16 Jan
Wed 		1st Week in Ordinary Time
1 Sam. 3:1-10, 19-20
Ps. 39:2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10
Mk. 1:29-39
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Today's Gospel reading presents us with three consecutive events in the life of Jesus. Our Lord teaches in the synagogue. He then heals those who come to Him. Finally, He is in union with His Father in prayer. Mark shows us the fact that Jesus' ministry is linked to His Father's will.

Jesus teaches and His words are more than simple rhetoric. They possess an authority that comes from God and this authority is made manifest in the fact that the actions of Jesus bring about a change in reality and the lives of peoples around Him. Jesus heals those who were suffering from various illnesses and liberates those possessed by unclean spirits. Mark goes on to show us that the power and authority found in the words and actions of Jesus come from His intimate union with His Father in prayer.

Today, we too are being called to be in intimate union with God in prayer. We are called to listen constantly to God in prayer so that our own actions and words may mirror those of Jesus.


Dear Lord, teach us to be in intimate union with You in prayer so that we may become more and more like You. Amen.

DAILY OFFERING
Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen.

PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
INTENTION
That Christians may intensify their efforts to announce together Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world.
Elaboration

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P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H    

INTENTION : That Christians may intensify their efforts to announce together Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world.

In the Apostolic Letter At the Beginning of the New Millennium Pope John Paul II looks towards the future and exhorts the members of the Church not to be afraid to leave the coastal waters "where there is nothing to fish" and move into deep waters. If we are prepared to do this, our catch will be abundant. The Pope particularly exhorts Christ's disciples to intensify their efforts to bring greater unity in the Christian Community.

The invocation "Launch out into the deep" is a binding imperative, the strength that sustains us, and a salutary rebuke for our slowness and closed-heartedness. It is on Jesus' prayer and not on our own strength that we base the hope that even within history we shall be able to reach full and visible communion with all Christians.

Our trust that we may succeed in attaining the full and visible communion of all Christians, "rests on Jesus' prayer, not on our own capacity". The Lord calls us to unity and will not fail to pour forth His grace on us. But in this context also, as in all our relations with God's salvific grace, we too must do our share. God does not save us against our will; God does not save us if we do not collaborate towards our salvation.



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