Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Thomas Aquinas : The Angelic Doctor (1225-1274)

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 7:19-23
Mass: 2 Sm 6:12b-15, 17-19; Resp Ps 24; Mk 3:31-35

Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!

MARY, CAUSE OF OUR JOY,

PRAY FOR US.

In his homily this morning, Pope Francis looked to David as an example of someone who was joyful in the presence of the Lord. In today's first reading, we hear that David and all the house of Israel celebrated the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem following its capture. David "came dancing before the Lord with abandon, as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn" (2 Sm 6:14-15). We too, should be joyful in the presence of the Lord. We shouldn't be shy about it. God is with us! We've heard over and over again the Holy Father's first line in Evangelii Gaudium The Joy of the Gospel: "The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus" (EG 1). We run into problems when we no longer encounter Jesus, or hear his voice. We end up resentful, angry and listless (EG 2). We recall, "that is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God's will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ" (EG 2). So let us be a joyful people. Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! (Ph 4:4).

For more inspiration, we turn to Pope St Paul VI in his 1975 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi Evangelization in the Modern World:

Let us preserve our fervor of spirit. Let us preserve the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is tears that we must sow. May it mean for us-as it did for John the Baptist, for Peter and Paul, for the other apostles and for a multitude of splendid evangelizers all through the Church's history-an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench. May it be the joy of our consecrated lives. And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world.

(EN 80)

Please pray for the teachers, students, and staff at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome.

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020