Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 02-07-15

February 7, 2015

Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters:
Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise,
that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have;
God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.

Obey your leaders and defer to them,
for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account,
that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow,
for that would be of no advantage to you.

May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead
the great shepherd of the sheep
by the Blood of the eternal covenant,
furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will.
May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose.
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Alleluia Jn 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 6:30-34

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.

When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

Interactive Saints for Kids

Blessed Giles Mary

Feast Day: February 07
Born:1729 :: Died:1812

Francis Pontillo was born near Taranto, Italy, to a pious family and raised in the village there. As a child he learned rope-making and was good at his trade.

When he was twenty-five, Francis became aware of a call from the Lord to give his life to God. He wanted very much to become a priest but because he did not have enough education to become one, he entered the Friars of St. Peter Alcantara in Naples as a lay brother.

His complete name as a religious was Brother Giles Mary-of-St.-Joseph. The two virtues that guided his whole religious life were simplicity and humility.

Brother Giles Mary approached each day with an attitude of wanting to serve God. He was grateful for his calling and it showed. Brother Giles walked up and down the halls of the monastery's seminary, as he was the porter and gate-keeper. He opened the door promptly and with a smile every time a visitor pulled the rope that rang the bell.

He took gentle care of the poor, the homeless, the ill who came to that door. He had a special ministry to the sick. He worked with lepers, traveling outside the city to help those who had to live alone because of their disease.

He was given the duty of distributing the food and money that his community could spare. Brother Giles Mary loved to do that. No matter how much he gave to needy people, so much remained for others.

He knew it was St. Joseph who did this. After all, St. Joseph had once taken such good care of Jesus and Mary. Brother Giles Mary spread devotion to St. Joseph throughout his whole religious life.

After a life of faithfulness to God and his chosen vocation, Brother Giles Mary-of-St.-Joseph died peacefully while he was praying on February 7, 1812.

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 6
30.	And the apostles coming together unto Jesus, related to him all things that they had done and taught.	Et convenientes Apostoli ad Jesum, renuntiaverunt ei omnia quæ egerant, et docuerant.	και συναγονται οι αποστολοι προς τον ιησουν και απηγγειλαν αυτω παντα και οσα εποιησαν και οσα εδιδαξαν
31.	And he said to them: Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little. For there were many coming and going: and they had not so much as time to eat.	Et ait illis : Venite seorsum in desertum locum, et requiescite pusillum. Erant enim qui veniebant et redibant multi : et nec spatium manducandi habebant.	και ειπεν αυτοις δευτε υμεις αυτοι κατ ιδιαν εις ερημον τοπον και αναπαυεσθε ολιγον ησαν γαρ οι ερχομενοι και οι υπαγοντες πολλοι και ουδε φαγειν ευκαιρουν
32.	And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart.	Et ascendentes in navim, abierunt in desertum locum seorsum.	και απηλθον εις ερημον τοπον τω πλοιω κατ ιδιαν
33.	And they saw them going away, and many knew: and they ran flocking thither on foot from all the cities, and were there before them.	Et viderunt eos abeuntes, et cognoverunt multi : et pedestres de omnibus civitatibus concurrerunt illuc, et prævenerunt eos.	και ειδον αυτους υπαγοντας και επεγνωσαν αυτον πολλοι και πεζη απο πασων των πολεων συνεδραμον εκει και προηλθον αυτους και συνηλθον προς αυτον
34.	And Jesus going out saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.	Et exiens vidit turbam multam Jesus : et misertus est super eos, quia erant sicut oves non habentes pastorem, et cœpit docere multa.	και εξελθων ειδεν ο ιησους πολυν οχλον και εσπλαγχνισθη επ αυτοις οτι ησαν ως προβατα μη εχοντα ποιμενα και ηρξατο διδασκειν αυτους πολλα

30. And the apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
31. And he said to them, Come you yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
32. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
33. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and out went them, and came together to him.
34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw many people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

GLOSS. The Evangelist, after relating the death of John, gives an account of those things which Christ did with His disciples after the death of John, saying, And the Apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

PSEUDO-JEROME; For they return to the fountain-head whence the streams flow; those who are sent by God, always offer up thanks for those things which they have received.

