Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 3
7.	But Jesus retired with his disciples to the sea; and a great multitude followed him from Galilee and Judea,	Jesus autem cum discipulis suis secessit ad mare : et multa turba a Galilæa et Judæa secuta est eum,	και ο ιησους ανεχωρησεν μετα των μαθητων αυτου προς την θαλασσαν και πολυ πληθος απο της γαλιλαιας ηκολουθησαν αυτω και απο της ιουδαιας
8.	And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan. And they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing the things which he did, came to him.	et ab Jerosolymis, et ab Idumæa, et trans Jordanem : et qui circa Tyrum et Sidonem multitudo magna, audientes quæ faciebat, venerunt ad eum.	και απο ιεροσολυμων και απο της ιδουμαιας και περαν του ιορδανου και οι περι τυρον και σιδωνα πληθος πολυ ακουσαντες οσα εποιει ηλθον προς αυτον
9.	And he spoke to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.	Et dicit discipulis suis ut navicula sibi deserviret propter turbam, ne comprimerent eum :	και ειπεν τοις μαθηταις αυτου ινα πλοιαριον προσκαρτερη αυτω δια τον οχλον ινα μη θλιβωσιν αυτον
10.	For he healed many, so that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had evils.	multos enim sanabat, ita ut irruerent in eum ut illum tangerent, quotquot habebant plagas.	πολλους γαρ εθεραπευσεν ωστε επιπιπτειν αυτω ινα αυτου αψωνται οσοι ειχον μαστιγας
11.	And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him: and they cried, saying:	Et spiritus immundi, cum illum videbant, procidebant ei : et clamabant, dicentes :	και τα πνευματα τα ακαθαρτα οταν αυτον εθεωρει προσεπιπτεν αυτω και εκραζεν λεγοντα οτι συ ει ο υιος του θεου
12.	Thou art the Son of God. And he strictly charged them that they should not make him known.	Tu es Filius Dei. Et vehementer comminabatur eis ne manifestarent illum.	και πολλα επετιμα αυτοις ινα μη φανερον αυτον ποιησωσιν

(*) "συ ει ο υιος του θεου" ("Thou art the Son of God") begins verse 12 in the translations.

7. But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea,
8. And from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things He did, came to him.
9. And he spoke to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.
10. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.
11. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, You ard the Son of God.
12. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.

THEOPHYL. At the same time again, he goes away, that by quitting the ungrateful he might do good to more, for many followed him, and he healed them. For there follows, And great multitude from Galilee, &c. Syrians and Sidonians, being foreigners, receive benefit from Christ; but His kindred the Jews persecute Him: thus there is no profit in relationship, if there be not a similarity in goodness.

BEDE; For the strangers followed Him, because they saw the works of His powers, and in order to hear the words of His teaching. But the Jews, induced solely by their opinion of His powers, in a vast multitude come to hear Him, and to beg for His aiding health; wherefore there follows, And he spoke to his disciples, that they should wait, &c.

THEOPHYL. Consider then how he hid His glory, for he begs for a little ship, lest the crowd should hurt Him, so that entering into it, he might remain unharmed. it follows, As many as had scourges, &c. But he means by scourges, diseases, for God scourges us, as a father does His children.

BEDE; Both therefore fell down before the Lord, those who had the plagues of bodily diseases, and those who were vexed by unclean spirits. The sick did this simply with the intention of obtaining health, but the demoniacs, or rather the devils within them, because under the mastery of a fear of God they were compelled not only to fall down before Him, but also to praise His majesty; wherefore it goes on, And they cried out, saying, You are the Son of God. And here we must wonder at the blindness of the Arians, who, after the glory of His resurrection, deny the Son of God, Whom the devils confess to be the Son of God, though still clothed with human flesh.

