Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Saturday of the first week in ordinary time, January 17th, 2026, Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot

Delivered by Celine from the Parish of Santo Marinus Yohanes in the Diocese of Surabaya, Indonesia. 1 Samuel 9: 1-4.17-19; 10: 1a; Rs psalm 21: 2-3.4-5.6-7; Mark 2: 13-17.STRATEGY TO CHANGE ASINNER The title for ourmeditation today is: Strategy to Change a Sinner. Jesus' preferential optionfor the sick, paralyzed, poor, possessed by evil spirits is as strong as Hiscompassion for sinners. Sinful persons are those who are spiritually sick.Public sinners such as thieves, rapists, prostitutes, and tax collectors, areseriously sick because they destroy and damage many people's life. Societyconseder them as bad as rubbish. Public sinners areactually those who sin openly in the community and even to their own families.They are controlled by a system applied in society. Men or women prostitute,for example, they are controlled by the burden of life and living system is thesociety they belong to. Today's Gospel introduces us a life of a public sinner,namely Levi the son of Alphaeus. He was a public tax collector who served theRoman authorities. Of course he wasconsidered very sinful because in dealing with public taxation, he cheated muchin collecting people's money and goods. People in the society really hated him,but he continued to sin because law was protecting him to do so. Levi was knownin the circle of the twelve apostles by the name of Matthew. The evangelistMatthew calls him the tax collector. Public sins are very painful and heavy forthe community and the sinner himself or herself cannot avoid it. Therefore Jesus mustinterfere in this matter. The technique that he used was to come face to face,called him by name, and not just invited but ordered him to stop that sinfullact. This implies sins that not only cause self-harm but are very harmful to manypeople and become serious sins. These kind of sins must be stopped. Serious bigsins should not be allowed to develop and spread. If they are not controlledand stopped, the one who involves in it can be considered collaborating withDevils or working for Satan. Israel as a nationwas not allowed to continue their stubborn and sinful ways. God stopped this bymaking Saul their king. A new system came to bring necessary goodness and theold system must be left behind. Jesus changes the sinners like Levi, so did thesame with many others such as Mary Magdalene and Paul, because they had thepotential to become great criminals and could harm many people. They must beused positively for the new system of faith that Jesus uses. Through baptism,Jesus Christ makes us part of the new system that He has created. The sins thatwe committed after baptism are many and of various types, but the Lord Jesushas a way to change our lives. The Church carries out this duty by becoming aninstrument for changing people's lives.  Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O Jesus Christ, deliver us from bad and negative habits that often plungeus into sin. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... Inthe name of the Father ...