“We live in a time where there is a true lack of respect for authority.…..The very word authority has within it the word author. An author is someone who creates and possesses a particular work. Insofar as God is the foundation of all authority, He exercises that foundation because He is the author and the owner of His creation…..A true shepherd of the Church leads the way and does not rest on his authority given to him by God and His Church…... He does not merely point the way…….A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way……….Jesus said several times, “Come, follow me.” His was a program of “do what I do,” rather than “do what I say.”…….Jesus walked and worked with those he was to serve……..The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led.”

Gospel Text: (Mk 1:21-28)

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, 
and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” 
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
 “What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

 

Reflect, today, upon this image of Jesus teaching in the synagogue.  Know that the “synagogue” represents your own soul and that Jesus desires to be there speaking to you with authority.  Let His words sink in and change your life.