tuesday 25 February 2020
St. Ethelbert (c.560 – 616)
He was the first king in England to convert to Christianity. According to Bede, this happened shortly after St Augustine arrived on his mission to the English.
Green
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 12: 6
O Lord, I trust in your merciful love. My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to theLord who has been bountiful with me.
Collect
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, always pondering spiritual things, we may carry out in both word and deed that which is 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 : James 4:1-10
Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you haven’t got it; so you are prepared to kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. Why you don’t have what you want is because you don’t pray for it; when you do pray and don’t get it, it is because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own desires. You are as unfaithful as adulterous wives; don’t you realise that making the world your friend is making God your enemy? Anyone who chooses the world for his friend turns himself into God’s enemy. Surely you don’t think scripture is wrong when it says: the spirit which he sent to live in us wants us for himself alone? But he has been even more generous to us, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he gives generously to the humble. Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he will run away from you. The nearer you go to God, the nearer he will come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clear your minds, you waverers. Look at your wretched condition, and weep for it in misery; be miserable instead of laughing, gloomy instead of happy. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.
Psalm 54(55):7-11,23
R/ Entrust your cares to the Lord and he will support you.
- O that I had wings like a dove to fly away and be at rest. So I would escape far away and take refuge in the desert.
- I would hasten to find a shelter from the raging wind, from the destructive storm, O Lord, and from their plotting tongues.
- For I can see nothing but violence and strife in the city. Night and day they patrol high on the city walls.
- Entrust your cares to the Lord and he will support you. He will never allow the just man to stumble.
Gospel Acclamation : Jn14:23
Alleluia, alleluia! If anyone loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him. Alleluia!
Gospel: Mark 9:30-37
Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him. They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’
Prayer over the Offerings
As we celebrate your mysteries, O Lord, with the observance that is your due, we humbly ask you, that what we offer to the honour of your majesty may profit us for salvation. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 9: 2-3
I will recount all your wonders, I will rejoice in you and be glad, and sing psalms to your name, O Most High.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we may experience the effects of the salvation which is pledged to us by these mysteries. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ By these words, Jesus tells his disciples that his leadership is one of service. Ordinarily, in society, those who occupy positions or offices are looked upon as big people. The words of Jesus point out to us and to those who occupy positions that any office we hold is a position of humble and transparent service. Whether we are appointed to an office or elected into it, we need to remember that we are called to serve after the example of Jesus himself, who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for all.