There follows, And he straitly charged them, that they should not make him known. For God said to the sinner, Why do you preach my laws? A sinner is forbidden to preach the Lord, lest any one listening to his preaching should follow him in his error, for the devil is an evil master, who always mingles false things with true, that the semblance of truth may cover the witness of fraud. But not only devils, but persons healed by Christ, and even Apostles, are ordered to be silent concerning Him before the Passion, lest by the preaching of the majesty of His Divinity, the economy of His Passion should be retarded. But allegorically, in the Lord's coming out of the synagogue, and them retiring to the sea, The prefigured the salvation of the Gentiles, to whom The deigned to come through their faith, having quitted the Jews on account of their perfidy. For the nations, driven about in divers by-paths of error, are fitly compared to the unstable sea.

Again, a great crowd from various provinces followed Him, because He has received with kindness many nations, who came to Him through the preaching of the Apostles. But the ship waiting upon the Lord in the sea is the Church, collected from amongst the nations; and He goes into it lest the crowd should throng Him, because flying from the troubled minds of carnal persons, The delights to come to those who despise the glory of this world, and to dwell within them. Further, there is a difference between thronging the Lord, and touching Him; for they throng Him, when by carnal thoughts and deeds they trouble peace, in which truth dwells; but he touches Him, who by faith and love has received Him into his heart; wherefore those who touched Him are said to have been saved.

THEOPHYL. Morally again, the Herodians, that is, persons who love the lusts of the flesh, wish to slay Christ. For the meaning of Herod is, 'of skin.' But those who quit their country, that is, a carnal mode of living, follow Christ, and their plagues are healed, that is, the sins which wound their conscience. But Jesus in us is our reason, which commands that our vessel, that is, our body, should serve Him, lest the troubles of worldly affairs should press upon our reason.

Catena Aurea Mark 3

Christ preaching at the seaport

Jan Brueghel

1597
London, Private Collection

Saint Charles of Sezze

Franciscan Media

Image: Saint Charles from Sezze, Immaculate’s church, Latina | Antonio Sicurezza

Saint Charles of Sezze

Saint of the Day for January 18

(October 19, 1613 – January 6, 1670)

Saint Charles of Sezze’s Story

Charles thought that God was calling him to be a missionary in India, but he never got there. God had something better for this 17th-century successor to Brother Juniper.

Born in Sezze, southeast of Rome, Charles was inspired by the lives of Salvator Horta and Paschal Baylon to become a Franciscan; he did that in 1635. Charles tells us in his autobiography, “Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his love.”

Charles served as cook, porter, sacristan, gardener and beggar at various friaries in Italy. In some ways, he was “an accident waiting to happen.” He once started a huge fire in the kitchen when the oil in which he was frying onions burst into flames.

One story shows how thoroughly Charles adopted the spirit of Saint Francis. The superior ordered Charles—then porter—to give food only to traveling friars who came to the door. Charles obeyed this direction; simultaneously the alms to the friars decreased. Charles convinced the superior the two facts were related. When the friars resumed giving goods to all who asked at the door, alms to the friars increased also.

At the direction of his confessor, Charles wrote his autobiography, The Grandeurs of the Mercies of God. He also wrote several other spiritual books. He made good use of his various spiritual directors throughout the years; they helped him discern which of Charles’ ideas or ambitions were from God. Charles himself was sought out for spiritual advice. The dying Pope Clement IX called Charles to his bedside for a blessing.

Charles had a firm sense of God’s providence. Father Severino Gori has said, “By word and example he recalled in all the need of pursuing only that which is eternal” (Leonard Perotti, St. Charles of Sezze: An Autobiography, page 215).

He died at San Francesco a Ripa in Rome and was buried there. Pope John XXIII canonized him in 1959.

Reflection

The drama in the lives of the saints is mostly interior. Charles’ life was spectacular only in his cooperation with God’s grace. He was captivated by God’s majesty and great mercy to all of us.

Information: St. Volusian

Feast Day: January 18

Died 496

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

Blessed Christina

Feast Day: January 18
Born: 1481 :: Died: 1543

Matthia Ciccarelli was born at Luco in Abruzzi, Italy. She was the youngest of six children and her father was Domenico de Pericolo. As she grew up, Matthia felt the call to a life of prayer and penance.

