Christ preaching at the seaport
Jan Brueghel
1597
London, Private Collection
Posted on 01/21/2015 8:24:04 PM PST by Salvation
| Mark | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| Mark 3 |
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| 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.
A Day of Prayer and Penance for Life
in the dioceses of the United States
January 22nd
Visitation
Flemish. Rogier van der Weyden (oil on oak panel, ca 1445)
Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig
A special Mass “For Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life” was confirmed by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for use in the dioceses of the United States. This Mass may be used on occasions to celebrate the dignity of human life. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) §373 was altered to allow this Mass to be said on January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday), the day of penance for abortion:
GIRM 373: In all the Dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.
The liturgical celebrations for this day may be the Mass “For Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life” (no. 48/1 of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions), celebrated with white vestments, or the Mass “For the Preservation of Peace and Justice” (no. 30 of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions), celebrated with violet vestments.” (American adaptation)
Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life
Readings: Readings of the day or any readings from the Lectionary for Ritual Masses, the "Mass for Peace and Justice"
Collect A
God our Creator,
We give thanks to you,
Who alone have the power to impart the breath of life
as you form each of us in our mother’s womb;
Grant, we pray,
that we, whom you have made stewards of creation,
may remain faithful to this sacred trust
and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life.
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. +Amen
Collect B
O God, who adorn creation with splendor and beauty
and fashion human lives in your image and likeness,
Awaken in every heart
reverence for the work of your hands,
and renew among your people
a readiness to nurture and sustain
your precious gift of human life.
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. +Amen
Novena for the Protection of the Unborn also in Spanish
Feast Day: January 22
Born: 1798 in Rome, Italy
Died: 1850
Canonized: 1963 by Pope John XXIII
St. Vincent of Saragossa
Feast Day: January 22
Died: 304
Vincent was born in Heusca and grew up at Saragossa in Spain. He was educated by the bishop, St. Valerius. Valerius recognized his talents and goodness and made Vincent a deacon when he was quite young. Bishop Valerius asked him to preach and teach about Jesus and the Church.
Then one day Emperor Dacian arrested both Valerius and Vincent. Although he kept them in jail for a long time, they remained happy and peaceful and their faith in Jesus stayed strong. Then the emperor sent Bishop Valerius away from the country, but he sent Deacon Vincent to be cruelly tortured.
Vincent asked the Holy Spirit for strength. He wanted to be true to Jesus no matter how terrible things were for him. The Lord gave him that strength and Deacon Vincent remained peaceful through all his sufferings.
When they finished torturing Vincent, he was returned to prison where he converted the jailer. Finally, the emperor allowed people to visit Vincent. The Christians came and cared for his wounds and tried their best to make him comfortable. It was not long before he died in 304.
St. Vincent is the patron saint of Portugal. Let us pray today in the words of St. Vincent: "God fill us with your Spirit and strengthen us in your love."
Thursday, January 22
Liturgical Color: Green
Pope Benedict XV died on this day in
1922. He reigned as pope during World
War I. Although he was an excellent
diplomat, all sides in the conflict refused
his help. Several of his peace plans were
rejected, possibly extending the war.
January 22, 2015 by Dan Burke
Presence of God – I need You always, my divine Master, because You alone are holy and can show me the true way of holiness.
MEDITATION
The knowledge of God in which eternal life consists, as Jesus has said, is not the kind of knowledge which stops at the enlightenment of our intellects, but knowledge which stirs up our wills to love the God whom we know, and which regulates our whole life so that it will be pleasing to Him. Consequently, when Jesus has brought us to the knowledge of the Father, He then teaches us what we must do to please Him: “Be you therefore perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). In this brief formula, the divine Teacher reveals two great truths: God is the model of sanctity, because He alone is the fullness of perfection, free from every shadow of fault or failing; secondly, God’s will in our regard is that we also be perfect, which we shall be according to the degree in which we try to imitate God’s perfection.
Yet how can a mere creature imitate divine perfection? Jesus, our Life and our Teacher, makes it possible for us. The grace which Jesus merited for us and which He is continually giving us, together with the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, raises us from the human level to the supernatural, divine level; we are made sharers in the divine nature, the divine life. Faith also makes us sharers in God’s truth and in the knowledge which He has of Himself and of all things. Charity gives us a participation in the infinite love with which God loves Himself and His creatures.
However, we cannot see God’s perfection and holiness, because He “inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Timothy 6:16). But Jesus reveals God to us: He manifests Him to us in Himself, His works, and His words.
Hence, Jesus is the perfect Teacher of holiness. He teaches us that God wants us to be holy, shows us God as the supreme, infinite ideal of holiness, and enables us to start out toward this sublime ideal.
COLLOQUY
O my divine Master, what a sublime ideal of perfection You set before my soul! With Your help, I shall go on in this way with the one desire of following Your teaching, of doing the will of God, and of pleasing our heavenly Father. If in comparing myself to the saints, I see so many defects, how shall I ever put my misery before the infinite perfection of God? But, O Jesus, there is no question about it, for Your words resound clearly in my mind: “Be you perfect, as Your heavenly Father is perfect.”
