by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Feb 19, 2023 | Evangelium
MONDAY 20 febRuary
SAINT 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: Ps 12: 6
O Lord, I trust in your merciful love. My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord 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: Ecclesiasticus 1: 1-10
All wisdom is from the Lord, and it is his own for ever. The sand of the sea and the raindrops, and the days of eternity, who can assess them? The height of the sky and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss, who can probe them? Before all other things wisdom was created, shrewd understanding is everlasting. For whom has the root of wisdom ever been uncovered? Her resourceful ways, who knows them? One only is wise, terrible indeed, seated on his throne, the Lord. He himself has created her, looked on her and assessed her, and poured her out on all his works to be with all mankind as his gift, and he conveyed her to those who love him.
Psalm 92(93): 1-2, 5
R/ The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed; the Lord has robed himself with might, he has girded himself with power.
The world you made firm, not to be moved; your throne has stood firm from of old. From all eternity, O Lord, you are.
Truly your decrees are to be trusted. Holiness is fitting to your house, O Lord, until the end of time.
Gospel Acclamation: 1P 1:25
Alleluia, alleluia! The word of the Lord remains for ever: What is this word? It is the Good News that has been brought to you. Alleluia!
Gospel: Mark 9: 14-29
When Jesus, with Peter, James and John came down from the mountain and re-joined the disciples, they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing with them. The moment they saw him the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing about with them?” he asked. A man answered him from the crowd, “Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were unable to.” “You faithless generation!” he said to them in reply. “How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” They brought the boy to him, and as soon as the spirit saw Jesus it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” “From childhood,” he replied. “And it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” “If you can?” retorted Jesus. “Everything is possible for anyone who has faith.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do have faith. Help the little faith I have!” And when Jesus saw how many people were pressing round him, he rebuked the unclean spirit. “Deaf and dumb spirit,” he said, “I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.” Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions it came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand. When he had gone indoors his disciples asked him privately, “Why were we unable to cast it out?” “This is the kind,” he answered, “that can only be driven out by prayer.”
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
The Book of Ecclesiasticus is a poetic Wisdom book. The writer begins with a profession of faith. To all those who pretend to be modern because they seek to know human doctrines and wisdom, Sirach simply says that true wisdom lies in the fear of the Lord; it is putting one’s confidence in God. He talks of the fear of the Lord like the psalmist does, noting that this fear of the Lord is different from pagan ways that imagine God as a God of retributions. To fear God is to have him in all we do, to reverence him and act in his presence. Anyone who loves God is conscious of the fact that God is near and will hesitate to offend him. The Gospel brings out one of those few instances where Jesus expresses his disappointment in his disciples, trained and commissioned but unable to cast out a demon. These disciples must have presumed the power and influence they had in their first mission, but neglected the essential; prayer and fasting. No matter their incantations, their burned candles or dancing steps, they could do nothing. The child’s father sought Jesus and Jesus responded to his plea. He will respond to yours if you have faith and a prayerful life.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Feb 18, 2023 | Evangelium
SUNDAY 19 febRuary
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time,
Psalter week III
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 12: 6
O Lord, I trust in your merciful love. My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord 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: Leviticus 19: 1-2, 17-18
The Lord spoke to Moses; he said: “Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.’”
Psalm 102(103):1-4, 8, 10, 12-13
R/ The Lord is compassion and love.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord all my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings.
It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion.
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy. He does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults.
As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our sins. As a father has compassion on his sons, the Lord has pity on those who fear him.
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 3: 16-23
Didn’t you realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple. Make no mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
Gospel Acclamation: Jn 14: 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: Matthew 5: 38-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away. You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
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
“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy,” says the first reading. Then it adds the principle of “an eye for an eye”; not a totally barbaric practice as it seems. It was meant to help the people exercise some restraint towards their defeated enemies. It became known as the Law of Retaliation, putting limits on the level of revenge that could be taken for an injury. Otherwise, unrestrained total war could spread throughout the world. Even the earliest Christians could be quarrelsome, some siding with Paul and some with Apollos. But those tensions, once healed, can sharpen the focus of a community. They led people back to prayer, to dialogue and a new kind of unity. We are beginning Lent this week, a time of spiritual closeness to God; forgiveness and reconciliation are appropriate thoughts to accompany us during the Lenten journey. Earlier thinkers before Jesus had stated the principle of not doing to others what you would not have them do to you. Jesus wants us to be perfect, talking about living within our True-Self. Our True-Self is at the core of who we are and is rooted in love. Unfortunately, we often act out of “false-self”, based on ego. In our false self we are easily offended and see others as different from us. This “othering” is what leads to the dualism that Jesus calls us to avoid in the Gospel.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Feb 17, 2023 | Evangelium
SATURDAY 18 febRuary
Saint Bernadette Soubirous
She was born in 1844 to a destitute family in Lourdes, in France. On 11 February 1858 she received the first of a series of visions of the Mother of God which led to Lourdes becoming a place of pilgrimage and healing. In 1866 she became a nun at Nevers, where she died on 16 April 1879.