She decided to become a cloistered nun. (Cloistered Nuns are nuns who live hidden from the world and spend all their time alone in silent prayer). Matthia entered the convent of St. Augustine in Aquila and took the name Sister Christina.

Sister Christina's life as a nun was hidden and silent but the people of Aquila began to find out about the beauty of her work and the life she had chosen. She and the other nuns were bringing many blessings to them through their fervent prayers.

Sister Christina was cloistered but she knew the needs of the poor people of her area. She and the nuns sent to them whatever they could. Sister Christina was also aware of the crosses and sufferings people experienced. She prayed and offered penances to the Lord for these people.

Jesus blessed Sister Christina with ecstasies. On the feast of Corpus Christi, Christina was seen to float above the ground, and the image of a Host in a golden chalice radiated from her breast.

A vision on Good Friday caused her to have invisible stigmata (the five wounds of Jesus) and the pains of Crucifixion until the next day.

She was also blessed with the gift of prophesy and had the ability on occasion to know the future. The Lord used her to work miracles for the good of others.

When she died on January 18, 1543, the little children of Aquila went through the streets shouting that the holy nun was dead. A large crowd of people came to honor and thank her for the gift she had been for their city.

Although we may not be able to see the results of our prayers, the life of this cloistered nun shows us how powerful prayer can be.

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Thursday, January 18

Liturgical Color: Green

Today the Church honors St.
Jaime Barbal. He believed
providing a strong education was
the best way to help the poor. In
1937, St. Jaime was arrested
for being a religious Brother
during the Spanish Civil War. He
was executed by firing squad.

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: January 18th

Thursday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time

MASS READINGS

January 18, 2018 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people and bestow your peace on our times. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (1)

Ham a la King on Corn Bread Squares

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Activities (1)

Practical Suggestions for Christian Living (Penance)

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Prayers (3)

Collect for the Feast of St. Prisca
Novena for Church Unity
Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity
Old Calendar: St. Prisca, virgin and marty; St. Peter's Chair at Rome (Hist)
According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Peter's Chair at Rome and the commemoration of St. Prisca, virgin and martyr. The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated on February 22.
Regarding St. Prisca, the Martyrology reads: "In the city of Rome, the holy virgin and martyr Prisca; after many tortures she gained the crown of martyrdom under Emperor Claudius II (about 270)." Prisca should not be confused with Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, mentioned in the Acts, whose feast dates to the earliest days of Christianity.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

St. Prisca
Prisca, who is also known as Priscilla, was a child martyr of the early Roman Church. Born to Christian parents of a noble family, Prisca was raised during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius. While Claudius did not persecute Christians with the same fervor as other Roman emperors, Christians still did not practice their faith openly. In fact, Prisca's parents went to great lengths to conceal their faith, and thus they were not suspected of being Christians.
Prisca, however, did not feel the need to take precaution. The young girl openly professed her dedication to Christ, and eventually, she was reported to the emperor. Claudius had her arrested, and commanded her to make a sacrifice to Apollo, the pagan god of the sun.
According to the legend, Prisca refused, and was tortured for disobeying. Then, suddenly, a bright, yellow light shone about her, and she appeared to be a little star.
Claudius ordered that Prisca be taken away to prison, in the hopes that she would abandon Christ. When all efforts to change her mind were unsuccessful, she was taken to an amphitheatre and thrown in with a lion.
As the crowd watched, Prisca stood fearless. According to legend, the lion walked toward the barefoot girl, and then gently licked her feet. Disgusted by his thwarted efforts to dissuade Prisca, Claudius had her beheaded.
Seventh-century accounts of the grave sites of Roman martyrs refer to the discovery of an epitaph of a Roman Christian named Priscilla in a large catacomb and identifies her place of interment on the Via Salaria as the Catacomb of Priscilla.
— Excerpted from Ordinary People Extraordinary Lives.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
BIBLICAL REFLECTIONS AND PRAYERS FOR THE EIGHT DAYS: Your Right Hand, O Lord, Glorious in Power
Day One: You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt
The Israelites’ memory of being strangers in the land of Egypt lay behind the Law’s instruction that God’s people were to welcome the stranger in their midst. The memory of their own exile was expected to prompt empathy and solidarity with contemporary exiles and strangers. Like Israel, our common Christian experience of God’s saving action goes together with remembering both alienation and estrangement - in the sense of estrangement from God and from his kingdom. This kind of Christian remembering has ethical implications. God has restored our dignity in Christ, and made us citizens of his kingdom, not because of anything we did to deserve it but by his own free gift in love. We are called to do likewise, freely and motivated by love. Christian love is to love like the Father, that is to recognize dignity and to give dignity, and thereby to help bring healing to the broken human family.
Vatican Resources

