WEDNESDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2019

by | Feb 19, 2019 | Evangelium

St. Wulfric

Born in England, he became a priest and was excessively materialistic and worldly. After meeting with a beggar, he underwent a personal conversion and became a hermit at Haselbury; He then devoted himself to rigorous austerities and was known for his miracles and prophecies. Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 89: 1-2

Green

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 30: 3-4

Be my protector, O God, a mighty stronghold to save me. For you are my rock, my stronghold! Lead me, guide me, for the sake of your name.

 

Collect

O God, who teach us that you abide in hearts that are just and true, grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

 

First reading: Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22

At the end of forty days Noah opened the porthole he had made in the ark and he sent out the raven. This went off, and flew back and forth until the waters dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove, to see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. The dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. After waiting seven more days, again he sent out the dove from the ark. In the evening, the dove came back to him and there it was with a new olive-branch in its beak. So Noah realised that the waters were receding from the earth. After waiting seven more days he sent out the dove, and now it returned to him no more. It was in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month and on the first of the month, that the water dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the hatch of the ark and looked out. The surface of the ground was dry! Noah built an altar for the Lord, and choosing from all the clean animals and all the clean birds he offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelt the appeasing fragrance and said to himself, ‘Never again will I curse the earth because of man, because his heart contrives evil from his infancy. Never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done. ‘As long as earth lasts, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall cease no more.’

 

Psalm 115 (116):12-15, 18-19

R/ A thanksgiving sacrifice I make to you, O Lord.

 

1)How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

 

2)         My vows to the Lord I will fulfill before all his people. O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful.

 

3)         My vows to the Lord I will fulfill before all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

 

 

Gospel Acclamation: Ps 118:105

Alleluia, alleluia!Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path. Alleluia!

 

Gospel: Mark 8:22-26

Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man whom they begged him to touch. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, ‘Can you see anything?’ The man, who was beginning to see, replied, ‘I can see people; they look like trees to me, but they are walking about.’ Then he laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly. And Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’

 

Prayer over the Offerings

May this oblation, O Lord, we pray, cleanse and renew us and may it become for those who do your will the source of eternal reward. Through Christ our Lord.

 

Communion Antiphon: Cf. Ps 77: 29-30

They ate and had their fill, and what they craved the Lord gave them; they were not disappointed in what they craved.

 

Prayer after Communion

Having fed upon these heavenly delights, we pray, O Lord, so that we may always long for that food by which we truly live. Through Christ our Lord.

 

 

Meditation

Jesus is a healer.Every Gospel presents stories of Jesus’ healings. Even Jesus’ enemies had to acknowledge he healed, though they attributed the source of his power not to God but to Beelzebub. This healing dimension of Jesus’ ministry has great relevance to us today. It is a key to fully grasping what it means for Jesus Christ to be Saviour. Too often we limit Jesus’ saving work to his death on the cross for the atonement of sin. We don’t fully acknowledge that Jesus saves us every day by giving us the strength to be faithful disciples in situations in which we are tempted not to live the Gospel. When we go to Jesus in prayer, open our hearts and receive new energy, Jesus is saving us! Jesus is our personal Saviour. Jesus touched the blind man in today’s Gospel and the blind man saw. Jesus touches us. Though he may not remove our physical infirmities and problems, he heals us from weakness by giving us strength to live the Gospel in them.