THEOPHYL. Let us also learn, when we are sent on any mission, not to go far away, and not to overstep the bounds of the office committed, but to go often to him, who sends us, and report all that we have done and taught; for we must not only teach but act.

BEDE; Not only do the Apostles tell the Lord what they themselves had done and taught, but also his own and John's disciples together tell him what John had suffered, during the time that they were occupied in teaching, as Matthew relates. It goes on: And he said to them, Come you yourselves apart, &c.

AUG. This is said to have taken place, after the passion of John, therefore what is first related took place last, for it was by these events that Herod was moved to say, This is John the Baptist, whom I beheaded.

THEOPHYL. Again, He goes to a desert place from His humility. But Christ makes His disciples rest, that men who are set over others may hear, that they who labor in any work or in the word deserve rest, and ought not to labor continually.

BEDE; How arose the necessity for giving rest to His disciples, He shows, when He adds, For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat; we may then see how great was the happiness of that time, both from the toil of the teachers, and from the diligence of the learners. It goes on, And embarking into a ship, they departed into a desert place privately. The disciples did not enter into the ship alone, but taking up the Lord with them, they went to a desert place, as Matthew shows. Here He tries the faith of the multitude, and by seeking a desert place. He would see whether they care to follow Him. And they follow Him, and that not on horseback, nor in carriages, but laboriously coming on foot, they show how great is their anxiety for their salvation.

There follows, And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and out went them. In saying that they out went them on foot, it is proved that the disciples with the Lord did not reach the other bank of the sea, or of the Jordan, but they went to the nearest places of the same country, where the people of those parts could come to them on foot.

THEOPHYL. So do you not wait for Christ till He Himself call you, but outrun Him, and come before Him. There follows, And Jesus when he came out saw much people, and was moved with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep having no shepherd. The Pharisees being ravenous wolves did not feed the sheep, but devoured them; for which reason they gather themselves to Christ, the trite Shepherd, who gave them spiritual food, that is, the word of God. Wherefore it goes on, And he began to teach them many things. For seeing that those who followed Him on account of His miracles were tired from the length of the way, He pitied them, and wished to satisfy their wish by teaching them.

BEDE; Matthew says that he healed their sick, for the real way of pitying the poor is to open to them the way of truth by teaching them, and to take away their bodily pains.

PSEUDO-JEROME; Mystically, however, the Lord took apart those whom He chose, that though living amongst evil men, they might not apply their minds to evil things, as Lot in Sodom, Job in the land of Uz, and Obadiah in the house of Ahab.

BEDE; Leaving also Judea, the holy preachers, in the desert of the Church, overwhelmed by the burden of their tribulations amongst the Jews, obtained rest by the imparting of the grace of faith to the Gentiles.

PSEUDO-JEROME; Little indeed is the rest of the saints here on earth, long is their labor, but afterwards, they are bidden to rest from their labors. But as in the ark of Noah, the animals that were within were sent forth, and they that were without rushed in, so is it in the Church, Judas went, the thief came to Christ. But as long as men go back from the faith, the Church can have no refuge from grief; for Rachel weeping for her children would not be comforted. Moreover, this world is not the happiest, in which the new wine is drank, when the new song will be sung by men made anew, when this mortal shall have put in immortality.

BEDE; But when Christ goes to the deserts of the Gentiles, many bands of the faithful leaving the walls of their cities, that is their old manner of living, follow Him.

Catena Aurea Mark 6

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:February 07, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Grant us, Lord our God, that we may honor you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart. 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

o Minestrone

ACTIVITIES

o Explaining the Mass and Sacraments

o Preschool Parent Pedagogy: Planning the Teaching of our Faith

o Teaching About the Mass

o Teaching the Trinity

o Teaching Through Example

o The Sign of the Cross

o What Truths to Teach

o Why teach at home?

PRAYERS

o Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

LIBRARY

o I Will Arise and Return to My Father | Pope John Paul II

· Ordinary Time: February 7th

· Saturday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time

· Old Calendar: St. Romuald, abbot

· According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Romuald, abbot, the anniversary of the translation of his relics in 1481. His feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated on June 19, the day he died in 1027.

