Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 31, 2021 — Year B
Readings: Dt 18:15-20 / Ps 95 / 1 Cor 7:32-35 / Mk 1:21-28
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

At the present time, we are all aware that many people are experiencing some sort of anxiety. They ask questions like: “When will this pandemic finally end?” “When can we all get the vaccine?” “Will it really work?” “Can we ever go back to our normal life, or will the so-called ‘new normal’ go on forever?”

Being anxious about the uncertainty of the future is a matter of course for a good number of people nowadays. Yet, St. Paul is telling us, through his First Letter to the Corinthians, that he wants us to be free of anxieties.

Was the life of St. Paul free from problems, difficulties, and anxieties, for him to tell the early Christians to just “take it easy”? The story of his life after his conversion is everything but easy. And yet, he surely wasn’t anxious. At one point he said, “It is when I am weak that I am strong, because it is no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

If, like St. Paul, we hold onto our faith in the reality that Jesus, our Lord and our God, is with us and within us, then we can be truly free from anxieties.

In the gospel that we have just heard, St. Mark the Evangelist related to us that, when the Lord Jesus was in the synagogue, the people were astonished with His teachings, because He taught with authority. This is simply because He is not just teaching God’s words, He is the Word that became flesh. He is the Word personified.

It is not surprising why, when He speaks, His words can command the unclean spirits, and they obey Him. His words can make the blind see, the lame walk, lepers cleansed, and can even raise the dead back to life.

During these difficult times, let us remind ourselves of the power of His words when He said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God. Have faith also in Me.”

This is the key: to be able to experience being free from anxieties in this life, as St. Paul tells us in the sacred scriptures. That is, to have faith in the Lord Jesus at all times and be aware of His presence in our lives 24/7.

Yes, we will have troubles, but we will not be overcome. In spite of difficulties, we will be free from anxieties, and we will have the kind of peace that only Jesus, the Word made flesh, can give.