Prayerful thoughts from the Banks of the

Texas Trinidad

by Rev. Jack Vessels, SJ

"Read: Listen in Silence & Chew on His Word, then

share some simple thought with others."

Deut 18.15-20; 1Cor 7.32-35; MK 1.21-28

THE LORD SAID [to Moses] 'I WILL RAISE UP FROM AMONG

THEM A PROPHET LIKE YOU & PUT MY WORDS IN HIS MOUTH;

WHOEVER WILL NOT LISTEN WHEN HE SPEAKS IN MY NAME,

I MYSELF WILL MAKE HIM ANSWER FOR IT.'

"On the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue & taught.

All were amazed; 'What is this? A new teaching with authority!

He commands even the unclean spirits & they obey!"

During the day: Be a good listener. Set aside private judgment as you ponder the words of others. Truth has it's own authority; keep the mind open - it sometimes comes in the back door, finding the front one locked. Don't be afraid.

ABOUT PRAYER: Prayer expresses belief in someone, not certainty about something. Belief is trust, & rises above intellectual perception. The mind is made for truth, the heart for goodness; the holy one prayer looks for is the infinity of both. In prayer, the heart fills with what surpasses the mind.

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 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: Psalms 95: 1-2,6-9

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. 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. 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."

New Testament: 1 Corinthians 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.

Gospel: Mark 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.