Reflection for Thursday, January 21, 1999: 2nd week in Ordinary Time.
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Authors
Gillick, Larry, S.J.
Issue Date
1999-01-21
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Essay
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en_US
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Abstract
In the letter to the Hebrews, from which we are reading these days in the Roman Catholic liturgy, we hear today of Jesus as the new and eternal priest. He has offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice "once and for all." "Jesus is always available to save those who approach God through Him since He forever lives to make intercession for them." We approach God through Jesus and we are comforted by His having made perfect forgiveness possible and attainable.||It is, what we call, "ordinary time" now and we see in today's Gospel, an ordinary time for Jesus. He is doing His thing, "it was fitting that we should have such a High Priest, holy, innocent, undefiled." This High Priest, is not distant from the needs of others. We see Jesus withdraw to a lake, but a great crowd follows Him. He gets a fishing boat ready so as to avoid the press of the crowds, but He is not beyond their needs for healing.|Jesus' ordinary day is full of being available for being Himself, that is the High Priest who is not so high and too beyond. In the scene we see today even the unclean spirits proclaimed, "You are the Son of God." They know the secret too and He orders them not to make Him public. Jesus, by His ordinary daily actions of healing and teaching will make Himself known.|We have ordinary days and ordinary ways of needing a savior, a comforter and guide. Our faith in Him can make every day extraordinary. For those who were healed, or fed, or released from various confinements, those days were beyond the ordinary. For us, by our actions of teaching, comforting and guiding others, our days are more than regular or ho-hum. We are invited to let Jesus make each day a blessing time. We are healed so as to give grace a space and a face in the ordinary times of the lives around us, and this is how we make the secret known.
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Publisher
University Ministry, Creighton University.
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These reflections may not be sold or used commercially without permission. Personal or parish use is permitted.
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Lectionary number: 314