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Mark 3:7-12

2nd Week in Ordinary Time

He told his disciples to have a boat ready. (Mark 3:9)

Crowds upon crowds followed Jesus, and the more he healed, the more people pressed in on him. So many people surged toward him, in fact, that he had to act to avoid being crushed. But he had a boat ready, not for a quick escape, but so that he could continue to teach and heal.

Just as he did back then, Jesus has a plan today—for your life! He is always ready to teach you, to build you up, to forgive you, or to guide your feet. Nothing takes him by surprise; he is always ready, always prepared for whatever challenges life throws at you.

Jesus’ plan is no “Plan B” or “Plan C” or even “Plan Z.” It’s a perfect plan that will bring you peace, and it begins with you relaxing into God’s presence. Press in to be with Jesus just as the crowds did. He will never retreat beyond your ability to hear him. Maybe that means visiting the Tabernacle, sitting quietly in a comfortable chair, or just taking a deep breath in the middle of a rushed day. Read a psalm or listen to worshipful music to help you quiet your thoughts in his presence. Try to picture Jesus sitting next to you or calling to you from his boat.

Then give him time to speak to you. Pay attention to the thoughts in your mind and the feelings in your heart. Write down anything that occurs to you—pictures that form in your imagination; messages of guidance, assurance, or conviction; or Scripture passages that come to mind. If the message brings you joy or comfort or encouragement, it’s probably Jesus speaking to you. Remember, he has come to save, not to condemn.

Jesus wants to speak to every one of us. This is his Plan A. He wants to teach us about who he is and what it means to follow him. He wants to tell us about his mercy and his salvation. He wants to give us new insights into his love. Especially today, as we begin the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, he wants to tell us how we can be his ambassadors of reconciliation and healing.

“Jesus, I believe you want to speak to me today. Here I am. I’ve come to hear your voice.”

1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
Psalm 56:2-3, 9-13

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for January 18, 2018:

“There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12) Which gift does your beloved have in a special way: wisdom, faith, the ability to heal, industriousness, intuition, decision making skills, communication? Affirm him or her.

Regnum Christi

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Father Walter Schu, LC

Mark 3:7-12

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, this time of prayer should be everything for me: the moment that I long for, the food that sustains me, the comfort that strengthens me. I know that you are at work in me even when I don’t feel you and don’t even seem able to perceive your presence. I want to pray fervently and from the heart, not just with my mind.

Petition: Lord, help me to touch you in this moment of prayer. Help me to touch you in the Eucharist so that your presence will transform me.

1. Was Jesus Afraid? In yesterday’s Gospel text, Jesus silenced the Pharisees in the synagogue. So incensed were they against the Lord that they began to plot with the Herodians to kill him. Now Jesus has retreated from the synagogues to the lakeshore and the open fields. Was Christ afraid? Was he running from his enemies? Hardly. The Lord was simply aware that his hour had not yet come. When it does approach, he will embrace it by marching resolutely to Jerusalem and his passion and death. The ones who really are afraid are the demons. They recognize that God is manifesting his power through Christ, and they tremble before him. The Son of God has come to win back what Satan’s lies have stolen. Does Christ’s power accompanying me in my life give me the courage I need to confront any situation as his witness?

