Reflection for Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time Year A
(1Sam 4: 1-11; Mk 1:40-45)
Surprisingly, Samuel’s name was not mentioned in the first reading of today. That quickly reminds us that he had no part in what happened afterwards. Israel had lost favour with God, and as a result, could no more win their battles. Instead of retracing their steps, they blamed God for their calamity, “Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines?” They tried to force the hand of God to their victory. “Righteousness exalted a nation, but sin is a disgrace to it” (Proverbs 14:34). The two corrupt sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, brought the Ark of the Covenant to the Battleground. This was their last hope. At this time even their hope in God could not stand, for they tried to put God at their service instead returning to the true service of God. “And the Ark of God was captured; and two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.”
How can we win the battles of life in the name of God without total surrender to His will? So the leper expressed total surrender to the will of Jesus by ‘begging', ‘kneeling', and saying, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.” In the will of God is abundance of grace! If we submit to God's ordinances, we shall fight battles of life but always win God's friendship. Hence Jesus was moved with compassion towards the man. It was as if He mingled Himself with the man's battle with leprosy! “And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”
We have victory within our reach. The calamity the befell Israel at Ebenezer in the hands of the Philistines resurfaces when a Christian seeks God’s intervention without making effort to give his life to Christ. Total surrender to Jesus is where we ‘encamped' for the battles ahead. “You are my hiding place; you will save me from trouble” (Ps 32:7). We must wear the will of God like an amour over the forces that wage war against us. Within it, our battles become Jesus’ own; then, we have surrendered to victory.
Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu,C.Ss.R
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos. Thursday 16th January, 2020.
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