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: Hebrews 11: 1-7
Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended. It is by faith that we understand that the world was created by one word from God, so that no apparent cause can account for the things we can see. It was because of his faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and for that he was declared to be righteous when God made acknowledgement of his offerings. Though he is dead, he still speaks by faith. It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not have to experience death: he was not to be found because God had taken him. This was because before his assumption it is attested that he had pleased God. Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who try to find him. It was through his faith that Noah, when he had been warned by God of something that had never been seen before, felt a holy fear and built an ark to save his family. By his faith the world was convicted, and he was able to claim the righteousness which is the reward of faith.
Psalm 144(145): 2-5, 10-11
R/ I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever. The Lord is great, highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be measured.
Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall declare your mighty deeds, shall speak of your splendour and glory, tell the tale of your wonderful works.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord, and your friends shall repeat their blessing. They shall speak of the glory of your reign and declare your might, O God.
Gospel Acclamation: Ps 147: 12, 15
Alleluia, alleluia! O praise the Lord, Jerusalem! He sends out his word to the earth. Alleluia!
Gospel: Mark 9: 2-13
Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: “Rabbi,” he said, “it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.” Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them anymore but only Jesus. As they came down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what “rising from the dead” could mean. And they put this question to him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?” “True,” he said. “Elijah is to come first and to see that everything is as it should be; yet how is it that the scriptures say about the Son of Man that he is to suffer grievously and be treated with contempt? However, I tell you that Elijah has come and they have treated him as they pleased, just as the scriptures say about him.”
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
Faith is holding on to what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see. The examples we are given show that faith cannot just remain within us as an intimate conviction. What matters is to act according to faith and make decisions inspired by it. That is what the Father’s voice is telling us as the disciples witness the Transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel. Listen to him even more than Moses and Elijah were listened to. Jesus has announced his death and now the Father shows a foretaste of the Post Resurrection that they will live. The apostles have witnessed Jesus argue and fall out with the Pharisees, the Chief Priests and the Scribes. They might have felt like asking themselves if Jesus was not mistaken. Now they have the opportunity to confirm that Jesus and his teaching are authentic. Listen to him. The shinning cloud and the dazzling white clothes are external signs that give us a clue about mystery of Jesus. This will be confirmed at his resurrection.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Feb 16, 2023 | Evangelium
FRIDAY 17 febRuary
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
In the thirteenth century seven Florentines founded the Servite order. Their feast is celebrated today because one of the seven founders, Saint Alexius Falconieri, died on 17 February 1310.
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 11:1-9
Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards, they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.” (For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). “Come,” they said, “let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.” Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. “So they are all a single people with a single language!” said the Lord. “This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.” The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.
Psalm 32(33): 10-15
R/ Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
He frustrates the designs of the nations, he defeats the plans of the peoples. His own designs shall stand for ever, the plans of his heart from age to age.
They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. From the heavens the Lord looks forth, he sees all the children of men.
From the place where he dwells, he gazes on all the dwellers on the earth; he who shapes the hearts of them all; and considers all their deeds.
Gospel Acclamation: 1 Jn 2: 5
Alleluia, alleluia! Whenever anyone obeys what Christ has said, God’s love comes to perfection in him. Alleluia!
