February 3
Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
7:45 AM – Bill Sovik / Michael & Silvia Kearney
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
1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12
When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to his son Solomon: “I am going the way of all flesh. Take courage and be a man. Keep the mandate of the Lord, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn, and the Lord may fulfill the promise he made on my behalf when he said, ‘If your sons so conduct themselves that they remain faithful to me with their whole heart and with their whole soul, you shall always have someone of your line on the throne of Israel.’”
David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. The length of David’s reign over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
Solomon was seated on the throne of his father David, with his sovereignty firmly established.
Responsorial Psalm
1 Chronicles 29:10, 11ab, 11d-12a, 12bcd
R. (12b) Lord, you are exalted over all.
“Blessed may you be, O LORD,
God of Israel our father,
from eternity to eternity.”
R. Lord, you are exalted over all.
“Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power,
majesty, splendor, and glory.”
R. Lord, you are exalted over all.
“LORD, you are exalted over all.
Yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty;
you are exalted as head over all.
Riches and honor are from you.”
R. Lord, you are exalted over all.
“In your hand are power and might;
it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.”
R. Lord, you are exalted over all.
Gospel Acclamation
Mark 1:15
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 6:7-13
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick –no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
“Lord, you are exalted over all.”
Reflection
"Take nothing for the journey but a walking stick…no food, no sack, no money in your belts, no second tunic…" (Mark 6:8ff)
Certainly we are invited by this commissioning and sending out of disciples to rely fully on the Lord to provide for our needs as we all share in this responsibility of apostolic mission. In our first reading, David is also giving an apostolic mission—he is sending his son—in a particular way that will ultimately lead to his greatest flourishing. David to his son: “Take courage, keep the commands of the Lord, observe his statues and ordinances, that you may succeed…the Lord will fulfill the promise he made if you conduct yourself and remain faithful with your WHOLE HEART and WHOLE SOUL…” (cf. 2:4, emphasis added of course)
We can reflect with a thoughtful connection here with David and his son, and why the Lord asking his disciples to not wear/bring a second tunic. The earliest minds in the Church understood this command to be one urging us to not be double-minded or deceitful in our practice of discipleship. In essence, they are inviting us to a purity of heart in which we are entirely oriented toward the Lord and his designs. He is to be our focus, He is to be the lens by which we engage all the situations of our life. Double-mindedness leads us to be preoccupied with any selfish or unnecessary desires within us, it divides our hearts in a way that pulls us to seek our own interests first rather than those of charity/of the Lord’s invitation.
I would like to suggest that today we ask our mother Mary to obtain for us the grace from her Son to be like her particularly in imitating her Steadfast or Unceasing Prayer (one of her 10 principal virtues as identified by St. Louis de Montfort). Prayer offers us a place to receive from the Lord and by his grace to be wholly oriented toward him—when he offers us that grace, it is in that space that he can cast out ‘double-mindedness’ within us that we may then hear His voice. Like Mary, if we stand in a posture or disposition of unceasing prayer, double-mindedness is removed from us, and we can come to know the Lord and be oriented entirely toward him (Purity of Heart!). With this grace within us, we can trust that whatever else we encounter in our day, we know we can respond from Charity, by being rooted in God who is Charity itself.
Peace,
Fr. Foley
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