2. To Touch the Lord: In this vivid Gospel scene, the crowds of stricken humanity clamor around Jesus. Jews and gentiles journey from the far away regions of Idumea to the south, and Tyre and Sidon to the north, to catch a glimpse of the Master, to hear him speak words that no one has ever spoken before—to touch him and be healed of their infirmities. Oh, that we too had lived during the time of Christ in order to touch him and be cured of our sadness and selfishness, our heartache and egotism, our loneliness and lies, and even our physical ailments! Did Christ love those people who surrounded him by the lakeshore more than he loves us? No. He enables us to touch him more easily than they – every time we receive him in the Eucharist. Then why are we not yet healed? The disciples once cried out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” And he replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed….”

3. The Person of Christ: Irresistible: How can we grow in our faith in Christ? How can we, too, experience the irresistible attraction of his person like the crowds in Mark’s Gospel did? Nothing fills our life as much as contemplating the figure of Christ and perceiving the irresistible power of attraction he exercises through the centuries. Draw close to him, and in the depths of your souls contemplate him in all of the beauty of his human and divine stature. Along with the Eucharist, it is through prayer that we can come to touch Christ. Prayer is the most solemn moment for confessing our love; it is the raison d’être of our life, the ideal of our apostolate, the nourishment of our whole existence.

Conversation with Christ: Thank you, Lord, for letting me catch a glimpse of who you are through this meditation. Help me to respond to the attraction of your person with my whole life and to hold nothing back from you.

Resolution: I will visit Christ in the Eucharist or make a spiritual communion to thank him for his love and to contemplate him in the beauty of his divine and human stature.

Homily of the Day

January 18, 2018

The Gospel reading tells us about the public ministry of the Lord: preaching the Good News through his teaching, healing and expelling of evil spirits. He taught in synagogues, by the lakeside and on the mountainsides. People from all over came in large crowds to hear him and especially to have their sick cured and those with unclean spirits cleansed and freed. The people were anxious to hear Jesus. They wondered at his teaching and healing signs. Even the evil spirits knew and acknowledged him, “You are the Son of God.”

The same Good News which Jesus preached and confirmed with his miracles is still being preached to all the world. Before Jesus ascended to his Father after his rising from the dead, he commissioned his disciples and those to succeed them, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.” (Mk 16:15 – 16)

The mission to proclaim the Good News is not only for the ordained ministers of the Church: the mission to proclaim the Good News is for all baptized Christians so that they could share in faith and with joy the Good News they have received and accepted with all creation. And the proclamation of the Good News is done not only by word but more effectively by example of living the precepts and values of the Good News in our lives.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 34, Issue 1

<< Thursday, January 18, 2018 >>

1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
View Readings

Psalm 56:2-3, 9-13

Mark 3:7-12
Similar Reflections

JEALOUS RAGE

"Saul was jealous of David." �1 Samuel 18:9

Saul went to sleep jealous; he woke up demon-possessed (1 Sm 18:10). Cain also slept on his jealousy (Gn 4:5). He later committed the first homicide and fratricide. The religious leaders of Jesus' time were jealous of Him. They refused to put their jealousy to death. Instead, they put God to death after brutally torturing Him (Mt 27:18).

Many religious leaders after Jesus' time have continued to crucify Jesus and hold Him up to contempt (Heb 6:6) by persecuting His followers (see Acts 9:5). They have done this for the same reason that their forebears killed God � jealousy (see Acts 13:45).

Jealousy is very deadly. It was the motive for the first murder and the worst murder. In jealousy, we have killed both men and God. Jealousy is one of the oldest strongholds of the evil one (see 2 Cor 10:4), and it is stronger than ever today.

"Do you suppose it is to no purpose that Scripture says, 'The spirit He has implanted in us tends toward jealousy'? Yet He bestows a greater gift" (Jas 4:5-6). Therefore, by God's grace, "never act out of rivalry or conceit; rather, let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves, each of you looking to others' interests rather than to his own" (Phil 2:3-4).

Prayer: Father, make me so secure in Your love that I will resist the temptation to be jealous.

Promise: "Because He had cured many, all who had afflictions kept pushing toward Him to touch Him." —Mk 3:10

Praise: Antonio practiced humility until it became habitual.

Stand Up Girl

PS. Read some of these heart-warming stories about girls who kept their babies!