Posted on 02/06/2006 9:22:58 AM PST by Salvation
Memorial of Saint Paul Miki, martyr, and his companions, martyrs
Reading I
1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13
The elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes,
the princes in the ancestral houses of the children of Israel,
came to King Solomon in Jerusalem,
to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant
from the City of David, which is Zion.
All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon
during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).
When all the elders of Israel had arrived,
the priests took up the ark;
they carried the ark of the LORD
and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels
that were in the tent.
(The priests and Levites carried them.)
King Solomon and the entire community of Israel
present for the occasion
sacrificed before the ark sheep and oxen
too many to number or count.
The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD
to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary,
the holy of holies of the temple.
The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark,
sheltering the ark and its poles from above.
There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets
which Moses had put there at Horeb,
when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel
at their departure from the land of Egypt.
When the priests left the holy place,
the cloud filled the temple of the LORD
so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud,
since the LORD’s glory had filled the temple of the LORD.
Then Solomon said, “The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud;
I have truly built you a princely house,
a dwelling where you may abide forever.”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 132:6-7, 8-10
R. (8a) Lord, go up to the place of your rest!
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
Let us enter into his dwelling,
let us worship at his footstool.
R. Lord, go up to the place of your rest!
Advance, O LORD, to your resting place,
you and the ark of your majesty.
May your priests be clothed with justice;
let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.
For the sake of David your servant,
reject not the plea of your anointed.
R. Lord, go up to the place of your rest!
Gospel
Mk 6:53-56
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
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From: 1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
Transfer of the Ark of the Covenant
From: Mark 6:53-56
Cures at Gennesaret
| Monday, February 6, 2006 Sts. Peter Baptist, OFM, Paul Miki, and Companions, Martyrs (Memorial) |
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Faith Gospel -- in my opinion. Faith of those who brought the sick to Jesus and faith of those who reached out to touch the fringe of his garment.
O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
A suitable hymn may be inserted at this point.
| Psalm 5 |
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| A morning prayer for help |
| Let my words come to your ears, O Lord: hear my sighs. Listen to the voice of my crying, my King and my God. As I pray to you in the morning, Lord, listen to my voice; in the morning I will stand before you and await you. You are not a God who loves evil. The wicked cannot stay near you, the unjust cannot remain in your presence. You hate all who do evil – you destroy all who speak falsehood – the Lord abominates the bloody and deceitful man. But in the abundance of your mercy you will admit me to your house: I will worship you in your holy temple, with fear and reverence. Lord, guide me in your justice, protect me from my enemies: let me see the path I must follow. For there is no truth in their mouth – their heart is a bottomless pit – their throat is a wide open grave – their tongue seduces. Punish them, Lord, and let their own plans destroy them. On account of their crimes, thrust them from your presence; for they are rebels against you. Let all who hope in you rejoice, triumph for ever. You will shelter them and they will glory in you. For you bless the just, O Lord, and your good will surrounds them like a shield. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
| Canticle | 1 Chronicles 29 |
|---|---|
| To God alone be honour and glory | |
| Blessed are you, Lord, God of our father Israel, through all the ages. All power and greatness are yours, O God; glory, splendour, and majesty. All things are yours, in the heavens and on the earth; you rule over them, Lord, you are high above them all. All riches and glory come from you, you rule over all things. In your hand lie strength and power, your hand raises all things and sets them firm. So now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
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| Psalm 28 (29) |
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| Praise the word of the Lord |
| Give to the Lord, all his children, his glory and power, give to the Lord the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in holy splendour. The voice of the Lord is heard over the waters: the God of majesty thunders, God above all the waters. The voice of the Lord in his power, the voice of the Lord in his greatness. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks down the cedars of Lebanon. The Lord makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a wild ox. The voice of the Lord cuts flames in two; the voice of the Lord beats on the desert, the Lord stuns the desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord puts the deer to flight, it empties the thickets; in his sanctuary, all praise his glory. The Lord dwells above the raging flood, he is enthroned as king for ever. The Lord will give strength to his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
| A short Bible reading and responsory may follow here. |
| Canticle | Benedictus |
|---|---|
| The Messiah and his forerunner | |
| Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption. He has raised up the sign of salvation in the house of his servant David, as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones, his prophets through the ages: to rescue us from our enemies and all who hate us, to take pity on our fathers, to remember his holy covenant and the oath he swore to Abraham our father, that he would give himself to us, that we could serve him without fear – freed from the hands of our enemies – in uprightness and holiness before him, for all of our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High: for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path, to let his people know their salvation, so that their sins may be forgiven. Through the bottomless mercy of our God, one born on high will visit us to give light to those who walk in darkness, who live in the shadow of death; to lead our feet in the path of peace. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
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| Some short prayers may follow here, to offer up the day's work to God. |
| Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. |
| A concluding prayer may follow here. |
| May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life. |
| A M E N |
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February 6, 2006
 St. Paul Miki and Companions
(d. 1597)
Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his Church. Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: “The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.” When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862. Quote:
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Recipes:
Activities:
Prayers:
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February 06, 2006    Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs Old Calendar: St. Titus, confessor and bishop; St. Dorothy, virgin and martyr
Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar today was the feast of St. Titus, whose feast is now combined with St. Timothy on January 26 and St. Dorothy, virgin and martyr, whose feast is no longer on the Universal Calendar.
