Tuesday, 1st Week in Ordinary Time January 9, 2024

Fr. Rick’s Two-Minute Homily for Tuesday, 1st Week in Ordinary Time
January 9, 2024, Mark 1:21-28
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010924.cfm

WHO IS MY TEACHER?

By the time our junior and senior years rolled around in high school, hopefully, we had courses to take to graduate. We may have had no interest in the subjects, but we worked through it. We forgot these courses soon after we finished them, and they did not impact our lives and choices. For me, math and I never mixed well.

Sometimes, our faith can be my math course. There are periods when other interests take our time out of necessity, or perhaps we enjoy them. We may find ourselves on the internet with others who share this interest. Time flies. Or we may be caught up in an ongoing news story and can’t get enough of it. What is the latest, we wonder?

There is nothing wrong with any of these activities. However, I must ask myself where these activities are leading me. Am I a better person because of the time and energy they take? Are my relationships healthier because of them? Without realizing it, these human interests became my teachers in life.

Notice in the gospel today that Jesus taught the people, unlike any other teacher. He taught with authority, even driving out unclean spirits, and that’s the absolute authority. No human being or philosophical system can heal bodies, minds, and social evils, forgive, reconcile, liberate, or give new life like the Lord Jesus.

Gospel Challenge:
Would it be worth my while to listen to Jesus in the Scriptures and His People and discover why He and the Catholic Church are still around after 2000-plus years? Go to our parish website, www.bscchurch.com, and scroll down to FORMED. Sign up and see what interests you. Jesus wants to teach you, too.

Love Your Neighbor:
Please join me in praying for all baptized Catholics to be faithful to Jesus in the Holy Mass every weekend. Hail Mary, full of grace…
Mother Mary, “I am yours now and forever. Through you and with you, I always want to belong completely to Jesus.” The Surrender Novena – InHeartland. https://inheartland.com/pages/the-surrender-novena

Peace be with you.

Fr. Rick Pilger, I.C.
pastor
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