Sunday 4 February

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Job 7:1-4, 6-7; Psalm 147A; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39

The Lord our hope

In our first reading, Job gives voice to the toil and anxieties that so often weigh down our human existence, which is passing away “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.” If our hope is only for this life, human existence would be heavy and hollow indeed!

But our hope is in the Gospel. Like Paul, in our second reading, we live for the sake of the Gospel and to have a share in its blessing, which is a participation in the divine life promised to all who listen to God’s Word made known through the preaching of Jesus the Christ.