Gospel

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Thursday, 24 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor (Gospel Reading)

Mark 3 : 7-12

Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the lakeside, and a large crowd from Galilee followed Him. A great number of people also came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, Transjordan, and from the region of Tyre and Sidon, for they had heard of all that He was doing.

Because of the crowd, Jesus told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him, to prevent the people from crushing Him. He healed so many, that all who had diseases kept pressing towards Him to touch Him. Even the people who had evil spirits, whenever they saw Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, “You are the Son of God.”

But He warned them sternly not to tell anyone who He was.

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Wednesday, 23 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Mark 3 : 1-6

Again Jesus entered the synagogue. A man, who had a paralyzed hand, was there, and some people watched Jesus : would He heal the man on the Sabbath? If He did, they could accuse Him.

Jesus said to the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stand here in the centre.” Then He asked them, “What does the Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To do good or to do harm? To save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Then Jesus looked around at them with anger and deep sadness, because they had closed their minds. And He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was healed.
As soon as the Pharisees left, they met with Herod’s supporters, looking for a way to destroy Jesus.

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Monday, 21 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Mark 2 : 18-22

One day, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it that both the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast, but Yours do not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guest fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”

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Saturday, 19 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Mark 2 : 13 – 17

When Jesus went out again beside the lake, a crowd came to Him, and He taught them. As He walked along, He saw a tax collector sitting in His office. This was Levi, the son of Alpheus. Jesus said to Him, “Follow me!” and Levi got up and followed Him.

And it so happened that when Jesus was eating in Levi’s house, tax collectors and sinners sat with Him and His disciples; there were a lot of them, and they used to follow Jesus. But the Pharisees, men educated in the Law, when they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, “Why does your master eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus heard them, and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

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Friday, 18 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Mark 2 : 1 -12

After some days Jesus returned to Capernaum. As the news spread that He was in the house, so many people gathered, that there was no longer room even outside the door. While Jesus was preaching the Word to them, some people brought a paralyzed man to Him.

The four men who carried him couldn’t get near Jesus because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above the room where Jesus was, and through the hole, lowered the man on his mat. When Jesus saw the faith of these people, He said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the Law, who were sitting there, wondered within themselves, ” How can He speak like this, insulting God? Who can forgive sins except God?”

At once Jesus knew in His spirit what they were thinking, and asked, “Why do you wonder? Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say ‘Rise, take up your mat and walk?’ But now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And He said to the paralytic, “Stand up, take up your mat and go home.” The man rose and, in the sight of all those people, he took up his mat and went out. All of them were astonished and praised God, saying, “Never have we seen anything like this!”

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Thursday, 17 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony the abbot (Gospel Reading)

Mark 1 : 40-45

A leper came to Jesus and begged Him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to; be clean.” The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, He sternly warned him, “Don’t tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest, and for the cleansing bring the offering ordered by Moses; in this way you will give to them your testimony.”

However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though He stayed in the rural areas, people came to Him from everywhere.