Tag: lectio divina

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus 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.

In his earthly ministry, Jesus came to serve and heal all who came to him from among many regions. In heaven, Jesus serves as high priest, as Paul says in the first reading, “holy innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.” Just as the crowds pressed upon Jesus from all sides to touch him, so he intercedes for countless more souls in heaven. Paul goes on to say in the first reading: “Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.”

God, help me understand that you came to do the will of your Father and that you still do that at his right hand in heaven. Help me by your example also pray that I know the will of the Father and accomplish it. With today’s Responsorial Psalm, we pray: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will. “In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, ‘To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!’” Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. The unclean spirits who saw you knew who you were—the Son of God. Give me the grace of confidence, Lord, in approaching your Son to receive his mercy.

Lord, you are the source of all healing. Just as those who had diseases pressed upon you to touch you, I also seek to be healed through your intercession and through the beauty and goodness of the sacraments of the Church. Be with me today and look after me as intercessor to the Father. “Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him,” Saint Paul says, “since he lives forever to make intercession for them.”

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.

Readings

Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

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. 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.

The Pharisees lay a trap for Jesus to see if he would cure a man’s withered hand on the sabbath. After Jesus restores the man’s hand, Mark tells us, “The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.” The Gospel passage for today shows Jesus’ grief and anger at their hardness of heart, an anger that is justifiable. As God made man, Jesus wants to bring salvation to the Pharisees, but the love he shows for the man with the withered hand becomes an obstacle. How often today will I place an obstacle between God and myself? Perhaps unintentionally, I will forget to allow God to act, following my own rigid agenda instead.

God, you are near. Your Son came to save the life of all who believed in him and to do good on the sabbath and on every day of his life. How do I remain supple and open to your will? Jesus read the hearts of the Pharisees and knew they wanted to kill him, asking them, “Is it lawful . . . to save life rather than to destroy it?” If the Pharisees had known that the author of life stood before them, would their hearts have remained hardened? Guide me today, Lord, with your presence; in every word and action, give me the grace to stretch out my hand to you.

God, give me faith today and every day through an openness of heart. As Saint John Paul II wrote, “Faith, in its deepest essence, is the openness of the human heart to the gift: to God’s self-communication in the Holy Spirit.”

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.

Readings

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbott

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

In today’s Gospel passage from Mark, Jesus passes through a field of grain on the sabbath, and his disciples picked the heads of grain as they walked with him. The Pharisees see this and tell Jesus that what they are doing is unlawful on the sabbath. Jesus answers them: “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 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?” By saying this to the Pharisees, Jesus reaffirms to them the purpose of the sabbath—since his resurrection, the Lord’s Day—and at the same time reveals his divinity as “Lord of the sabbath.” Like the Pharisees, am I bound to certain rituals that prevent me from knowing God’s love and recognizing his grace even as he offers it to me?

God, you made the sabbath for your people as an invitation to return to you, to return to holiness. Help me understand the divine purpose for which you created the sabbath. In the coming of your Son, a new order comes in keeping the meaning of the sabbath holy by transferring its observance to the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we hold the belief that “Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day.” Lord of the sabbath, Lord of all, help me during the week to long to see you in the celebration of the Eucharist each Sunday.

What is left but to thank you, God, for all of your graces of this day and every day. As the Responsorial Psalm says: “He has won renown for his wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.”

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.

Readings

Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to people who ask him why his disciples fast. The disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, they say, so why shouldn’t your disciples do the same? Jesus then goes on to tell them the analogy of a new piece of cloth sown on an old cloak and of new wine poured into new wineskins. Both attempts would fail. Like the new cloth and the new wine, Jesus is the Good News, the last Word of God, that simply can’t be grafted onto what came before him. As Saint Paul says of Jesus in the first reading: “And when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

Help me understand this, Lord. Your Son is the bridegroom and each soul who belongs to the Church, the bride of Christ. Through Jesus Christ, I participate in the ancient beauty of the Church that is always new through him, with him, and in him. As Saint Augustine says in his Confessions: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new.” There is great hope in this, that the same Christ who died has risen to eternal life for you and for me; there is hope in the expectation of the return of the bridegroom in his Second Coming. Dying with him through baptism, we are brought into the Church and what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls “the sacrament of regeneration” to become a son or daughter of light and “a new creature.” Lord, this is a lot to take in. Help me understand the love you have for your people and deepen my faith and trust in you.

