Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Friday of the fifth week in ordinary time, February 13th, 2026

Delivered by Valeria from the Parish of Saint Paul in the Diocese of Bandung, Indonesia. 1 Kings 11: 29-32; 12: 19; Rs psalm 81: 10-11ab.12-13.14-15; Mark 7: 31-37.GETTING STRONGERFOR UNITY Our meditation today is entitled: Getting Stronger ForUnity. According to our conviction and faith, unity is the beginning of allthings. The first verses of scripture, especially Genesis and the Gospel ofJohn, make it clear that unity or fellowship is the essence of the Lord God.The unity existed before the first human's fall into sin which caused thedivision and separation between good and evil, grace and sin. In this world, wherever there is a growing strength ofseparation and tension that threatens the unity of life, God also appears to bestronger in His power to rebuild it. He does that in himself and in the work ofJesus Christ. What Jesus Christ does to make the unity stronger is to renew theorder or pattern of faith that is already weak. He opens up all possibilitiesfor those who do not know God to become believers. When he healed the deaf and mute person, he certainlyshowed that faith is highly dependent on man’s ability to hear and speak. Jesusonce preached in his city of Capernaum and he said that faith occurs whenpeople listen to the word of God preached. Hearing is the entrance to faith,because through it people open themselves to accept and obey. From hearing, thenext ability required is to speak and give gratitude, celebrate that faith, andproclaim it. If we realize or consider that our faith is weak, inthe first place to do is to test our ability to listen the word and will ofGod. We can also test whether we become good news for others or not. If the factshows that we are lazy and have never heard well, or not speaking the truth aboutthe word of God, then our faith is in serious crisis. The worse is when thereare persons who hate and refuse to hear and talk about God. So Jesus also takesa serious act to do something, namely to separate the person concerned from thecrowd and then removing the barriers that prevent him from hearing and talkingabout our faith. God continues to open the way and all possibilitiesfor those who want to know and believe in Him. This work is done through theChurch, especially through us believers. Let us use the two abilities that wehave, hearing and speaking. May we do the best in hearing and speaking, that wecan help other people to hear God who speaks to them personally, and they canspeak about God in their real lives. These are the ways to strengthen unityamong us believers.Let us pray. In the name of the Father... O God Almighty, maywe always be a true and useful channel for our brothers and sisters who want toknow You more closely and dearly. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to theHoly Spirit... In the name of the Father ...