I’ve always wanted to go to Mass more often that just every Sunday. When we moved to a rental house that’s a five-minute walk from a church, I got the benefit of visiting the Blessed Sacrament after Mass—just to be silent and listen to God speak in my heart.

Listening to God in silence is a practice many find deeply meaningful and transformative. In a noisy world filled with distractions, silence can provide an opportunity to hear more clearly and deeply when He speaks. It’s often in the quiet moments that we open ourselves to receive divine guidance and peace that can only come from Him.

In silence, we can listen to God through meditation, prayer, or contemplation. In silence, we become more attuned to His presence, find clarity, and deepen our connection. When we quiet our minds and hearts, we make space for God’s voice to speak to our hearts. 

Joel N. Saludares (joelsaludares@gmail.com)

reflect

How do you quiet your heart as you pray and listen to the Lord?

May I always hear Your voice, Lord, as I come before You in silence. Amen.

St. Felix of Nola, pray for us.

The famous response to the Lord’s call that Eli teaches Samuel is: “Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening!” Here is a prefiguring of the attitude and heart of Mary: “Let it be done to me according to Your Word.” Samuel tells the Lord that he is attentive to His Word. No longer will Eli direct Samuel; he will now be seeking to follow the Lord’s calling.

¹ During the time young Samuel was minister to the Lord under Eli, a revelation of the Lord was uncommon and vision infrequent. ² One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see. ³ The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. ⁴ The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep. ⁶ Again the Lord called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.” ⁷ At that time Samuel was not familiar with the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet. ⁸ The Lord called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the youth. ⁹ So Eli said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, ¹⁰ the Lord came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” ¹⁹ Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect. ²⁰ Thus all Israel from Dan to Beersheba came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the Lord. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 40:2, 5, 7-8, 8-9, 10

R: Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will. 

² I have waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. ⁵ Blessed the man who makes the Lord his trust; who turns not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood. (R) ⁷ Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; ⁸ then said I, “Behold I come.” (R) “In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, ⁹ to do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!” (R) 10 I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know. (R)

Gospel | Mark 1:29-39

With authority, Jesus prays for healing, and the person is healed. How does He do this? Jesus knows the Father’s heart, and He speaks with the Father’s authority. This unity of Spirit with the Father gives Jesus the authority to minister as He does. The same can be true for us if we surrender our lives to God and embrace His will. 

Gospel Acclamation

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord. I know them, and they follow me.

²⁹ On leaving the synagogue he entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. ³¹ He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. ³² When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. ³³ The whole town was gathered at the door. ³⁴ He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. ³⁵ Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. ³⁶ Simon and those who were with him pursued him 37 and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸ He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” ³⁹ So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

Read the Bible in one year! Read MARK 5 - 8 today.

Have you ever found yourself in front of what you perceive to be an enormous task and ended up doing nothing at all?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus commenced His preaching and healing ministry. But He did not heal everyone in the hometown of Peter—He healed only those whom He could. Jesus did not heal all the people in the world. He healed those who were brought to Him.

Many of us shirk from the responsibility of loving our neighbor, thinking, “I am just one person—there are so many of them; this will not make a difference.” I call this “the convenient excuse of perceived futility.” If everyone of us will think this way, no good will ever be accomplished.

Didn’t the Apostles exhibit the same excuse at one point: “What will five loaves and two fish do for thousands of people?” (John 6:9).

The same mentality was exhibited by a man who once approached St. Teresa of Calcutta: “Mother, I really would like to imitate you and your nuns, feeding the hungry of Calcutta. But I can’t do it because there are so many of them.” With a smile on her face, the saintly nun assured the man, “If you cannot feed the whole world, then just feed one.”

Today, Jesus is correcting us and encouraging us. Do not worry about loving humanity. Your arms are too small to embrace its immensity. You cannot love that which you cannot put your arms around. Worry about loving a concrete person in front of you and leave the rest to God. Jesus did not command us to love the whole world; He commanded us to love one, and then another.

Perhaps that’s the reason why God gave us short arms. It is so we can embrace the person in front of us, concretely, one at a time. 

Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection question

What area of your life has become so unproductive because of the convenient excuse of futility?

As Saint Teresa taught us, remind me, Lord, that I am not called to be successful but to be faithful. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ________________________________________