Thursday 6th February

by | Feb 5, 2025 | Evangelium

Saint Paul Miki and Companions (1564/6 – 1597)

Psalter: Week IV

Red

Born in Japan, he joined the Society of Jesus. When a persecution of the Catholics arose, he was arrested together with twenty-five others, bound to crosses and speared in Nagasaki in 1597.

Entrance Antiphon          

The souls of the Saints are rejoicing in heaven, the Saints who followed the footsteps of Christ, and since for love of him they shed their blood, they now exult with Christ for ever.

Collect

O God, strength of all the Saints, who through the Cross were pleased to call the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life, grant, we pray, that by their intercession we may hold with courage even until death to the faith that we profess. 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: Hebrews 12:18-19,21-24

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them. The whole scene was so terrible that Moses said: I am afraid, and was trembling with fright. But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a ‘first-born son’ and a citizen of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and been placed with spirits of the saints who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator who brings a new covenant and a blood for purification which pleads more insistently than Abel’s.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 47(48):2-4,9-11

R/ O God, we ponder your love within your temple.

The Lord is great and worthy to be praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain rises in beauty,  the joy of all the earth.

Mount Zion, true pole of the earth, the Great King’s city! God, in the midst of its citadels,  has shown himself its stronghold.

As we have heard, so we have seen  in the city of our God, in the city of the Lord of hosts  which God upholds for ever.

O God, we ponder your love  within your temple. Your praise, O God, like your name  reaches the ends of the earth. With justice your right hand is filled.

Gospel Acclamation: Jn15:15    

Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia!

Gospel: Mark 6:7-13       

Jesus made a tour round the villages, teaching. Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

Prayer over the Offerings              

Receive, holy Father, the offerings we bring in commemoration of the holy Martyrs, and grant that we, your servants, may be found steadfast in confessing your name. Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon: Lk 22: 28-30          

It is you who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer a kingdom on you, says the Lord, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.

Prayer after Communion              

O God, who in your holy Martyrs have wonderfully made known the mystery of the Cross, graciously grant that, drawing strength from this sacrifice, we may cling faithfully to Christ and labour in the Church for the salvation of all. Through Christ our Lord.

Meditation

Complete surrender to God’s providence serves as a profound indication of the strength of our faith and our commitment as missionaries, bearing witnesses to God’s love. In sending out the Twelve today, Jesus set them on the path of absolute dependence on God. Yet, it is both strange and sad how easily we forget our identity and purpose as God’s children, missionaries, and witnesses to His love.  How often do we neglect to reverence Him in His own presence? Can we genuinely ponder God’s love within His Temple, as the psalmist suggests? Let us make a conscious effort to live lives that are worthy of God’s presence, relying solely on Him. In so doing, we will live the very message of God that we proclaim to the world.