Sunday February 9, 2025 - Good News Ministries

Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

Our prayers for help are never answered only for our sake. God always sees a bigger picture.

Good News Reflection for:

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 9, 2025

Today’s Prayer:

How beautiful it is to see Your works, Lord, through hearts that are docile to Your will! Give me the grace of following You, trusting You, and being obedient to Your voice. Amen.

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Powerful Catholic prayers are available on our YouTube channel.

Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Ps 138:1-5, 7-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020925.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-february-9-2025

The big picture

Very often, the Lord gives us help even when we don’t ask for it. We see this in what he did for Simon Peter, James and John in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, when he provided a great catch of fish for them.

What’s his motive? Was he rewarding these fishermen for lending him one of their boats? Do you think he does good things for you as a reward?

Well, it’s not a reward. There’s a bigger picture.

Note the pattern of Christ’s interaction with us as illustrated by this Gospel story:

First, the fishermen already know Jesus; they call him “Master” because he’s a master teacher and they are his students.
Second, Jesus helps them in an unexpected way.
Third, Jesus turns the gift into a calling.
Fourth, the disciples give up everything that could interfere with answering the call.

Whenever God intervenes in our lives, he does it to benefit us and others. We belong to a community, God’s family; we are not in relationship with God as isolated individuals. By connecting ourselves to God in prayer, in the Eucharist, and in worship, we are connecting ourselves to everyone else and to his concerns for them.

Our prayers for help are never answered only for our sake. God always sees a bigger picture. And he always cares about everyone who’s affected.

If it seems like God isn’t responding to your pleas, it’s because he’s working on a bigger plan. He’s coordinating how the answer to your prayers will help others — many others.

God cares very much about your personal needs and desires, but he cares about everyone else, too, whether they ask for his help or not. And he is turning your needs into a calling, a ministry designed specifically for you. This means that the moment you begin asking for help, you are called by God to share his help with others.

By thinking beyond ourselves while waiting for our troubles to end, we find peace and hope and value in the hardships we endure. This is the vocation of daily life.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
What prayer requests are you still waiting for God to answer? What might God be doing during this delay that could benefit others?

Questions for Family & Community Faith Sharing:
Recall a time when God answered one of your prayers. Identify the four stages of divine intervention that are mentioned in this reflection.

For more help on this topic, see our WordByte called: “Why me, Lord?” @ https://wordbytes.org/suffering/why-me-lord/.

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