＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Job 7:1-4, 6-7

Man’s life on earth is a thankless job,

His days are those of a mercenary.  Like a slave he longs for the shade of evening, like a hireling waiting for his wages.  Thus I am allotted months of boredom and nights of grief and misery.  In bed I say, “When shall the day break?” On rising, I think, “When shall evening come?” and I toss restless till dawn.  

My days pass swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, heading without hope to their end.  My life is like wind, you well know it, O God; never will I see happiness again.

 

Ps 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Praise the Lord, who heals the broken hearted.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23

 Because I cannot boast of announcing the Gospel: I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preached voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted this office against my will. 

How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the Gospel, I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel.  So, feeling free with every­­body, I have become every­body’s slave in order to gain a greater number. 

To the weak I made myself weak, to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people in order to save, by all possible means, some of them. This I do for the Gospel, so that I too have a share of it.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Mark 1:29-39

 On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew with James and John. As Si­mon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever, they immediately told him about her. 

Jesus went to her and taking her by the hand, raised her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That eve­ning at sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had evil spirits: the whole town was pressing around the door. 

Jesus healed many who had various diseases, and drove out many demons; but he did not let them speak, for they knew who he was.  Very early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus went off to a lonely place where he prayed. Si­mon and the others went out, too, searching for him; and when they found him they said, “Every­one is looking for you.”

Then Jesus answered, “Let’s go to the near­by villages so that I may preach there too; for that is why I came.”  So Jesus set out to preach in all the synagogues throughout Galilee; he also cast out demons.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Read:

Jesus went to the house of Simon and Andrew after successfully preaching in the nearby synagogue. Seeing that Simon’s mother-in –law is sick He healed her and she waited on them. Many people came to seek healing.

It was a long busy night  for the Lord. But early morning He rose to pray. But people were looking for Him that early so decided to go to the neighboring towns and villages so that He may preach there and heal the sick and cast out demons.

Reflect:

After a hard day’s work, Jesus goes to the house of Simon and Andrew, His disciples. He is not only close to them. Jesus also wants to know about their family. Many prominent members of the community must have extended invitation to Him.

After all, the presence of a holy man in their home would give them prestige. Yet to none of them did Jesus go, He enters the house of His disciples. There He performed a miracle of healing on Simon’s mother-in-law to show that He cares deeply for them as much as He does to the poor and lost multitude of Israel.

This is something that we have to ponder about. We sometimes lose ourselves in the service of others, but the ones closest to us do not receive one tiny bit of our help. We forget about them casting our efforts far and wide.

We are like sprinklers where the grasses far from us are green while those near us wither and die. Jesus cares for those close to Him as well as those who are in the crowd. This sensitivity serves Him well later on as His disciples clung to Him until the very end of their lives.

Respond:

This is the day when we need to take stock of our relationship with those close to us. Do we give them time and attention or are we too busy with the concerns from afar that those near to us suffer.