MASS READINGS & SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Friday - January 28, 2022

Friday - January 28, 2022

"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."

--St. Francis

January 28, 2022

MEMORIAL OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Lectionary: 321

 

Reading 1                                                     2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17

 

At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign,

David sent out Joab along with his officers

and the army of Israel,

and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.

David, however, remained in Jerusalem.

One evening David rose from his siesta

and strolled about on the roof of the palace.

From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.

David had inquiries made about the woman and was told,

“She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam,

and wife of Joab’s armor bearer Uriah the Hittite.”

Then David sent messengers and took her.

When she came to him, he had relations with her.

She then returned to her house.

But the woman had conceived,

and sent the information to David, “I am with child.”

 

David therefore sent a message to Joab,

“Send me Uriah the Hittite.”

So Joab sent Uriah to David.

When he came, David questioned him about Joab, the soldiers,

and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well.

David then said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” 

Uriah left the palace,

and a portion was sent out after him from the king’s table.

But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace

with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down

to his own house.

David was told that Uriah had not gone home.

On the day following, David summoned him,

and he ate and drank with David, who made him drunk.

But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his bed

among his lord’s servants, and did not go down to his home.

The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab

which he sent by Uriah.

In it he directed:

“Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce.

Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.”

So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah

to a place where he knew the defenders were strong.

When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab,

some officers of David’s army fell,

and among them Uriah the Hittite died.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              51:3-4, 5-6a, 6bcd-7, 10-11

 

R.        (see 3a)  Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

 

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

            in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

            and of my sin cleanse me.

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

For I acknowledge my offense,

            and my sin is before me always:

“Against you only have I sinned,

            and done what is evil in your sight.”

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

I have done such evil in your sight

            that you are just in your sentence,

            blameless when you condemn.

True, I was born guilty,

            a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness;

            the bones you have crushed shall rejoice.

Turn away your face from my sins,

            and blot out all my guilt.

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Mt 11:25                    

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;

all who come to him will live for ever.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mk 4:26-34

 

Jesus said to the crowds:

“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;

it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land

and would sleep and rise night and day

and the seed would sprout and grow,

he knows not how.

Of its own accord the land yields fruit,

first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,

for the harvest has come.”

 

He said,

“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,

or what parable can we use for it?

It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,

is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants

and puts forth large branches,

so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

With many such parables

he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.

Without parables he did not speak to them,

but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

 

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GROWING SEEDS THAT BEAR FRUIT

Today, something is going to happen to you that will give you the opportunity to touch someone's life with God's love. If you consciously choose to make the most of the situation, you will feel challenged, perhaps a bit nervous or intimidated, but you will experience the joy of making a difference for the kingdom of God. And you might be surprised at how well you do!

 

You'll do well because God has been preparing you for this situation for a long time. Your trials, your spiritual education, your personal purification process, your prayer-time insights, your Christ-centered conversations with others -- all these and more have been part of the preparation.

 

You are like the seed in today's Gospel passage. Life's circumstances have fertilized you, watered you, tilled your soil. And over time, the seed sprouted, the plant grew, and the flowers began to produce good fruit.

 

Every day, we all encounter small and sometimes large opportunities to serve the kingdom of God. We don't have to be full-time volunteers nor paid employees of the Church to work for God. He touches the world through us in our homes, our workplaces, our parishes, in the grocery store, in the traffic tie-ups, on the Internet, and everywhere we go.

 

Have any of your seeds sprouted into a tree that withered from neglect or got chopped down by others? This happens to all of us. The good news is: In every dead tree at least one fruit remains, shriveled up and barely hanging from a lifeless branch, but secretly holding a very valuable seed.

 

We are to take those ugly, dead fruits and plant them in the freshly tilled soil of today. New life most assuredly will break through the ground. A new tree will grow and it will become taller and stronger and more abundantly fruitful than the tree from which it came, because the decay from the original tree is now additional fertilizer in the soil.

 

In everything that happens to you today, remember: You have good fruits to share; God has been nurturing their growth. You are ready!

 

Today's Prayer

 

You conquer my heart bit by bit, waiting for me lovingly and seeking me every moment, every day. Praised be to You, Lord, because Your love is unique, special and endless. Amen.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”