Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the first week in ordinary time, January 13th, 2026

Delivered by Zelda and Svara Nirmala from the Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. 1 Samuel 1: 9-20; Rs psalm: 1 Sam 2: 1.4-5.6-7.8abcd; Mark 1: 21b-28.OUR AUTHORITY IS FROMGOD Our meditation today isentitled: Our Authority is from God. We can understand easily the words of thepriest Eli in the temple to Hannah, the married woman wihtout a child, as thewords full of power, that when Hannah and her husband returned from theirworship, she conceived and gave birth to her only son Samuel. This is the storyin the first reading of today's liturgy. There is somethingmore amazing. The words spoken by Jesus when he said or taught, are thepowerful words that frightened demons and evil spirits. His powerful words anddeeds defeat even the most powerful prince of evil spirits. They surrender andacknowledge the power of God. In Jesus' time, the power of the Almighty God wasthe only thing people of faith relied upon. Jewish rabbis who had very stronginfluence in society could not do anything when encounter the power of Jesus,and they resolved to condemn Jesus to death. They were consideredteachers with sound teaching and power to influence. These rabbis seemed tohave great power to speak, but they only quoted the sayings  from other sources. They are the same as manyteachers of our time who like to quote other sources, thus, lack oforiginality. They are teachers who learn from the other wise or learnedteachers. This does not happen to Jesus. He is the source of that power. He isthe teacher who does not learn from anyone else, because the words that comeout of him and the actions he does are from God himself. Jesus is the Lord.  The most importantthing here is that Jesus Christ wants to share His power that others can alsouse the same power. This becomes the source of the authority that exists in usas believers. The authority of a follower of Christ is basically the trust andpower of God that lives and works in everyone of us as believers. So there is areciprocal relationship that operates, that is, believers who believe and Jesuswho gives His power to them. Such relationship didnot happen to the rabbis. Pharisees, scribes, rulers, arrogant, and learnedpeople who did not believe in Jesus, could not have such relationship andexperience the love and mercy of God. Jesus certainly did not share His powerto them. He commits to give His own words and power to His believers, startingwith Mary and Joseph, then John the Baptist, the apostles, and so on untilevery one baptized in His name who practices this faith. For our Christianauthority to be used effectively and to produce the desired results such asmiracles, abundant fruits, overcoming evils, and other great deeds, we need afaith in Jesus that is strong and true. Often we can not produce the results asdesired, it could be true enough because of our own weakness, namely our faiththat is not yet true and strong. Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O Lord Jesus Christ, teach us to always say and do what is true asYourself. Hail Mary, full of grace... In the name of the Father ...