??????? *4TH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B [28/1/2018]*

???? *HE TAUGHT THEM AS ONE WHO HAD AUTHORITY AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES (MARK 1:22)*

???Today, the readings invite us to rediscover the authenticity of God?s reaching out to His people through His chosen ministers. It awakens in us as well a consciousness regarding the fact that there could exist fake and untrue ministers around us and offers us a clue on what to expect of an authentic minister of His gospel.

??In the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy, God, speaking through His servant Moses, promises His people that He would raise from among them someone to stand in for Him and speak to them on His behalf. He further cautions that anyone who fails to obey the directives of the one He has raised would have to answer for that failure before himself and going further he adds that anyone who, in falsehood, claims to speak his word or who speaks in the name of other gods would die. Note that this promise came as a response to their cry that they no longer wish to have God speak directly to them following their experience on Horeb (Deuteronomy 18:15?20). In the second, St Paul explains to us the uniqueness of being set apart from worldly ties as it would enhance one?s concentration in the service of God (1 Corinthians 7:32?35). And in the gospel Christ is presented to us as the one God has chosen to raise from among His people to direct their affairs. In it we find him manifest a unique authority in teaching the good news and in rebuking the devil (Mark 1:21b?28).

????Beloved, from the readings of today indeed we realize that in Christ?s actions as is presented in the gospel, we find a fulfilment of the promise God has made to humanity from the days of Moses ?that he would raise from among us one in whom He would infuse His words and through whom He would make His messages known to us. But did this fulfilled promise end just with the birth, life and death of Christ? The answer is No. It continued from after him in the special ones whom Christ chose and instituted as his disciples. It is through these disciples and sustained by the efforts of the Church he himself instituted that God (in Christ his Son) has sustained His words among men from the period of Christ?s earthly life till eternity. This makes it more clarified; why Christ has to specially choose the twelve and train them specially while he was alive, why he had to send them out to preach to the whole world on his resurrection, why he had to command clearly to Peter that the gates of hell can never overshadow his Church and why virtually, the entire life of the Church rests on the authority of their apostolic succession.

???From the onset of His decision to raise these special ministers among men, God in His all-knowing nature knew there would be abuses and the rise of false prophets among His people hence the cautions he gave through Moses while he was making the promises. The cautions as presented to us in today?s first reading include: (1) anyone who fails to obey my command which they proclaim in my name, I myself will require it of him and (2) anyone claims to be speaking in my name when I have not commanded him so, or who speaks in the name of other gods will die. Since God gave these cautions from the very beginning, it therefore raises upon us a challenge to not just accept anybody as a prophet because he is claiming to be so, but to always seek to find justifications upon which we can accept one as an authentic prophet.

????Beloved friend, the need to find enough grounds for the acceptance of who is truly an authentic prophet is a boost to our appreciating the words of St Paul in the second reading as he speaks about the benefits of setting people apart specially for the service of God ?a lifestyle that has long been adopted and sustained by the authentic Church which Christ actually founded while he was among men. The Church?s option for celibacy as a principle for her Sacred Orders and even for her Religious Orders finds its bearing on this principle and the better opportunity it affords these people who have been set apart in ministering God?s words to humanity. In celibacy, the priest or religious, having renounced the world is gifted more to grow in grace and strengthen the faith of the people around him in Godliness. Many may have failed to live out this celibate life as is expected among men and thus could have caused some scandal among the world, yet, the fact of their scandal does not and can never suffice as a justification to rule out the great spiritual import celibacy serves for the Spiritual life of the Church and the world.

????Having today realized that Christ was that authentic messenger God promised he would raise and use in bringing His words to his people, following their cry to not have Him speak to them directly again, and having been led to the realization that through his disciples, he set aside the Catholic Priests as Christ?s chosen representatives among men, it behoves us this day to pray God for the graces (1) never to live a life contrary to His commands which He makes available to us through them and (2) to always sustain them in their calling that they may never fall short of bringing his authentic words to us all. With these graces activated, we are best assured of living well and making heaven by our good lives. Amen.

????Happy Sunday beloved friend