February 12
Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
9:00 AM – Dolores Pandelly / Sophiann Cicci
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 12:26-32; 13:33-34
Jeroboam thought to himself: “The kingdom will return to David’s house. If now this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me.” After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people: “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan. This led to sin, because the people frequented those calves in Bethel and in Dan. He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the people who were not Levites. Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah, with sacrifices to the calves he had made; and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built.
Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places. This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 106:6-7ab, 19-20, 21-22
R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Gospel Acclamation
Matthew 4:4b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 8:1-10
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
“Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.”
Reflection
What is a leader, and what is the responsibility of a leader? These questions may seem easy to answer, and yet, when we pause and look at leaders throughout history, we see them divided into two distinct groupings. Some leaders are selfless, working for the greater good and not just for their own interest, and yet, others, like Jeroboam in our reading from the First Book of Kings, work to benefit themselves. These leaders often rule in terror out of fear of losing control.
In the Gospel of Mark, we see a very different type of leader in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is a leader who leads by example and offers peace and forgiveness. In today's reading, Jesus is witnessing a large crowd of people who have gathered and are hungry. He breaks bread and distributes it along with the few fish that the people had and feeds all present. A leader like Jeroboam would have gathered the food that was available and hoarded it for himself and those who were closest to him, while Jesus offers what God has supplied, multiplies it, and gives it for the benefit of all.
What do we do with the gifts that God has gifted us? What type of leader are we?
May God bless you,
Fr. John
Would you like to receive Readings & Reflections, and a link to join us for Mass? Subscribe to The Daily Bread newsletter.
Permission to reprint, podcast, and / or stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-739865. All rights reserved.