Thank you, Lord, for your presence in the Eucharist! You are beyond my comprehension, yet let me rest in your presence as a bride rests in the love of her bridegroom. Be with me today, Lord, and help me come to know the beauty I hope one day to see face to face.

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.

Readings

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”

In today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist sees Jesus after he had baptized him. At the moment he baptized him, John recognized Jesus’ divinity in what God had revealed to him: “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” John gives testimony to Jesus’ divinity by saying of him: “A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.” John’s recognition that Jesus existed before him must have come at the moment the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus during his baptism. John continues to point to Jesus today as one of many voices of the communion of saints who direct our gaze to Jesus, the Son of God. For John to say that Jesus existed before him is to be aware of God’s eternal existence that permeates every moment of this life until the next, where we give glory to God in unending praise.

God, help me understand what John the Baptist recognized in your Son. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the child born of the Virgin Mary, the suffering servant who died and rose to new life, the Lamb of God present in the Eucharist—He is the one who brings us to eternal life through baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, help me see today that you are eternally present in its succession of moments. Give me the grace to receive your presence and the knowledge to make within myself a temple of the Holy Spirit. As Servant of God, Archbishop Martínez said: “As divine love is eternal and its action constant, it is our part to have our heart always open to love, ready to receive the unspeakable gift.” Keep my heart open, Lord!

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.

Readings

Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

As Jesus walks along the sea, he passes by Levi, a tax collector sitting at his customs post. Jesus says to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed Jesus. At his house, Jesus and the disciples sat with tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees accuse him by saying, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus, the Divine Physician, responds by saying that those who are well don’t need a physician, but the sick do. Jesus, God made man, could have chosen anyone to follow him—kings, political leaders, the rich and powerful. Instead, he chose sinners. Even Peter, on being called by Jesus, fell at his knees and says to him: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Just as Peter recognized his sinfulness, anyone with an illness must first acknowledge it before seeking treatment. In my own acknowledgment of particular sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus seeks to heal me in a way that corresponds to each of these. How do I respond to that call?

God, help me understand that you sent your Son to set us free; “to proclaim,” as the Gospel acclamation says, “liberty to the captives.” Through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son, you understand every human need and what each one of us in particular lacks. Help me identify any sins and illnesses in me so that, as Paul says in the first reading, “I can confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”

The demands of the day clamor in my ears. Help me be still. Lord, just as you taught the crowds as you went out along the sea, give me the grace today to walk with you and hear your words. Divine Physician, heal me and quiet my soul!

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.

Readings

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

The Gospel passage today relates a well-known story from Jesus’ ministry to the people of Capernaum. He heals the paralytic, who rises, picks up his mat, and goes home at once. The people are astounded at Jesus’ ability to heal the man. At the same time, the scribes observe this and see blasphemy in Jesus’ actions as he forgives the man’s sins. It strikes me that the scribes witness four men breaking through the roof and fail to see the courage and determination to bring their friend to wholeness. Something profound is happening here, and they miss it—a moment not unlike at Jesus’ baptism when the heavens are opened and the voice of the Father thunders, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

God, help me learn to be a witness to the events of the day that attest to your presence. Although not as dramatic as a roof being broken through, your actions today are there for me to see if I watch out for them.

Jesus, you saw the faith of the paralytic and the men who lowered him through the roof. Give me the grace to be firm and steadfast in my faith in you. Keep me in your your care today and guide me back to you when I stray.