· The Supreme Lover
The Goodness of God means that God gives us what we need for our perfection, not what we want for our pleasure and sometimes for our destruction. As a sculptor, He sometimes applies the chisel to the marble of our imperfect selves and knocks off huge chunks of selfishness that His image may better stand revealed. Like a musician, whenever He finds the strings too loose on the violin of our personality, He tightens them even though it hurts, that we may better reveal our hidden harmonies.

· As the Supreme Lover of our soul, He does care how we act and think and speak. What father does not want to be proud of his son? If the father speaks with authority now and then to his son, it is not because he is a dictator, but because he wants him to be a worthy son. Not even progressive parents, who deny discipline and restraint, are indifferent to the progress of their children. So long as there is love, there is necessarily a desire for the perfecting of the beloved.

· That is precisely the way God's goodness manifests itself to us. God really loves us and, because He loves us, He is not disinterested. He no more wants you to be unhappy than your own parents want you to be unhappy. God made you not for His happiness, but for yours, and to ask God to be satisfied with most of us as we really are, is to ask that God cease to love.

· — Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21

Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise. (Hebrews 13:15)

On February 28, 1944, a young Dutch woman named Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested and sent to concentration camps for running a safe house for Jews during the Nazi occupation of Holland. In the midst of great suffering, Corrie’s sister, Betsie, reminded her that the Scriptures called them to thank God in everything. So they did. They even thanked God for the infestation of fleas in the barracks. As they persisted in giving thanks, they noticed that the guards left them alone. They were able to hold Bible studies and led many fellow prisoners to Christ. They later found out that the guards stayed away because of the fleas!

On one level, this story shows that God works through all things. But on another level, it shows how praising the Lord does something deeper in us. It helps us focus on the Lord so that we can experience his life and freedom more deeply. As Corrie and Betsie praised God, they paid less attention to their hardships and more attention to the other prisoners and their need for Jesus.

Praising God helps us find that place of “restful waters” that refresh and restore us (Psalm 23:2). As we offer God our praise and thanks, we become more aware of his greatness. As a result, difficulties no longer loom as large. Recalling God’s greatness opens us up to his wisdom and direction. It helps us to receive his love, which casts out all fear. It fills us with courage and peace.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus told the disciples to “come away … and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Praising and thanking God is one way we can do just that. We don’t need to be behind closed doors to do it! We can praise him sitting in the car, on an elevator, or in the middle of a lunch break. Even while talking to a neighbor, we can lift our hearts to Jesus and thank him for who he is and what he has done for us. As Corrie and Betsie ten Boom discovered, the more we praise God, the more he sustains us—no matter how many “fleas” we see!

“Father, you are both mighty and humble. Thank you for your love and mercy. I praise you for holding me in the palm of your hand.”

Psalm 23:1-6
Mark 6:30-34

Regnum Christi

Resting in the Lord

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

February 7, 2015. Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

By Father Alex Yeung, LC

Mark 6:30-34

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are present here. You know me through and through, and despite my weaknesses, sins and imperfections you love me. Lord, thank you for your love. Today I give you my mind, my heart and my will. Mold me and use me as you wish.

Petition: Mary, obtain for me the grace to understand and live the Christian meaning of rest.

1. A Needed Rest: Jesus knows that his disciples need to rest after returning from a long stint of missionary work. There is a need to replenish energies — physical, mental and spiritual. It is within God’s will to put moments of physical rest into our daily programs. Jesus tells the apostles to get away together and with him. Physical rest, of course, is not laziness or dissipation. It is not a place to lose the spiritual tautness of our soul towards God and his things, or the readiness to do God’s will at all times.

2. Thinking About Others: Jesus teaches us that being ready to do God’s will in everything means also being always ready to serve others. How beautiful it is when families can relax together with each member not just selfishly thinking about myself, how much fun I can have, or making sure everyone obeys my whims! In a culture where “vacation” is synonymous with “loafing,” Jesus reminds us that for a Christian, relaxing and having fun are not incompatible with thinking about and serving others. Jesus’ compassionate heart was always active, and even with rest on his mind, he was moved to give himself to the people who needed to hear the Word of God. Is my heart like Christ’s? Am I aware of the physical and spiritual needs of my family and friends even on my “day off”?

