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Ordinary Time: January 16th
Wednesday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
MASS READINGS
January 16, 2019 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. 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)
Sole with Red Wine and Onions
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Activities (1)
Practical Suggestions for Christian Living (Holy Eucharist)
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Prayers (1)
Collect Prayer for the Feast of St. Marcellus
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Library (1)
Masses for the Repose of Souls | Fr. William Saunders
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Old Calendar: St. Marcellus, pope and martyr; St. Honoratus, archbishop (Hist)
According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Marcellus who was elected Pope just at the time when Diocletian had spent somewhat his first violence against the Church. In Rome he reorganized the Catholic hierarchy disrupted by the persecution. He was exiled and put to labor. He is considered a martyr as he died in 309 because of his treatment during his exile.
Historically today is the feast of St. Honoratus who was born in Gaul (modern France) about 350, and came from a distinguished Roman family. After a pilgrimage to Greece and Rome, he became a hermit on the isle of Lerins, where he was joined by Sts Lupus of Troyes (July 29), Eucherius of Lyons (November 16), and Hilary of Arles (May 5), among others.
St. Marcellus
Diocletian’s terrible persecution had taken its toll. It was reported that within a period of thirty days, sixteen thousand Christians were martyred. The Church in Rome was left scattered and disorganized, and the Holy See remained vacant for over two years. It wasn’t until the ascension of Emperor Maxentius and his policy of toleration that a pope could be chosen. Marcellus, a Roman priest during the reign of Marcellinus, was elected.
The new pope was confronted with enormous problems. His first challenge was to reorganize the badly shaken Church. He is said to have accomplished this by dividing Rome into twenty-five parishes, each with its own priest. The next task was more challenging. Once again a pope was faced with the problem of what to do with the many brethren who had compromised their faith during the reign of Diocletian. Marcellus upheld the doctrine of required penance before absolution. The apostates keenly desired readmission to communion, but they violently opposed the harshness of the penance demanded by the rigorist, Marcellus. Riots broke out throughout the city, and even bloodshed, to the point that Emperor Maxentius intervened. He believed that the pontiff was the root of the problem, and in the interest of peace, he banished Marcellus; the pope died a short time later. Apart from persecution, this was the first time that the secular government was known to have interfered with the Church. There is some confusion whether his body was brought back to Rome or whether he was allowed to return to the Holy See before his death. There is no doubt, however, that he was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria.
Symbols: Pope with a donkey or horse nearby; pope standing in a stable.
St. Honoratus
St. Honoratus was of a consular Roman family settled in Gaul. In his youth he renounced the worship of idols, and gained his elder brother, Venantius, to Christ. Convinced of the hollowness of the things of this world, they wished to renounce it with all its pleasures, but a fond pagan father put continual obstacles in their way. At length, taking with them St. Caprais, a holy hermit, for their director, they sailed from Marseilles to Greece, with the intention to live there unknown in some desert.
Venantius soon died happily at Methone, and Honoratus, being also sick, was obliged to return with his conductor. He first led a hermitical life in the mountains near Frejus. Two small islands lie in the sea near that coast; on the smaller, now known as St. Honoré, our Saint settled, and, being followed by others, he there founded the famous monastery of Lerins, about the year 400. Some of his followers he appointed to live in community; others, who seemed more perfect, in separate cells as anchorets. His rule was chiefly borrowed from that of St. Pachomius.
Nothing can be more amiable than the description St. Hilary has given of the excellent virtues of this company of saints, especially of the charity, concord, humility, compunction, and devotion which reigned among them under the conduct of our holy abbot.
He was, by compulsion, consecrated Archbishop of Arles in 426, and died, exhausted with austerities and apostolical labors, in 429.
Excerpted from Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Meditation: Hebrews 2:14-18
1st Week in Ordinary Time
He himself was tested through what he suffered. (Hebrews 2:18)
Today’s first reading reminds us that Jesus wasn’t some superhero. He became a man just like us; he suffered and was tempted just as we are. He got tired and hungry, just as we do. He felt hurt when people spoke against him, just as we do. And he needed to pray, just as we do. Jesus never sinned, of course, but he nevertheless experienced so many of the effects of sin that we know. This means that Jesus not only understands our suffering—he can also help us.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is pulled in every direction: healing, casting out demons, proclaiming the kingdom, dealing with a huge group of people crowding around his front door (Mark 1:33). Surely all those demands took their toll on him. And still he got up “very early before dawn” and went off “to a deserted place, where he prayed” (1:35). Didn’t he deserve to sleep in a bit?
Like Jesus, we can feel pulled every which way at times. The best thing we can do when this happens is to try to carve out a few minutes for prayer. When we are vulnerable, the devil will try to sneak in and take advantage of our weakness. He might tell us that it’s okay to be irritable; it’s only because we’re hungry. Or he might tell us not to worry about our word choice; anyone who is as tired as we are deserves to let off a little steam. Those are only the first steps on a slippery slope, and the sooner we get off that path, the better.
Remember, Jesus knows what you’re going through. He chose to become fully man so that he could feel what we feel. He chose to become one like us so that he could relate to us—and so that we could relate to him!
Every time you feel tired or tempted, hungry or hurt, remember that Jesus knows. Remember how he turned to his Father in prayer before the devil even had a chance. Then pray. Find a “deserted place,” and ask Jesus for his grace to see you through (Mark 1:35). Always remember that he is with you. He is always at your side, ready to help you and encourage you. Always remember that he knows.
“Jesus, you know what it is like to struggle with the demands of life. Help me, Lord.”
Psalm 105:1-4, 6-9
Mark 1:29-39