I can do nothing better, then, than to imitate St. Thérèse’s charming, audacious method. Instead of becoming discouraged, I shall say to You as she did, “O Lord, You would not inspire me with a desire which could not be realized; therefore, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to become great, so I must bear with myself and my many imperfections; but I will seek out a means of reaching heaven by a little way—very short, very straight, and entirely new. We live in an age of inventions: there are now lifts which save us the trouble of climbing stairs. I will try to find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too small to climb the steep stairway of perfection…. O Jesus, Your arms, then, are the lift which must raise me even to heaven. To reach heaven I need not become great; on the contrary, I must remain little, I must become even smaller than I am” (Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Story of a Soul, 9).
These are Your two arms, O Jesus: the Holy Spirit whom You have sent to me, and the grace which You have given me: sanctifying grace and actual grace, by which You continually sustain the steps of those who trust in You. I must admit that if I am often discouraged, finding the path of perfection too difficult and wearisome; if I give up at last, because I think that a certain effort or act of generosity is too much for me, it is simply because I forget to have recourse to You, to cast myself into Your arms and implore You to help me. O my loving Master, You who never abandon us, but are always ready to help us if we have recourse to You, teach me to fly to You for refuge continually, with full confidence, asking Your help in every difficulty.
Daily Readings for:January 22, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)
Collect: God our Creator, we give thanks to you, who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother's womb; grant, we pray, that we, whom you have made stewards of creation, may remain faithful to this sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life. 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.
RECIPES
ACTIVITIES
PRAYERS
o Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity
LIBRARY
o The Catholic Duty to Be Pro-life | Austin B. Vaughan
· Ordinary Time: January 22nd
· Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
Old Calendar: Saints Vincent and Anastasius, martyrs
January 22 is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the day established by the Church of penance for abortion, has been formally named as the “Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.” On this day (or January 23rd when January 22nd falls on a Sunday) your parish, school or religious formation program may celebrate the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life. This Mass, found in our newly-translated Missal, may now be used on occasions to celebrate the dignity of human life.
The relevant change reads: “The liturgical celebrations for this day may be the Mass “For Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life? (no. 48/1 of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions), celebrated with white vestments, or the Mass “For the Preservation of Peace and Justice? (no. 30 of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions), celebrated with violet vestments.”
In addition to this special Mass on this day, perhaps your parish, school or religious formation program could encourage traditional forms of penance, host pro-life and chastity speakers, lead informative projects that will directly build up the culture of life, show a pro-life DVD, raise funds for local crisis pregnancy centers or offer additional prayer services.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
The Love of Life
Love is not merely a feeling, but is rather the desire for the best possible good for those whom we love. Through our natural intelligence and through Divine Revelation we become aware of the value of this most basic of all gifts which is life. Mere reason leads us to comprehend that it is better to be alive than never have had been in existence. The knowledge of the value of life that comes through revelation leads us to understand better this gift and to appreciate it: as a result, we worship and love more and more the Giver of this gift. This love is what moves us to protect the life of the unborn or any who might be unjustly treated. We are also led to protect women that might feel tempted or forced to commit abortion, as we know the devastating consequences that abortion will have in their lives. Last but not least we have to love, even if most of them seem to be utterly unlovable, the many perpetrators of abortion: medical personnel, and pro-abortion activists and politicians. We have to do everything that we can to convince them of their errors so that they repent and change their ways, both for their own benefit and for the benefit of society.
All human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Using a traditional scholastic term, we can state that He is the exemplary cause of every human being, in other words, He is the model on which all human beings are created. He looked upon himself and wished that other beings would share in His own happiness. So if we reflect upon ourselves, we can begin to understand our participation in the greatness of our Creator. This participation on His greatness leads us to comprehend that He has brought us out of nothing with a purpose, because knowing His intelligence and His loving nature it is clear that all His actions are always guided by a magnificent purpose. The first intention for which He has created us is that we should enjoy for an eternity His loving company in Heaven. All human persons are called to this eternal and loving company, no one is excluded, save those who, through their own actions, exclude themselves.
This manner of creation brings us to understand the unique essential dignity of every human being. A dignity that is not lost for any deprivation of the many external perfections that we might expect to find in a human person. A person might be born with a disability, or may suffer disability through injury or disease, but these deprivations do not affect his basic dignity. A Christian also has the hope that one day when the doors of Paradise will be opened for those children, all their human imperfections will be healed and they will enjoy forever the beatific vision that we all long for.
