Gospel of February 7, 2021 with the comment of Pope Francis

READING OF THE DAY
First Reading

From the book of Job
Job 7,1-4.6-7

Job spoke and said, “Does not man perform hard service on earth and are not his days like those of a hired hand? As the slave sighs for the shadow and as the mercenary awaits his salary, so I have had months of illusion and nights of trouble have been assigned to me. If I lie down I say: “When will I get up?”. The night is getting long and I'm tired of tossing and turning until dawn. My days run faster than a shuttle, they vanish without a trace of hope. Remember that a breath is my life: my eye will never see the good again ».

Second reading

From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corìnzi
1Cor 9,16-19.22-23

Brothers, proclaiming the Gospel is not a boast for me, because it is a necessity that is imposed on me: woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel! If I do it on my own initiative, I am entitled to the reward; but if I do not do it on my own initiative, it is a task that has been entrusted to me. So what is my reward? That of proclaiming the Gospel freely without using the right conferred on me by the Gospel. In fact, despite being free from all, I made myself the servant of all to earn the greatest number. I made myself weak for the weak, to gain the weak; I did everything for everyone, to save someone at any cost. But I do everything for the Gospel, to become a participant in it too.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Mark
Mc 1,29-39

At that time, Jesus, having left the synagogue, immediately went to the house of Simon and Andrew, in the company of James and John. Simone's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever and they immediately told him about her. He approached and made her stand up taking her by the hand; the fever left her and she served them. When evening came, after sunset, they brought him all the sick and possessed. The whole city was gathered in front of the door. He healed many who were suffering from various diseases and cast out many demons; but he did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew him. Early in the morning he got up when it was still dark and, having gone out, he withdrew to a deserted place, and prayed there. But Simon and those who were with him set out on his trail. They found him and said: "Everyone is looking for you!" He said to them: “Let's go elsewhere, to the neighboring villages, so that I can preach there too; for this in fact I have come! ». And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
The crowd, marked by physical suffering and spiritual misery, constitutes, so to speak, the "vital environment" in which Jesus' mission is carried out, made up of words and gestures that heal and console. Jesus did not come to bring salvation to a laboratory; he does not preach in the laboratory, detached from the people: he is in the middle of the crowd! Among the people! Think that most of the public life of Jesus was spent on the street, among the people, to preach the Gospel, to heal physical and spiritual wounds. (Angelus of 4 February 2018)