Monday February 8 

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

And it Was Good

 

Introduction

God the Creator. God the Maker. God the Poet. When with him you look at his work, you have to say: yes, it is good, it is beautiful, it is imaginative, it is inventive, and it is creative. In Greek, a poet is literally a “maker,” someone who can really make things you cannot but admire. This opening chapter of the Book of Genesis is a poem that tries to tell that God created everything. The number of days does not matter, except to say that he made everything and that he rested on the Seventh day, the Shabbat, with the implied lesson that his people too would have to rest on the day of the Lord.

In the New Testament God’s Son is close to the people. They recognize the face of Jesus, run after him, and touch his clothes. They can now see and feel the nearness and humanity of God in Jesus Christ.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
in the beginning there was the word
that you spoke
and everything was created
Fill us with a sense of admiration
for all the beautiful things you have made.
May we say with you:
“yes, it is good” and all very beautiful.
As people who are part of it,
may we respect your creation
and give you all thanks and praise,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Reading 1: Gen 1:1-19

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a mighty wind swept over the waters.

Then God said,
“Let there be light,” and there was light.
God saw how good the light was.
God then separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”
Thus evening came, and morning followed–the first day.

Then God said,
“Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters,
to separate one body of water from the other.”
And so it happened:
God made the dome,
and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.
God called the dome “the sky.”
Evening came, and morning followed–the second day.

Then God said,
“Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin,
so that the dry land may appear.”
And so it happened:
the water under the sky was gathered into its basin,
and the dry land appeared.
God called the dry land “the earth,”
and the basin of the water he called “the sea.”
God saw how good it was.
Then God said,
“Let the earth bring forth vegetation:
every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth
that bears fruit with its seed in it.”
And so it happened:
the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth that
bears fruit with its seed in it.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed–the third day.

Then God said:
“Let there be lights in the dome of the sky,
to separate day from night.
Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth.”
And so it happened:
God made the two great lights,
the greater one to govern the day,
and the lesser one to govern the night;
and he made the stars.
God set them in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth,
to govern the day and the night,
and to separate the light from the darkness.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 24 and 35c

(31b) May the Lord be glad in his works.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
You fixed the earth upon its foundation,
not to be moved forever;
With the ocean, as with a garment, you covered it;
above the mountains the waters stood.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
You send forth springs into the watercourses
that wind among the mountains.
Beside them the birds of heaven dwell;
from among the branches they send forth their song.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all—
the earth is full of your creatures;
Bless the LORD, O my soul! Alleluia.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.

Alleluia: Mt 4:23

Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel: of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R.Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: Mk 6:53-56

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.

 

Intercessions

–   That the Church in its leaders and members may grow in love of nature and its Creator, admire more the work of God’s hands, and give him thanks and praise by respecting its harmony and letting it serve our happiness, we pray:

–   That governments make great efforts to make people stop the destruction or plunder of natural resources, like forests that are the pride and riches of many nations in the third world, for paying national debts or private gain, we pray:

–   That scientists and technologists may find ways to make deserts bloom again, to restore to the atmosphere the air which we can breathe, and to make our world a better place to live in, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Creative God,
you gave us the wheat to bear grains
and the vine to give us grapes,
and then you let us transform them
into tasty food and a drink of joy.
Let your Spirit sweep over them
and transform them into our food
and drink for life,
your Son Jesus Christ.
Let him also sweep over us
to cooperate with you
to make this earth productive and fertile.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

God, our maker,
let us your people share a little bit
in your imagination and originality,
that we may create one another anew
in our mutual understanding
and our spirit of serving love,
that our earth may be a better place to live in
and a sign and token
of your home of unending love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

What we are, our uniqueness and our power to love come from God. May God give us eyes to admire him and a voice to thank him. May God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Jesus’ response to the sick did not proceed from a detached commitment to needy humanity but from compassion towards each person. His action was in response to the hope expressed by the friends of the sick people through their practical readiness to put themselves out for their friends. Except for those with leprosy, the sick do not come to Jesus on their own. They are brought to Jesus by someone who believed that Jesus could make his friend or member of the family well again. Things could be different whenever people were prepared to think not simply of themselves but of each other, particularly of those whose need is greater. The people’s caring initiative was itself a budding expression of the Kingdom, which Jesus came to establish.
Jesus could restore health. The action of Jesus together with the concern of the people who cared could bring about an even deeper healing of the spirit of those who had been sick. Hope and compassion opened the way to miracles through the person of Jesus. Where the sick are healed – is a place of joy and happiness – the Kingdom of God.
Compassion, of itself, may have seemed insignificant, but with God’s blessing it contributed to the construction of the new Kingdom. Would I care to spare my precious time for the person in need to bring him the necessary assistance, to bring him God’s love, to help him touch even the hem of Jesus cloak? And when I do that in Jesus name, miracles will happen.