Word to the Wise
Monday, February 4, 2019 - Monday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 11:32-40 and Mark 5:1-20]The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth. Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect. [Hebrews]
FEBRUARY 4 ST. CATHERINE DE RICCI, OP
The Letter to the Hebrews is meant to encourage a community to remain steadfast in their faith. It takes in a broad picture of salvation history in which Jesus becomes a figure that replaces the older Jewish observance with something completely new. At the same time, in today's passage, those heroic figures of salvation history - the prophets and heroes of the Old Testament - are praised for their faith which is brought to completion by the sacrifice of Jesus, the high priest of a new covenant.
We all need heroes in our life - people who inspire us and whom we might like to emulate. The cult of the saints is the way in which Catholic one faith has traditionally done this, but that is one example. We may have other figures whom we personally know or knew whose holiness and example we admire. Who are they for you, and why? AMEN