We are also created to be collaborators in the salvation of the World. The Lord normally does not intervene directly in the world; He does it through our free collaboration in his plans of salvation. He gives to us the saving truths through Holy Scripture, our natural reason and the mediation of the Church and we have to manifest them in our daily lives. If we love those truths we should be impelled to share them with all whom the Lord places in front of us. So when we speak with love and conviction of those truths we cannot be accused of carrying out an exaggerated rhetoric when we defend human life from its biological beginning until natural death. Nobody in his right mind can call it "vitriolic rhetoric" when we denounce that millions upon millions of unborn babies have been killed in the womb in the U.S. and in the rest of the world. It is literally a question of life and death, for the victim, for the mother of the baby and for the perpetrator of abortion, assisted suicide or euthanasia. The victim will have his earthly life terminated; the mother will suffer greatly for her actions, and the perpetrator and the mother will live under the shadow of the unhappiness of having rejected the loving truths of their Creator and certainly they will place their eternal salvation in jeopardy. Our main solidarity has to be always with the victim of the crime, because if the conscience of the nation is not moved by this growing injustice, we know that a growing number will be victimized in the future. Our solidarity is also with the mothers of those babies because often they have been misled or forced into committing this terrible action.
Last but not least we wish and pray that all abortionists will understand the terrible consequences of their actions and be converted.
Excerpted from Spirit & Life, Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, Interim President, Human Life International
St. Anastasius
The Martyrology relates: At Bethsaloen in Assyria, St. Anastasius, a Persian monk, who after suffering much at Caesarea in Palestine from imprisonment, stripes, and fetters, had to bear many afflictions from Chosroes, king of Persia, who caused him to be beheaded. He had sent before him to martyrdom seventy of his companions, who were drowned in a river. His head was brought to Rome, at Aquæ Salviæ, together with his revered image, by the sight of which demons are expelled, and diseases cured, as is attested by the Acts of the second Council of Nicea. The saint was venerated highly in Rome.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Day Five: You have no bucket and the well is deep (John 4:11)
God, spring of the Living water, help us to understand that the more we join together the pieces of our ropes, the more deeply our buckets reach into your divine waters! Awaken us to the truth that the gifts of the other, are an expression of your unfathomable mystery. And make us sit at the well together to drink from your water which gathers us in unity and peace. We ask this in the name of your son Jesus Christ, who asked the Samaritan woman to give him water for his thirst. Amen.
2nd Week in Ordinary Time
I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips. (Psalm 40:10)
Do you know how a geyser comes to be? Surface water seeps below the earth’s crust in some volcanic area and is heated by the molten rock below. As the water temperature rises, so does the pressure, pushing the water against the underside of the crust. Eventually, the pressure becomes so great that water and steam power through mineral deposits, find a crevice in the earth, and shoot high into the air in a spectacular display.
Today’s psalm suggests this kind of release, as the psalmist says he could not restrain himself from announcing the justice of the Lord. He had to stand up in the “vast assembly” and proclaim the truth of God’s redemption and his offer of restoration.
Today is a day when many of our readers in the United States feel like this as well. For it was on this day in 1973 that the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision paved the way for legalized abortion in the country. Many Americans today are commemorating that dreadful decision by holding prayer vigils and staging peaceful demonstrations both in Washington and in their hometowns. Through these actions, they are releasing some of the pressure of sadness and frustration that has built up over the sin of abortion.
Whether we live in Canada or Nigeria or Poland or Japan, we are all aware of the way human life has been disregarded. And it’s not just through abortion. Euthanasia lets people dispose of those considered a burden on society. Legalized torture reduces an enemy to an object to be beaten and tormented in the name of justice. Human trafficking turns people into pawns to be used for enjoyment or profit. Around the world and in our own backyards, innocent people are being used or discarded, denied their dignity as children of God.
Let’s make a difference today. Let’s cry out to God in intercession. Let’s make our homes havens of peace and mercy. Let’s work together to make the world a place where the innocent and the vulnerable are welcomed, protected, and honored.
“Lord, come and save your people! Bring your justice to this earth so that no one is ever abandoned again.”
Hebrews 7:25–8:6
Mark 3:7-12
Daily Marriage Tip for January 22, 2015:
Today on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we remember the lives lost to abortion. The family is the “sanctuary of life.” Pray with your family for an end to abortion, and for those grieving a child lost to abortion.
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January 22, 2015. Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
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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. 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. By Father Walter Schu, LC |
January 22, 2015
Jesus is the perfect high priest who intercedes for us at the right hand of God the Father. Men have seen his face and he has lived among us. He suffered and died, sinless as he was, for our salvation, and now with his ascension into heaven, our humanity has also been raised. We have indeed a perfect mediator who does not need to offer sacrifices again to appease God. He has once and for all done this when he offered his body on the cross. The Father has accepted his sacrifice and has given him power to save anyone who cries to him for help.
Why do you follow Jesus? Is it because of the miracles he has done for you? In the Gospel, great crowds followed Jesus because they have seen him doing many miracles – healing the sick, multiplying the loaves of bread, etc. Yet when things went wrong, only a handful remained.
To follow Jesus even if he does not cure our ailments and solve our problems is the mark of a mature Christian. This requires a lot of faith and we are called to be faithful to him. Why? Because Jesus has always been faithful to us. His death on the cross should provoke us to believe this and to desire to follow him. Then when we have gotten to know him intimately, we will truly love him because his love for us is very deep and personal. No one loves us as Jesus does. Once we have experienced this, we will want not only want to love him back but also want to imitate him.
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