This week's readings Week of Feb. 10 - 16 Sunday, Feb. 10, 2002 Reading I: Isaiah 58:7-10 Reading II: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16 Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 8, 1-7. 9-13 Gospel: Mk 6, 53-56 Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 8, 22-23. 27-30 Gospel: Mk 7, 1-13 Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 Holy Day: Ash Wednesday Reading I: Jl 2:12-18 Reading II: 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002 Reading I: Dt 30:15-20 Gospel: Luke 9:22-25 Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 Reading I: Isaiah 58:1-9a Gospel: Matthew 9:14-15 Saturday, Feb. 16, 2002 Reading I: Is 58:9b-14 Gospel: Luke 5:27-32 Pope's Prayer Intentions February General Intention Leadership by Catholic hospitals in defending human life and dignity: That Catholic hospitals may stand out in relieving suffering and proclaiming the Gospel of life and respect for every person. February Mission Intention Vocations in Cambodia and Laos: That the Christians of Cambodia and Laos may promote priestly and religious vocations with intensified devotion.

God helps those:
Who help others

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The old adage "God helps those who help themselves" is a familiar one, sort of kin to "pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" The idea is that we can't sit back and wait for God to do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves.

You know: if you want God to help you find a new job, go out and look for one! If you want God to give you good health, take care of yourself! If you want God to listen to you, talk to him!

We can't blame God when things go wrong, especially if we haven't tried ourselves to make things go right.

Readings for Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Feb. 10) Isaiah 58:7-10 Psalm 112 1Corinthians 2:1-5 Matthew 5:13-16

This doesn't mean that we should expect to have ultimate control over our lives. Sometimes good people lose their jobs, in spite of their prayers. Sometimes people get sick who take excellent care of themselves. And sometimes, it seems, God turns a deaf ear to our loudest prayers and pleas.

Yet this old saying is not God's version. Rather, God helps those who help others.

Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord tells his people to "share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own." In other words, help people, serve the needs of others.

And what shall be your reward? "Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!" If you serve the needs of others, God will light your way.

So say the psalms: the just gives lavishly to the poor, is gracious and lends, and it is he whom the Lord will uphold.

Saint Paul teaches the Corinthians and us that the Gospel he preaches came from God, not infused with words of human wisdom but with the Spirit and power, "so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God."

Thus Paul reminds us that God's way of thinking is deeper and wiser than our human way of thinking. Perhaps God helps those who help themselves, but he certainly helps those who help others.

"By helping others we give glory to God, not ourselves, and in turn God helps those who have followed in the footsteps of his Son by their humility, their service, and their love."

Jesus, too, taught us to serve others, for he, the Son of God, came not to be served but to serve. "You are the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world," Jesus says. You are a city on a mountain that cannot be hidden, a light on a lampstand, not under a bushel basket.

You must flavor the world with the sweet taste of the Lord that is within you. You must let your light shine - serve others with that light - "that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

By helping others we give glory to God, not ourselves, and in turn God helps those who have followed in the footsteps of his Son by their humility, their service, and their love.

But Jesus gives a warning: salt that loses its taste is good for nothing "but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." So, too, a lamp hidden under a bushel basket would burn up the basket and set fire to the house, causing nothing but destruction. Likewise, those who help only themselves misunderstand the nature of the Gospel, and set themselves up as losers, not winners in God's eyes.

Let your faith rest on the Spirit and the power of God. Listen to the words of Jesus! Let your light shine, so that the service of love which you render may bear fruit, for God helps those who help others.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.