "Quiet!" How many times have we fail to notice God's tender voice and would think of him as background noise to the daily distractions of life? The global pandemic has also been a purifying encounter for us to allow ourselves to pause and think for a moment. Fill your heart with the prayerful and serene peace of God and you will that the evil spirits will come out from your life.

In the silence, God works. God's silence is not God's rejection. God's silence is an invitation for us to see the good things he has done for us and is doing for us. May I invite you to offer a moment of silence each day that you may hear God's voice speaking.

"If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts"  - PS 95:8

Prayer

 

God of silence and God of all sound, help me to listen. Help me to do the deep listening to the sounds of my soul, waiting to hear Your soft voice calling me deeper into You. Give me attentive ears that begin to separate the noise from the sounds that are You; You who have been speaking to me and through me my whole life, for so long that You can seem like background noise. Today, help me hear You anew. Amen.