Saint Raymond of Penyafort,
Priest
(1117 – 1275)
Psalter: Week II
White
Raymond of Pennafort was a Spanish Dominican friar in the 13th-century, who compiled a collection of canon laws that remained a major part of Church law until the 20th century. He is the patron saint of lawyers, especially canon lawyers.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 117: 26-27
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: The Lord is God and has given us light.
Collect
O God, whose Only Begotten Son has appeared in our very flesh, grant, we pray, that we may be inwardly transformed through him whom we recognize as outwardly like ourselves. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 John 4:7-10
My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love. God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 71(72):1-4,7-8
R/ All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
O God, give your judgement to the king, to a king’s son your justice, that he may judge your people in justice and your poor in right judgement.
May the mountains bring forth peace for the people and the hills, justice. May he defend the poor of the people and save the children of the needy.
In his days justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails He shall rule from sea to sea, from the Great River to earth’s bounds.
Gospel Acclamation : Mt 4:23
Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom and cured all kinds of diseases among the people. Alleluia!
Gospel : Mark 6:34-44
As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late. So send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to eat?’ ‘How many loaves have you?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
Prayer over the Offerings
Receive with favour, O Lord, we pray, the offerings of your people, that what they profess with devotion and faith may be theirs through these heavenly mysteries. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Eph 2: 4; Rm 8: 3
Because of that great love of his with which God loved us, he sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Prayer after Communion
O God, who touch us through our partaking of your Sacrament, work, we pray, the effects of its power in our hearts, that we may be made fit to receive your gift through this very gift itself. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
A mission that attends to both the spiritual and physical needs of the congregation is no longer common in our era. However, this is precisely the message Jesus conveys in today’s gospel reading. His teaching is the expression of the compassion He feels for the crowd. This passage resonates with echoes from the Old Testament. The fact that Jesus takes upon himself the role of shepherd of this flock echoes the Mosaic motive found in the book of Numbers 27:17. The nature of this ‘gift miracle’ is reminiscent of Elijah (cf. 1Kings 17:8-16; 2 Kings 4:1-7; 2 Kings 4:42-44), particularly evident in the correlation between Mark 6:34-44 and 2 Kings 4:42-44. Yet, in the case of Jesus, there is an eschatological significance; it prefigures the forthcoming eschatological feast in the kingdom of God. Notably, Jesus gives thanks to God for the little he has and which he shares with the multitude. In examining the Gospel of John 6:1-13, we discover the source of the materials for the miracle – a small boy presents the bread and the fish. This episode underscores the transformative power of the little we have when offered in an unselfish sacrifice.