Gospel: Mark 8: 34- 9:1
Jesus called the people and his disciples to him and said: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to win the whole world and ruin his life? And indeed, what can a man offer in exchange for his life? For if anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “I tell you solemnly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”
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
We see already in the early chapter of Genesis how fast and wide sin spread, and now the tower of Babel paints man’s insatiable quest for power and fame. This will be reversed by the defeat of powerful nations and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. There will be many nations, tribes, peoples, languages and ways of expression, but the Spirit will give understanding to the words of the preacher because of the inner disposition of men’s hearts. It is a necessity to lose oneself like Abraham and Moses did; and allow God to take control. One ought to rid oneself of this temporary existence so as to be reborn in God and of God. Jesus says to follow him is to take the same path that brought him to Calvary. Spiritual maturity therefore demands that we renounce our life, and risk it for something noble. Instead of being concerned about our future, we must find and adopt a lifestyle that will help us excel in the way of love, thus letting our life be a failure according to others’ thoughts. Live without fear of what may be said of you, living in and for Christ.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Feb 15, 2023 | Evangelium
THURSDAY 16 febRuary
SAINT DANIEL
Daniel and his four companions (Elias, Isaias, Jeremy and Samuel) were Egyptians who visited condemned Christians working in the mines of Cilicia during Maximus persecution, to comfort them. Apprehended, they were all tortured and then beheaded.
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 9: 1-13
God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Be the terror and the dread of all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven, of everything that crawls on the ground and all the fish of the sea; they are handed over to you. Every living and crawling thing shall provide food for you, no less than the foliage of plants. I give you everything, with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood, in it. I will demand an account of your life-blood. I will demand an account from every beast and from man. I will demand an account of every man’s life from his fellow men. He who sheds man’s blood shall have his blood shed by man, for in the image of God man was made. As for you, be fruitful, multiply, teem over the earth and be lord of it.” God spoke to Noah and his sons, “See, I establish my Covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; also with every living creature to be found with you, birds, cattle and every wild beast with you: everything that came out of the ark, everything that lives on the earth. I establish my Covenant with you: nothing of flesh shall be swept away again by the waters of the flood. There shall be no flood to destroy the earth again.” God said, “Here is the sign of the Covenant I make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations: I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth.”
Psalm 101(102): 16-21, 29, 22-23
R/ The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.
The nations shall fear the name of the Lord and all the earth’s kings your glory, when the Lord shall build up Zion again and appear in all his glory. Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless; he will not despise their prayers.
Let this be written for ages to come that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord; for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high. He looked down from heaven to the earth that he might hear the groans of the prisoners and free those condemned to die.
The sons of your servants shall dwell untroubled and their race shall endure before you that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Zion and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem, when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together to pay their homage to the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation: James1:18
Alleluia, alleluia! By his own choice, the Father made us his children by the message of the truth, so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he created. Alleluia!
Gospel: Mark 8: 27-33
Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he put this question to his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” And they told him. “John the Baptist,” they said. “Others, Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.” “But you,” he asked, “who do you say I am?” Peter spoke up and said to him, “You are the Christ.” And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again; and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.”
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
Believing in Jesus is a personal commitment for each of us. “But you, who do you say I am?” Each of us is personally called to profess what we believe Jesus is for us. Peter professes on behalf of his fellow disciples, who he believes Jesus to be: the Messiah. However, when Christ tells him of the coming scandal of his cross, death and resurrection, Peter no longer adheres to him with confidence. Worse still, he tries, like the Devil, to dissuade Jesus from the prospect of his mission designed for him by God, his Father. Jesus, apostrophizing Satan, commands Peter to go behind him, since it is up to him, the disciple, to follow the Master and not the other way round. This is how he rebukes us when our faith refuses the scandal of the cross with him, and we try to escape it. May we bravely profess and bear our faith in Christ, accepting the vision of the cross with Him.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Feb 14, 2023 | Evangelium
WEDNESDAY 15 febRuary
SAINT WALFRID
He was born in Pisa. He married and had five sons and at least one daughter. After a time, they decided to follow the Benedictine Rule of Monte Casino. St. Walfrid’s cultus was confirmed in 1861.
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.
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.
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil before all his people. O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful.
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil 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
The discretion with which Jesus miraculously opens the eyes of the blind man should inspire us when we decide to do good to someone. There is no need to ring bells and draw attention to ourselves when we make a kind act. Progressively, by his grace, Jesus opens the eyes of this blind man until he sees clearly. In the same way, he gradually opens our eyes, giving us the grace of faith. Since he made the blind man see reality, he also makes us see the world clearly and lucidly with the eyes of faith. This is the new way of looking at the world; seeing it differently just the way Noah and his people did when they left the ark after the flood. May we look at the realities of this world with such renewed vision of faith and conversion.
