Today, being the Fourth Sunday in the Church's liturgical year, the readings outline that the promised Messiah is one whose Word is authoritative and rightly to be obeyed.

St. Paul emphasizes that holiness remains the yardstick of serving God and worshiping Him with undivided attention whether we are priests, religious, married or unmarried persons. He also presents an example of the "New Doctrine": the new value attributed to virginity which is lived for the love of and at the serving of our brothers and sisters.

One remarkable feature we encounter in the Gospel of Mark is that the first time ever we hear Jesus speak, his words were "This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." This is to show that Jesus came to reconcile us with the father and be at peace with him. We can achieve this reconciliation and peace, IF and only IF, we repent of our own sins and believe in Jesus who has come to save us.

In today's First Reading we see God trying to call out to Samuel, but Samuel does not realize that it is God calling to him. Yet this does not deter God, nor get him upset and annoyed because we then see God try to call to reach out to Samuel two more times with no response from Samuel. But Samuel is lucky because in the midst of all this he has help. His father Eli is with him. Eli has a strong personal relationship with God because Eli has accepted God's gift of faith and knows that it is God reaching out to his son Samuel.

"Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

What a wonderful example the Magi give us in their visit to the infant Jesus. First of all, they demonstrate profound faith in God's word, spoken through the prophet Micah: "And you, Bethlehem ... from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel" (cf. 5:2). Embarking on a long and difficult journey, they trust that they will find this newborn king of the Jews in Bethlehem as the prophecy announced.