3. Thinking About God: There is a deeper meaning to “rest”: turning all our activity to glorify God and expressing our loving dependence on him. He commanded us to set apart one day of the week to “rest” in him, to direct our hearts and minds to him, to offer him the fruits of our week’s work, and to receive his grace to begin another week. Sunday must be the highlight of a Christian’s week, not just because he finds respite from his work, but because he offers all his work –– and himself –– to God the Father during the communal celebration of Mass, the heart of Sunday. This God-centered focus is extended throughout the whole Sunday rest, where “daily concerns and tasks can find their proper perspective: the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual values; in a moment of encounter and less pressured exchange, we see the true face of the people with whom we live. Even the beauties of nature — too often marred by the desire to exploit, which turns against man himself — can be rediscovered and enjoyed to the full” (John Paul II, Dies Domini, 67).

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me to find my true rest in you. You are the source of all that is good. Help me to order all my work and material things towards spiritual values. Help me make Mass the heart of my Sunday. As well, help me use Sunday to see the true face of my family, friends, colleagues and clients: they are souls which you call me to love, serve, and bring closer to you.

Resolution: I will find some concrete way to prepare myself and my family for the celebration of Sunday Mass: reflecting on the Mass readings, organizing ourselves to arrive early to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, doing some service of charity like visiting the sick or elderly, etc.

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Español

All Issues > Volume 31, Issue 2

<< Saturday, February 7, 2015 >>

Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21
View Readings

Psalm 23:1-6

Mark 6:30-34
Similar Reflections

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE

"The apostles returned to Jesus." —Mark 6:30

When Jesus first summoned and named the apostles (Mk 3:13), all hell broke loose. Jesus' relatives declared He was out of His mind (Mk 3:21), and the religious leaders claimed He was possessed by the devil (Mk 3:22).

When "Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits" (Mk 6:7), St. Mark believed that all hell broke loose again, for, at this point in his Gospel, Mark inserted the account of Herod's beheading of John the Baptizer (Mk 6:14ff).

When Jesus, through Pope John XXIII, summoned the successors of the apostles, that is, the bishops of the world, at the Second Vatican Council, all hell seems to have broken loose.

Jesus, however, has never let that bother Him. When all hell breaks loose, Jesus summons and gathers His apostles once again (see Mk 6:30ff). He shepherds, teaches, and feeds His Church (Mk 6:34ff). He does a miracle of multiplication (see Mk 6:41ff) and "makes all things work together for the good of those who love" Him (Rm 8:28).

Jesus works through His Church, which holds the keys to God's kingdom (Mt 16:19). She can attack the gates of hell, which cannot prevail against her (Mt 16:18). Our bishops, as successors of the apostles, and we, who are under their authority, are a threat to the devil. The apostolic Church has authority and victory. Love the Church (Eph 5:25), her Head Jesus Christ, and her bishops.

Prayer: Father, may I, as a member of the Church, be such a threat to the devil that all hell breaks loose and all hell is defeated.

Promise: "Through [Jesus] let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which acknowledge His name." —Heb 13:15

Praise: Ron burned his pornographic magazines and gave his life to Jesus.

Ha! I am so gald you mentioned that. I hesitated posting that particular icon because if you look closer, it is an anti-Catholic icon: it shows the Latin Catholics outside of the boat.

But we can be generous to the Orthodox, with all their prejudices, can’t we? The icon nevertheless shows the truth in a way a text or a realistic painting can’t. We should be thinking of the Church as a boat in which individual swimmers find salvation.

I, too, love icons. They are “written” because they are more like text in this important sense. Written text can be copied; it can appear in many forms: in large letters, small letters, handwritten, chiseled in stone, spoken or sung. It is still the text of the same meaning. Something similar takes place in an icon: the iconographer can employ one style or another but it remains the same icon. While he can offer variations in style, he cannot change the composition, attitudes of the people in the icons; he especially must avoid excessive realism or depiction of passions. Contrast that with a painting. If you take any painting at all and make a copy, or change the style, — make it your own, — it will no longer be THAT painting: that Mona Lisa, that Nude Maja, that Self Portrait With the Bandaged Ear. An iconographer is not supposed to think of himself as an artist: he does not create what was not there before, he shows what exists in heaven faithfully.

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Meditation: Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21

Marriage=One Man and One Woman 'Til Death Do Us Part

One Bread, One Body

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE