June 4
Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
7:45 AM – Mass League Intentions
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Tobit 11:5-17
Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come. When she saw him coming, she exclaimed to his father, “Tobit, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!”
Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father: “I am certain that his eyes will be opened. Smear the fish gall on them. This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes; then your father will again be able to see the light of day.”
Then Anna ran up to her son, threw her arms around him, and said to him, “Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!” And she sobbed aloud.
Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate. Tobiah went up to him with the fish gall in his hand, and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes. “Courage, father,” he said. Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart. Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit’s eyes, Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts.
When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him and wept. He exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he said:
“Blessed be God, and praised be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels. May his holy name be praised throughout all the ages, Because it was he who scourged me, and it is he who has had mercy on me. Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!”
Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice for everything that had happened. Tobiah told his father that the Lord God had granted him a successful journey; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, who would arrive shortly, for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh.
Tobit and Anna rejoiced and went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet their daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw Tobit walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed. Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes. When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he greeted her: “Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed is your father, and blessed is my son Tobiah, and blessed are you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!” That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 146:1b-2, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, through all generations! Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Gospel Acclamation
John 14:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 12:35-37
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.
“Praise the Lord, my soul!”
Reflection
Today in our gospel reading, we see the crowds rejoiced and responded in delight when Jesus referred to what David said when inspired by the Holy Spirit, “The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’” Why did they respond in delight?
The crowd may have realized that the long awaited Christ was in their midst, or they may have delighted in the fact that being long oppressed, they now would have a savior that seems powerful, one who could restore their lands and their dignity, both of which had been lost.
We should ask ourselves, do we respond with delight when we read or hear Sacred Scripture? Often, I believe the answer is no. Perhaps we are not in the right mood when we read Sacred Scripture, or the one proclaiming the Scripture is not well suited to public proclamation. In reality, we must put all of these distractions behind us and, like the delighted crowd, respond in the affirmative to all that Jesus tells us. We must remember that Scripture is intended for us; it is meant to be fulfilled in our hearing. Whenever we fail to recognize how we might be moved by what is written in the Bible, we lose some of what God is trying to tell us. We lose some of God’s identity in our own life.
Peace,
Fr. John Kurgan
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