St. Paul Miki and Companions Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands. Three and a half centuries before, twenty-six martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his church.
When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862. Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M. Things to Do:
St. Dorothy  St. Dorothy, (i.e., the gift of God), a virgin from Caesarea in Cappadocia, allegedly suffered a martyr's death under Diocletian. Her relics are honored in a church dedicated to her honor in the Trastevere section of Rome. (On the door of St. Dorothy's Church the names of those who had not received holy Communion during Easter time used to be posted.) Her feast was introduced into the Roman calendar during the Middle Ages. A very edifying story is related in connection with her name. As Dorothy was being led to execution because of her faith in Christ, she prayed, "I thank You, 0 Lover of souls, for having called me to Your paradise." A certain Theophilus, an official of the Roman governor, jestingly retorted, "Farewell, bride of Christ, send me apples or roses from your Bridegroom's garden of bliss." Dorothy answered, "I most certainly will." While devoting herself to prayer during the few moments permitted before receiving the death stroke, she beheld a vision of a beautiful youth who carried three apples and three roses in a napkin. She said to him, "I implore you to take these to Theophilus." Soon the sword severed her neck, and her soul returned to God. As Theophilus was mockingly telling his friend of Dorothy's promise, a young man stood before him holding a linen in which were wrapped three beautiful apples and three magnificent roses. "See, the virgin Dorothy sends you these from the garden of her Bridegroom, even as she promised you." Highly astonished, for it was February and everything in nature was frozen, Theophilus received the gifts and cried out: "Truly indeed, Christ is God." And soon he too died a martyr's death for publicly confessing the faith. Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch. Patron: Brewers; brides; florists; gardeners; midwives; newlyweds. Symbols: Crowned with flowers and surrounded by stars as she kneels before the executioner; crowned with palm and flower basket; surrounded by stars; crowned; carrying a flower basket; in an orchard with the Christ-child in an apple tree; leading the Christ-child by the hand; maiden carrying a basket of fruit and flowers, especially roses; roses; veiled with flowers in her lap; veiled; holding apples from heaven on a branch; with a basket of fruit and the Christ-child riding a hobby horse; with an angel and wreath of flowers; with an angel carrying a basket of flowers. Things to Do:
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1 Kings 8:1-7,9-13 / Mk 6:53-56 Today’s gospel calls to mind a quirky artist of a few years back whose signature song was “Tiptoe through the Tulips.” Tiptoe through life is what a lot of us do, trying our best to avoid making any mistakes, getting in trouble, or causing any damage. Those are not bad aspirations, but they’re surely not enough to make a real life. A real life calls for active engagement, confronting the challenges that life presents us, wrestling with the big issues of meaning and purpose, striving to construct something of value on this piece of the earth that God has temporarily consigned to our care. Building a real life calls for active engagement with the people around us, and most of all it demands that we connect deeply with the Lord, getting to know Him as the true friend He is, and letting our hearts be touched and shaped by Him. The gospel says that “all who touched Him got well.” And that brings us to the question of the day: Have you got to know the Lord well enough yet to let your heart be touched by Him? Or are you still just looking at Him and talking at Him from a distance? Why not move a little closer and make real contact? It will change your life. |
Mass Bump.
Faith-sharing bump.
Praise the Lord that there were no serious injuries or incidents at the Super Bowl game last night. May all fans have safe travel as they head home.
This is true Ciexyz.Thank you Lord.
Glad you stopped by. May Japan celebrate this day of their martyrs.
Monday February 6, 2006 Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading (1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13) Gospel (St. Mark 6:53-56)
In the first reading today, we hear about King Solomon at the time that he dedicated the temple which he had built to the Lord. As that dedication takes place, the priests bring the Ark of the Covenant from the tent where it had been up to the new temple, and as they place the Ark into the Holy of Holies, the temple is filled with a dark cloud. You will recognize that same basic cloud when we hear about Our Lord at the Transfiguration. You also recognize that it was there when Moses would enter the meeting tent, and most gloriously of all at the time when the Holy Spirit descended upon our Blessed Lady at the time of the Incarnation. We see that wherever God’s glory dwelt, that is where the glory cloud was. In this case, the priests were not able to minister because of the cloud. They could not see; they were not able to function. We have to remember too that this was only a one-time thing. The cloud was not there constantly, even though the Lord continued to dwell there. It was just there at the beginning of things for the Lord to be able to show the people that He was very pleased with what it was they had done.
Now we have the Lord right in front of us dwelling in a way that is almost infinitely more glorious than the way He was dwelling in the temple of old. There He was present among the people because He had chosen them. In the Ark of the Covenant were the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. We have Our Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. It is not just a form of God’s presence, that is, the way that God was present in the Old Testament in the temple, but rather we have God Himself actually and truly present. He is sacramentally present, not physically so, but nonetheless it is the reality of the fullness of the very Person of Jesus Christ.
If we think about it, there are different modes of God’s presence. He is present everywhere by His immensity, that is, He has to keep everything in being at all times. In that way, we would also have to say that He is present even among the demons because He has to keep them in being; He has to keep hell itself in existence or it would cease to exist. So whatever the thing happens to be, whether it is the rocks or the trees or anything else, God is present by immensity to be able to keep everything there. God is present within each one of us in His indwelling presence. The Most Holy Trinity dwells in each one us provided that we are in the state of grace, a different form of God’s presence and a far more profound form. But now in the Blessed Sacrament, He is substantially present in a sacramental form. It is the whole Person of Christ Who is present among us, not quite the way He was when we hear about Him in the Gospel going into the towns and villages and healing people because that was a physical presence of the Lord, that is, the way we are right here, physically present. In the Blessed Sacrament, He is not physically present; He is sacramentally present. But it is still the fullness of Christ, the fullness of His Person.
So when we see how the people went to Our Lord to be healed, we need to be able to do the same thing. He is present far more powerfully now than He ever was in the Old Testament, yet what happens for us sometimes is that we so take Him for granted that we are unlike the people of Gennesaret. They went and found the people to bring to the Lord in order to be touched, in order to be healed. Perhaps we have just gotten so accustomed to His presence that we take Him for granted. We are the ones who need to be healed, not physically, necessarily, but spiritually. That means we have to be willing to open our hearts, to come before Him and make ourselves vulnerable, to allow Him to enter more and more deeply into our hearts and to fill us with that glory cloud, to fill us with His presence. There we can minister to Him as He ministers to us, because it is there in the depth of our being, in the temple of that He has made for Himself – our own hearts – that we are going to find Him in the fullness of His glory, especially when we receive Him in Holy Communion. There we can be one with Him, to commune with Him literally in our hearts. And there, as the glory of the Lord fills this temple of our own selves, we will be able to recognize with Solomon that this is the place where God has chosen to dwell and it is here that He desires to dwell forever, that is, forever in this life until finally the day comes when we can enter into the temple He has prepared for us and we will enter fully into Him in the eternal glory of heaven.
* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.
I read this story on the air.I killed the names:) but it is a wonderful story.
It is a wonderful story. What a great thing to do -- putting it on the air.
And the listeners (unless they were Japanese) would not know the names anyway. LOL!
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Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: "The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain." 