1 Sam 1:1-8 / Mark 1:14-20
News that make it the headlines are usually sensational news.
But more often than not, those sensational news are more like bad news - wars and violence, killings and murders, scandals and whatever that might attract the reader.
The first few words of today's gospel passage sound like bad news: "After John had been arrested .."
The people knew who John the Baptist was and when they heard that Herod had him arrested, they would have shaken their heads and wondered what had become of goodness.
It was bad news for Jesus because John was his cousin, but He didn't sink into despair. With the news of John's arrest, He sprang into action and went to Galilee and there He proclaimed the Good News.
So with every piece of bad news, there will be a piece of good news to counter it so that God's kingdom will always rise above the turmoil of the bad news.
So it was with Hannah in the 1st reading. She was barren and her rival would taunt her to annoy her and because of that she went into despair.
Even her husband's affirmation of his love for her would not remove her dejection or stop her tears.
But there will be good news for Hannah in time to come. She just had to keep her faith in God.
We too need to believe that there will be more good news than bad news. With God there is always good news. We just need to believe in it.