Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 15th January, 2024
Monday of Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
FIRST READING
A reading from the first book of Samuel 15: 16-23
Obedience is better than sacrifice. The Lord has rejected you as king.
Samuel said to Saul,
‘Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’
Saul said, ‘Tell me‘.
Samuel continued,
‘Small as you may be in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king over Israel. The Lord sent you on a mission and said to you,
“Go, put these sinners, the Amalekites, under the ban and make war on them until they are exterminated”.
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you fall on the booty and do what is displeasing to the Lord ?’
Saul replied to Samuel,
‘But I did obey the voice of the Lord. I went on the mission which the Lord gave me; I brought back Agag king of the Amalekites; I put the Amalekites under the ban. From the booty the people took the best sheep and oxen of what was under the ban to sacrifice them to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’
But Samuel replied:
‘Is the pleasure of the Lord in holocausts and sacrifices or in obedience to the voice of the Lord ?
Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice, submissiveness better than the fat of rams.
Rebellion is a sin of sorcery, presumption a crime of teraphim
‘Since you have rejected the word of the Lord , he has rejected you as king.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 49
Response I will show God’s salvation to the upright.
1. ‘I find no fault with your sacrifices, your offerings are always before me.
I do not ask more bullocks from your farms, nor goats from among your herds. Response
2. ‘But how can you recite my commandments and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my law and throw my words to the winds. Response
3. ‘You do this, and should I keep silence? Do you think that I am like you?
a sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me and I will show God’s salvation to the upright.’ Response
Gospel Acclamation 1 Thess 2:13
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept and submit to the word, which has been planted in you and can save your souls.
Alleluia!
or Heb 4: 12
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and active:
it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 2: 18-22 Glory to you, O Lord
The bridegroom is with them.
One day when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came and said to Jesus,
‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?‘
Jesus replied,
‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of fasting while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they could not think of fasting. But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; if he does, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too.
No! New wine, fresh skins!
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Monday Second Week in Ordinary Time Mark 2:18-22
There are many changes happening across our parishes at present, as we try to move together towards becoming larger (and fewer) parishes. There is a great deal of loss in that movement, that journey, for all of us. There is a sense in which things will never be the same as they were. Something new is coming to birth and it can leave us feeling unsettled. The gospel reading suggests that many of Jesus’ contemporaries found his way of giving expression to the Jewish faith quite disturbing and unsettling. It gave rise to all sorts of questions, such as the question we find at the beginning of the gospel reading, ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus seemed to be showing little respect for the ancient Jewish practice of fasting. Indeed, he was criticized by some as a glutton and a drunkard. In response to that criticism, Jesus spoke of his ministry as like a wedding feast.
There was something celebratory about Jesus’ ministry, because, through him, God was working to renew his marriage, his loving relationship, with his people and all humanity. In the time of Jesus, weddings engaged the whole community, the whole village, and they could go on for days. No one would dream of fasting at such a time. Jesus was saying that some of the old venerable traditions had to give way because God was working through Jesus in a new way. Jesus was offering new wine, and the old wineskins simply couldn’t contain it. New wineskins were needed. The Lord continues to do a new work among us. He is always moving us to work together with him in new ways, so that the gospel can be heard afresh in our time. This will often mean letting go of structures that have served us well in the past but no longer serve the new work that the Lord is doing today. This letting go is painful, especially when we are not sure of the shape of the new structures, the new wineskins. Yet, we try to remain open to what the Lord is doing among us, trusting that he is furthering his mission as the good shepherd who came that we may have life to the full.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
