Liturgical day: Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel text (Mk 4,21-25): Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”

He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed?”

Fr. Àngel CALDAS i Bosch
(Salt, Girona, Spain)

Today, Jesus explains to us the secret of his Kingdom. He is even somewhat ironical when telling us that the internal “energy” the Word of God has —which is his own Word—, that communicative force that spreads all over the world, is just like a light, and that this light cannot go “under a bushel basket or under a bed” (Mk 4, 21).

Can you imagine someone so stupid as to place a lit candle under the bed? We Christians with the lights off or with the lights on, but with a ban on lighting us up! This is what happens when we do not place all our love and knowledge at the service of our Faith. How anti-natural of us to selfishly retreat into ourselves, by limiting our life to the scope of our own personal interests! To live under the bed! Ridiculously and tragically immobile: “absents” of the spirit…

On the other hand, the Gospel is a saint outburst of passionate Love that wants to communicate, that needs “to say”, and that carries along a demand of personal growth, of interior maturity and service to others. Saint Augustine says: “If you say: Enough! You are dead”; and Saint Josemaria Escrivà also says: “O Lord: let me have temperance and restraint in everything… except in Love!”

“‘Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.’ He also told them, ‘Take care what you hear’” (Mk 4,23-24). But, what does it mean “to hear”? What are we to hear? This is the great question we have to ask ourselves. It is an attitude of sincerity towards God that demands to know what we really want to do. And to find it out we must hear: we must pay attention to the hints of God. We have to enter into a dialogue with him to put an end to the “mathematics of measure”: “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mk 4,24-25). God's accrued interests, are unpredictable and extraordinary, so as to stimulate our generosity.

Source: evangelinet