Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

The Month of February Dedicated to the Holy Family

Saints: Saint Onesimus, early Christian leader; Blessed Nicholas of Paglia OP (1197-1256)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 13:12-14 The Celebration of Lauds on Ordinary Days

Mass: Gn 9:1-13; Resp Ps 102; Mk 8:27-33

From heaven the Lord looks down on earth.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

HOLY FAMILY, CENTER OF PEACE AND CONCORD,

PRAY FOR US.

For in the image of God has man been made.

(Gn 9:6)

Welcome to Thursday. Looking around, at all the men, women, boys and girls, made in the image and likeness of God, and the magnificent works of God on earth and above, as seen in today's photo, it is a good question Jesus asks us: But who do you say that I am? (Mk 8:29).

Ash Wednesday and the holy Season of Lent is coming soon. We turn to Saint Benedict and remember that the celebration of Lauds and Vespers must never pass by without the superior's reciting the entire Lord's Prayer at the end for all to hear, because thorns of contention are likely to spring up (Rule of Saint Benedict, 13:12). It is not too early to think about the thorns of contention we might rid ourselves of in the coming liturgical season. Forgive us as we forgive ... and deliver us from evil.

You are the Christ.

(Mk 8:29)

SAINT ONESIUMUS,

BLESSED NICHOLAS OF PAGLIA,

SAINT DOMINIC,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This is not the morning of February 6 as you saw before. Here we are at 5:04 a.m. this past Saturday, February 11. From heaven He beheld the earth.

© Gertrude Feick 2023

Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548)

 Saturday of the First Week of Advent

Readings of the day: RB 56

Mass: Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26; Resp. Psalm 147; Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

 

St Juan Diego

At the sight of the crowds,

his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned,

like sheep without a shepherd.

The scene in today’s Gospel directs me to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his first Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est (2005). There, one reads: ‘Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave’ (18). The Pope goes on to say: ‘If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God’ (18).

If you find these words compelling, you may be interested to read the whole of paragraph 18 in the Encyclical.

Behold, I am coming soon and my recompense is with me, says the Lord,

to bestow a reward according to the deeds of each.

(Communion Antiphon, Mass)

MARANATHA.