Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mk 6:53-56 Jesus Who Heals
Today’s Gospel, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark, tells us that after Jesus arrived in Gennesaret, people from there and the surrounding areas brought all the sick to the place where they had heard Jesus was. Some of the crowds even laid the sick in the streets, all sharing a common hope that Jesus would heal them.
This reminds me of scenes I’ve witnessed in life: At airports and hotels where celebrities are staying, some fervent fans, commonly known as “sasaeng fans” online, will go to the airport to greet their idols once they know when their idols will arrive. Some even book rooms at the hotels where the celebrities are staying, just to have close contact with their idols. They do this so they can post the latest updates about their idols on social media, enabling those who share the same interest to learn about their idols’ latest moves through their efforts and giving themselves a chance to have zero-distance contact with their idols.
The same is true for some Christians: They regard a certain priest as an idol. When that priest is transferred from the parish due to work reasons, they will choose to follow the priest they are fond of. Some Christians will insist on staying rooted in the parish where they once worked with the priest they view as an idol, not to demonstrate their enthusiasm but to preserve this memory. These are the people in today’s Gospel passage who pursued Jesus.
Today, let us pray to Jesus, asking the Savior Jesus to grant us a calm mind, so that we may not be obsessed with worldly idols. Instead, let us wholeheartedly pursue Jesus Christ, yearn for the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ proclaims, and eagerly desire to encounter Jesus in the sacraments. Let us maintain a good relationship with Jesus Christ. And let us ask Jesus Christ to bestow His Holy Spirit upon us, so that under the illumination of the Holy Spirit of God, we may continuously carry out God’s will and practice all that Christ has taught. In this way, through what God has accomplished in us, others may see God’s infinite mercy and together become merciful disciples of the Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
February 8, 2026 The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 5:13 – 16 Salt of the Earth, Light of the World
In our daily lives, salt is an extremely common substance. From a material perspective, salt can serve as a seasoning, be used for anti-inflammatory purposes, and also exist within the human body to maintain its metabolism. Light can be used for illumination, driving away darkness. It can also be a form of energy, such as laser light, which can melt metal. Light can also be intangible, like a person’s gaze or the radiance of human nature.
In liturgical practices, we can also encounter holy salt. During the Easter Vigil Mass, the priest blesses the holy salt and mixes this blessed salt into clean water. Then, the Easter candle used in that Mass is dipped into this water three times to bless the baptismal font. In this way, we see the salt and light mentioned by Christ in the Gospel. When we receive baptism through this font and are united with Christ, it symbolizes that the salt of Christ’s humanity becomes a part of our bodies. In this sacrament of initiation, we have also received the light of Christ, which is what St. John refers to as “the true light that enlightens everyone” (cf. Jn 1:9). Having received this light, we are called to live out this light and bring it to the world.
Today, each of us has received the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Therefore, let us live out the true light in our daily lives and become the “salt” that promotes reconciliation between the created world and God, between ourselves and the created world, and between ourselves and God, so that the world created by God according to His holy will may be restored to the harmony it had when God first created it. Amen.
Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mark 6:30-34 The Good Shepherd Jesus
We often resemble the crowds that followed Jesus in their time, madly pursuing our beloved idols in life. Sometimes, we even disregard the feelings of others to achieve a zero-distance encounter with our favoured idols, for in our eyes, as long as our desires are fulfilled, we will be content—just like those crowds who followed Christ, seeking a sense of existence and ritual. Thus, we blindly build our sense of security on creatures, who, like ourselves, were created by God according to His divine will.
When we offer prayers to God, we seek not the peace and joy of our spiritual life, but the wealth of this world and the comfort it brings. In our view, as long as we have enough food and clothing, we can find the long-awaited sense of security from such a superior life.
Today, let us rediscover the original heart we had when we first met Jesus. By the power of the Word of God, may we drive away the distractions in our hearts, calm ourselves, and enter into our inner chamber to meet the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells within us. Under the illumination and guidance of the Holy Spirit, may we courageously let go of all things and proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom to all creatures.
全属于祢 
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