Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 71
31 JAN 2021 A.D.



Reading I
Dt 18:15-20

Moses spoke to all the people, saying:
“A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen.
This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb
on the day of the assembly, when you said,
‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God,
nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin,
and will put my words into his mouth;
he shall tell them all that I command him.
Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name,
I myself will make him answer for it.
But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name
an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak,
or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.’”



Responsorial Psalm
Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
   let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
   let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
   and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
   “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
   as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
   they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.



Reading II
1 Cor 7:32-35

Brothers and sisters:
I should like you to be free of anxieties.
An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord,
how he may please the Lord.
But a married man is anxious about the things of the world,
how he may please his wife, and he is divided.
An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord,
so that she may be holy in both body and spirit.
A married woman, on the other hand,
is anxious about the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.
I am telling you this for your own benefit,
not to impose a restraint upon you,
but for the sake of propriety
and adherence to the Lord without distraction.



Alleluia
Mt 4:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light;
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death,
light has arisen.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.



Gospel
Mk 1:21-28

Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said,
“Quiet!  Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

Overview of the Gospel:

• This Sunday’s Gospel finds Jesus in the fishing village of Capernaum, located on the northern
shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is here that Jesus will make his home and establish the base of
his ministry (Matthew 4:13; Mark 2:1; 9:33). Now that Jesus has begun to choose his disciples
(see last week’s Gospel reading), he is now poised to begin that ministry.

• On the day of the Jewish Sabbath, as was his custom (verses 21; 6:2; Luke 4:16, 6:6, 13:10),
he went to teach in the synagogue where the Jews gathered to hear the Law and be taught.
His disciples would continue this practice in the early years of the Church (Acts 13:14-16).

• His listeners were used to their Scribes (experts in the Jewish law) preface their teachings with
phrases such as “It is written9” Jesus, on the other hand, often began his instruction with
“Truly, truly I say to you9” or “Amen, amen I say to you9” (Matthew 7:28-29; John 1:51, 3:3,
5:24), speaking on the authority of his own word, as only God can do. Thus, Jesus’ words had
an absolute claim on his hearers.

• While at the synagogue, Jesus ministers to a man with a demon—an “unclean spirit”, so called
because this spirit was resistant to the holiness of God. This spirit, far from expressing faith in
Jesus, knows and fears his power to destroy his influence, as Jesus goes on to do repeatedly
with other demons in his public ministry (Mark 1:32, 34; 3:11; 5:2; 6:7, 13; 9:14).
• While contemporary exorcists relied on lengthy incantations and the burning of odorous plants
to affect their cures, Jesus’ simple word was enough (verse 25), again showing his authority.


"When Christ came, he banished the devil from our hearts, in order to build in them a temple for himself. Let us therefore do what we can with his help, so that our evil deeds will not deface the temple." ~St. Caesarius of Arles

Christ Healing the Possessed Gerasene Man by a Milanese workshop, c. 968 A.D. [Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany]

Thriving as Catholics

Thanks!

Always welcome, Brother, bigsapper!

MORE:

"Exactly WHO did Moses see and talk to face-to-face as God?"

Thanks for the post.