The second reading for this Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (1 Cor 7:32-35) always makes me giggle! Paul says, I should like you to be free from anxieties, and then in the rest of the passage he proceeds to list how everyone experiences anxieties — unmarried or married, men or women! Commentary says that first line about anxiety refers to v 28b where Paul says that if a virgin marries, she does not sin, but these suffer affliction in their physical relationship, and I would spare you that. Who says Paul is anti-women! The spiritual lesson seems to be in the last words — adherence to the Lord without distraction — the distraction of all the anxieties in our lives. No matter what kind of life we have, anxiety seems to be universal and ubiquitous. In the Gospel reading, Jesus expels a demon. What are the demons of anxiety I ask Jesus to expel this week?
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia