Wednesday 1st week in ordinary time
"Mk 1:29-39"
And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him followed him, and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
"Everyone is searching for you!" Everyone is searching for happiness, searching for Truth, searching for Beauty... But if that is the case... why don't many souls find Him? Because some are searching for Him in the wrong places. C. S. Lewis says that "nearly all that we call human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." But the truth is that there is nothing other than Him that can fill human hearts with happiness.
As soon as we make the effort to start looking for Him, He comes to meet us like the father of the prodigal son. A. J. Cronin, a famous writer and doctor, explained his conversion. He was spending a few days partying with some friends in Rome. One day he went for a walk and got lost. He entered a chapel to ask for directions. The chapel commemorated the tradition of Jesus' encounter with St Peter. When Nero was killing Christians, Peter's disciples urged him to run away. Jesus appeared to him and when Peter asked Him, "Quo vadis, Domine?" [Where are you going, Lord?] Jesus answered, "I'm going to Rome to be crucified again." Peter understood that he had to go back to Rome... and there he died, crucified upside down. Cronin explains, "I thought I heard a gentle whisper from over the centuries asking me: Quo vadis? (Where are you going?)" He experienced an emptiness and unhappiness and wondered, like St Augustine, why he wasn't happy. Why he was so empty... And he found the answer there, in front of him, in the Tabernacle.
Mary, Mother of the Hidden Lord, everyone is searching for your Son. Help me, Mother, to encourage others with my prayer and apostolate not to give up in their search, because "everyone who seeks, finds."
