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MASS READING

Sunday 5 February 2012 
5th Sunday of the year
                                                                                                                             First readingJob 7:1-4,6-7 © Job began to speak:Is not man’s life on earth nothing more than pressed service,his time no better than hired drudgery? Like the slave, sighing for the shade,or the workman with no thought but his wages,months of delusion I have assigned to me,nothing for my own but nights of grief.Lying in bed I wonder, ‘When will it be day?’Risen I think, ‘How slowly evening comes!’Restlessly I fret till twilight falls.Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle my days have passed,and vanished, leaving no hope behind.Remember that my life is but a breath,and that my eyes will never again see joy.
                                                                                                                          PsalmPsalm 146:1-6 © Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.orAlleluia!Praise the Lord for he is good;sing to our God for he is loving:to him our praise is due.Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.orAlleluia!The Lord builds up Jerusalemand brings back Israel’s exiles,he heals the broken-hearted,he binds up all their wounds.He fixes the number of the stars;he calls each one by its name.Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.orAlleluia!Our Lord is great and almighty;his wisdom can never be measured.The Lord raises the lowly;he humbles the wicked to the dust.Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.orAlleluia!
                                                                                                                                Second reading 1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23 © I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. For the weak I made myself weak. I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings. 

Gospel Mark 1:29-39 © On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon’s mother-in-law had gone to bed with fever, and they told him about her straightaway. He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to wait on them.That evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by devils. The whole town came crowding round the door, and he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. Simon and his companions set out in search of him, and when they found him they said, ‘Everybody is looking for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.’ And he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils.

OFFICE OF READINGS

Sunday 5 February 2012
5th Sunday of the year 
Come, let us rejoice in the Lord: let us acclaim God our salvation, alleluia.
 
Reading Galatians 1:1-12 © From Paul to the churches of Galatia, and from all the brothers who are here with me, an apostle who does not owe his authority to men or his appointment to any human being but who has been appointed by Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in order to rescue us from this present wicked world sacrificed himself for our sins, in accordance with the will of God our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.I am astonished at the promptness with which you have turned away from the one who called you and have decided to follow a different version of the Good News. Not that there can be more than one Good News; it is merely that some troublemakers among you want to change the Good News of Christ; and let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned. I am only repeating what we told you before: if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one you have already heard, he is to be condemned. So now whom am I trying to please – man, or God? Would you say it is men’s approval I am looking for? If I still wanted that, I should not be what I am – a servant of Christ.The fact is, brothers, and I want you to realise this, the Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 

Reading From an explanation of Paul's letter to the Galatians by Saint Augustine, bishop
Let us understand the workings of God's grace Paul writes to the Galatians to make them understand that by God’s grace they are no longer under the law. When the Gospel was preached to them, there were some among them of Jewish origin known as circumcisers – though they called themselves Christians – who did not grasp the gift they had received. They still wanted to be under the burden of the law. Now God had imposed that burden on those who were slaves to sin and not on servants of justice. That is to say, God had given a just law to unjust men in order to show them their sin, not to take it away. For sin is taken away only by the gift of faith that works through love. The Galatians had already received this gift, but the circumcisers claimed that the Gospel would not save them unless they underwent circumcision and were willing to observe also the other traditional Jewish rites. The Galatians, therefore, began to question Paul’s preaching of the Gospel because he did not require Gentiles to follow Jewish observances as other apostles had done. Even Peter had yielded to the scandalised protests of the circumcisers. He pretended to believe that the Gospel would not save the Gentiles unless they fulfilled the burden of the law. But Paul recalled him from such dissimulation, as is shown in this very same letter. A similar issue arises in Paul’s letter to the Romans, but with an evident difference. Through his letter to them, Paul was able to resolve the strife and controversy that had developed between the Jewish and Gentile converts. In the present letter Paul is writing to persons who were profoundly influenced and disturbed by the circumcisers. The Galatians had begun to believe them and to think that Paul had not preached rightly, since he had not ordered them to be circumcised. And so the Apostle begins by saying: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you to the glory of Christ, and turning to another gospel. After this there comes a brief introduction to the point at issue. But remember in the very opening of the letter Paul had said that he was an apostle not from men nor by any man, a statement that does not appear in any other letter of his. He is making it quite clear that the circumcisers, for their part, are not from God but from men, and that his authority in preaching the Gospel must be considered equal to that of the other apostles. For he was called to be an apostle not from men nor by any man, but through God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 

Hymn Te Deum God, we praise you; Lord, we proclaim you! You, the Father, the eternal –all the earth venerates you.All the angels, all the heavens, every power –The cherubim, the seraphim –unceasingly, they cry:“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts:heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory!”The glorious choir of Apostles –The noble ranks of prophets –The shining army of martyrs –all praise you.Throughout the world your holy Church proclaims you.– Father of immeasurable majesty,– True Son, only-begotten, worthy of worship,– Holy Spirit, our Advocate.You, Christ:– You are the king of glory.– You are the Father’s eternal Son.– You, to free mankind, did not disdain a Virgin’s womb.– You defeated the sharp spear of Death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to those who believe in you.– You sit at God’s right hand, in the glory of the Father.– You will come, so we believe, as our Judge.And so we ask of you: give help to your servants, whom you set free at the price of your precious blood.Number them among your chosen ones in eternal glory.The final part of the hymn may be omitted:Bring your people to safety, Lord, and bless those who are your inheritance.Rule them and lift them high for ever.Day by day we bless you, Lord: we praise you for ever and for ever.Of your goodness, Lord, keep us without sin for today.Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us.Let your pity, Lord, be upon us, as much as we trust in you.In you, Lord, I trust: let me never be put to shame.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint.

Sunday, February 05, 2012
St. Agatha
(d. 251?)


As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251. Legend has it that Agatha, like Agnes, was arrested as a Christian, tortured and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated. She was preserved from being violated, and was later put to death.

She is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania. The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mt. Etna was attributed to her intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers for protection against fire.

Comment:

The scientific modern mind winces at the thought of a volcano’s might being contained by God because of the prayers of a Sicilian girl. Still less welcome, probably, is the notion of that saint being the patroness of such varied professions as those of foundry workers, nurses, miners and Alpine guides. Yet, in our historical precision, have we lost an essential human quality of wonder and poetry, and even our belief that we come to God by helping each other, both in action and prayer?

Quote:

When Agatha was arrested, the legend says, she prayed: “Jesus Christ, Lord of all things! You see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am—you alone. I am your sheep; make me worthy to overcome the devil.” And in prison: “Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Now receive my spirit.”

Patron Saint of:

Breast disease, against
Foundry workers
Nurses

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