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.

Readings

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

In today’s reading, Jesus continues to journey throughout Galilee, preaching, driving out demons, and curing the sick. After curing the leper, he warns him not to say anything, but the man speaks about his experience, making it, as Mark says, “impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.” He stayed in deserted places, but people kept coming to him from everywhere. Still, it was Jesus’ will that the man should be made clean, and Jesus’ pity for him is expressed in seven words: “I do will it. Be made clean.” In telling the leper to offer for his cleansing what Moses prescribed, Jesus restores the man to his community and to the means of sanctifying his life. Apart from physical health, are there mental or spiritual illnesses in society—or personal ones—that keep me from participating fully in my Catholic faith? What role do the sacraments have in restoring me to sanctity? In whatever needs to be cleansed in my relationship with Christ, today I want to hear his voice say, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

Lord, as a penitent who needs to be made clean continually, I hear your voice in the absolution after confession as the priest says: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Help me understand that as I come to you for mercy and forgiveness, you are there to meet me because it is your will that nothing separates me from your love.

Be with me today, Lord, as I strive to keep you before my eyes. The commotion of the day distracts me, but you are there too. Your voice calls me back to you. From the Responsorial Psalm, help me recall “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

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.

Readings

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

In today’s Gospel, which follows directly after yesterday’s, Jesus goes on that same day to cure the sick and drive out demons. The next day he rose early to go off and pray in a deserted place when Simon and others find him. “Everyone is looking for you,” they said to Jesus. He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” Before all this, though, the day before, Jesus gives personal attention to Simon’s mother-in-law, who lay sick with a fever. He grasps her hand and helps her up, which brings to mind the way God speaks to us through Isaiah: “I, the LORD, have called you for justice, I have grasped you by the hand.”

God, help me understand the spiritual place from which Jesus was able to go “into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons.” First, he helped Simon’s mother-in-law, then he cured the sick and drove out demons, and then went on to fulfill his purpose among humanity as the Word incarnate: true God and true man. Jesus’ healing of Simon’s mother-in-law moves me as I consider what that moment was like. He had just come from the synagogue, where he had taught and then rebuked the unclean spirit. And before he has time to rest and recharge, he approaches Simon’s mother-in-law and immediately heals her. God, let me be mindful of Jesus as servant today when I amass a list of things I’d like to accomplish as the day goes by. Give me the grace, Lord, to be an instrument of love as I see the person in front of me who would seem to stand in my way. Help rouse me when I become so self-absorbed in my plans that I fail to see what is right before my eyes.

Teach me to be your servant, Lord. From today’s Responsorial Psalm, we pray: “Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD! Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly.”

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.

Readings

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.

In yesterday’s reading describing the Baptism of the Lord, John the Baptist immediately recognizes Jesus’ divinity. Today, as Jesus teaches in the synagogue, an unclean spirit speaks to Jesus through a man possessed by it. This spirit, more than one voice speaking through the man, recognizes Jesus’ divinity as he says, “Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” How is it possible that among some people today the Evil One is not acknowledged or given any credence at all, but demons recognize and fear Jesus and continue to recognize and fear him?

To begin each day this way—recognizing the presence of the Holy One of God—is to subject myself to the will of God. The Book of Proverbs beautifully expresses this: “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” God, help me understand this. I have no reason to fear you; you give me everything I have out of love and goodness. Yet, to fear you is to move out of the way and trust in your Son’s authority to destroy evil and to make all things subject to you. From today’s Responsorial Psalm, we pray: “You have given your Son rule over the works of your hands.” Give me the grace, Lord, to be assured today and every day that you are the Holy One of God.

Thank you, Lord, for your grace and protection. From today’s prayer after Communion from the Roman Missal: “Humbly we ask you, almighty God, be graciously pleased to grant that those you renew with your Sacraments may also serve with lives pleasing to you. Through Christ our Lord.”

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.

Readings