Daily Readings for January 22, 2015

1ST READING

The holiness of Jesus is important in our understanding of the enduring nature of His sacrifice. If Jesus were not without sin, then His sacrifice would be imperfect and, thus, unable to save us. This is why the divinity of Christ is essential to our understanding of Jesus as the one sent by God the Father. He must be one with the Father in divinity, or else His sacrifice is limited and not able to cover all sins.

Hebrews 7:25–8:6

25 Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. 26 It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. 27 He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever. 8:1 The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 3 Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For God says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.

P S A L M

Psalm 40:7-8, 8-9, 10, 17

R: Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

6[7] Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; 7[8] then said I, “Behold I come.” (R) “In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, 8[9] To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!” (R) 9[10] I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know. (R) 16[17]May all who seek you exult and be glad in you, And may those who love your salvation say ever, “The Lord be glorified.” (R)

GOSPEL

Mark mentions the multitude of healings that have occurred through the ministry of Jesus. He is preparing us for the naming of the Twelve Apostles who will travel and minister with Jesus. Why do they respond to Jesus’ call so freely? They have seen what He does and how He lives and believe Him to be someone very special. Miracles of healing were one way of attracting people to listen to what Jesus had to say.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.

Mark 3:7-12

7 Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. 8 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. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. 10 He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. 11 And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” 12 He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Credits to: www.kerygmafamily.com

Daily Readings for January 21, 2015

1ST READING

Melchizedek is a very mysterious character. He appears from nowhere to Abraham, who offers him a tithe, and then he disappears just as quickly. All we really know about him is that his name literally means “my king is righteous.” The author of this letter seems to use him as an affirmation of the enduring nature  of the priesthood of Christ. The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross will endure for all time, in the same way that the priesthood of Melchizedek has become known to endure.

Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17

1 Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings and blessed him. 2 And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. 3 Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 15 It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become so, not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 For it is testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

P S AL M

Psalm 110: 1, 2, 3, 4

R: You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.

1 The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” (R) 2 The scepter of your power the Lord will stretch forth from Zion: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” (R) 3 “Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” (R) 4 The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus breaks the sabbath again, not to antagonize the people but to reinforce what He is saying about the need to place love above everything else. If we focus on laws as being our savior or that of our society, then there will come a time when society will collapse under the weight of its imposition. Only love, lived freely, can provide a viable alternative. This is the challenge we face today with many people advocating change in laws regarding sexual morality. Only true love can teach us what is right and wrong; the law does not have the power to command us internally; only love does.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people.TODAY’S

Mark 3:1-6

1 Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” 4 Then he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. 5 Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Credits to: www.kerygmafamily.com

Daily Readings for January 20, 2015

1ST READING

Jesus is the source of our sure hope because He has risen from the dead and demonstrated that God is indeed true to His promises, even that of bringing forth new life from death. We read today the importance of Christian hope, which has the power to carry us through temptation and suffering. Let us never lose sight of it as we strive to become the best disciples of Jesus that we can be.

Hebrews 6:10-20

10 Brothers and sisters: God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. 11 We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises. 13 When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 and said, I will indeed bless you and multiply you. 15 And so, after patient waiting, Abraham obtained the promise. 16 Now, men swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument. 17 So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath, 18 so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. 19 This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

P S AL M

Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9, 10

R: The Lord will remember his covenant forever.

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company and assembly of the just. 2 Great are the works of the Lord, exquisite in all their delights. (R) 4 He has won renown for his wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the Lord. 5 He has given food to those who fear him; he will forever be mindful of his covenant. (R) 9 He has sent deliverance to his people; he has ratified his covenant forever; holy and awesome is his name. 10 His praise endures forever. (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus emphasizes that it is love that He is looking for, not legalism. In one sense legalism is easy. It forces us to work together as a community and not as individuals. A community that is legalistic compels cooperation under the framework of universal laws that often do not allow the individual to flourish. It is important that as we grow in discipleship we also learn to celebrate our differences and work hard to see how they can be used together for the work of the Kingdom of God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call.

Mark 2:23-28

23 As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. 24 At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. 28 That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Credits to: www.kerygmafamily.com

Daily Readings for January 19, 2015

1ST READING

The idea that Jesus learned obedience through suffering is important, as the fundamental sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was one of pride, namely disobedience to the command of God. Jesus undoes their disobedience through His obedience to the Father’s will. He knows the power of temptation through His experience in the desert. He chose to resist it by standing on the Word of God. Jesus trusted in the promises of God and did not give in to the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Hebrews 5:1-9

1 Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness 3 and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 4 No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my son; this day I have begotten you; 6 just as he says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 7 In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; 9 and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

P S AL M

Psalm 110: 1, 2, 3, 4

R: You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

1 The Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” (R) 2 The scepter of your power the Lord will stretch forth from Zion: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” (R) 3 “Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” (R) 4 The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” (R)

GOSPEL

The Gospel is based on a heart’s response to God’s offer of love, not on obedience to a set of external laws. What God is looking for is our love in order to draw out our uniqueness and beauty as individuals. Laws will discover the “least common denominators” in a group of people. Love will discover the person himself. This is why Jesus speaks of a “new wineskin” — in other words, a new approach to His relationship with us. It is the only path to the fullness of life that God promises.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

Mark 2:18-22

18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. 22 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

Credits to: www.kerygmafamily.com

Daily Readings for January 18, 2015

Feast of Sto. Niño

1ST READING

The Feast of the Sto. Niño reminds us to meditate upon the childhood of Jesus. Jesus was not all miracles and signs and wonders. He, too, was a child. We should deepen our faith in both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus. One way to do this is to imagine and ponder on the reality of His childhood. Here is a God and Savior who was once needy and totally dependent on others for survival.

Isaiah 9:1-6

1 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. 2 You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils. 3 For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. 4 For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames. 5 For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him: Wonder-counselor, God-hero, Father-forever, Prince of Peace. 6 His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!

P S AL M

Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6

R: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. (R) 2 The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. 3 He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. (R) All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. 4 Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. (R) 5 Sing praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and melodious song. 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the Lord. (R)

2ND READING

The mystery of the incarnation never ceases to amaze us. It is a constant source of material for prayer and contemplation. Of all the mysteries of Christ, I find this one the most fascinating because it directly involves me. It is the same humanity that I have — that we all have — that Christ assumed in order to redeem us. What a wonderful source of food for thought.

Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18

3 Brothers and sisters: Blessed be the God and Father of our Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, 4 as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love 5 he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, 6 for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. 15 Therefore, I, too, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the holy ones, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. 18 May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones.

GOSPEL

Jesus calls the children to Himself as examples of one aspect of discipleship — that of unreflective trust in the providence and care of God our Father. Many people do not have a good relationship with their father, nevertheless, the Church has and will continue to use this image for explaining at least some aspect of our relationship with God. Let us pray for the grace to look beyond the shortcoming of our father and open our lives more fully to God, the perfect father.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Mark 10:13-16

13 People were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” 16 Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

Credits to: www.kerygmafamily.com