Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 27th January, 2024
Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional Memorial of St Angela Merici, virgin and religious
FIRST READING
A reading from the second book of Samuel 12: 1-7, 10-17
I have sinned against the Lord.
The Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David. He came to him and said:
In the same town were two men, one rich, the other poor.
The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance;
the poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb, one only, a small one he had bought.
This he fed, and it grew up with him and his children,
eating his bread, drinking from his cup sleeping on his breast; it was like a daughter to him.
When there came a traveller to stay, the rich man refused to take one of his own flock or herd to provide for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.’
David’s anger flared up against the man.
‘As the Lord lives,’ he said to Nathan ‘the man who did this deserves to die!
He must make fourfold restitution for the lamb,
for doing such a thing and showing no compassion.’
Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man.
The Lord the God of Israel says this,
“I anointed you king over Israel; I delivered you from the hands of Saul; So now the sword will never be far from your House, since you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.”
‘Thus the Lord speaks,
“I will stir up evil for you out of your own House. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
You worked in secret, I will work this in the face of all Israel and in the face of the sun.”‘
David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.
Then Nathan said to David,
‘the Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die.
Yet because you have outraged the Lord by doing this, the child that is born to you is to die.’
Then Nathan went home.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David and it fell gravely ill. David pleaded with the Lord for the child; he kept a strict fast and went home and spent the night on the bare ground, covered with sacking. The officials of his household came and stood round him to get him to rise from the ground, but he refused, nor would he take food with them.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50
Response A pure heart create for me, O God.
1. A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit. Response
2. Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you. Response
3. O rescue me, God, my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 26:11
Alleluia, alleluia!
Instruct me, in your way; on an even path lead me .
Alleluia!
or Jn 3: 16
Alleluia, alleluia!
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son;
everyone who believes in him has eternal life.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark 4: 35-41 Glory to you, O Lord
Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.
With the coming of evening that same day, Jesus said to his disciples,
‘Let us cross over to the other side’.
And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him,
‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!‘
And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea,
‘Quiet now! Be calm!’
And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them,
‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?‘
They were filled with awe and said to one another,
‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.‘
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Saturday Third Week in Ordinary Time Mark 4:35-41
It is likely that Mark’s gospel was written to the church in Rome, shortly after it had come through the persecution of the emperor Nero. If so, Mark’s church would easily have recognized itself among the disciples in the boat, battling a gale, with the waves breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. Just as Jesus was asleep as the storm howled and the disciples concluded that Jesus didn’t care for them, so Mark’s church may have wondered during their own stormy ordeal whether the risen Lord was asleep, indifferent to their plight.
As a church we have been through difficult times; we have taken a battering, for various reasons. We too may be tempted to think that the Lord has forgotten about us and doesn’t care. The message of today’s gospel reading is that nothing could be further from the truth. The reason that Jesus was asleep in the boat as the storm broke wasn’t that he didn’t care for his disciples but that he had complete trust that God would preserve the boat in the storm because God was stronger than the storm. He rebuked his disciples for their lack of trust, ‘How is it that you have no faith?’ The Lord is never asleep to our plight; he is always with us in the storm and will never allow the storm to swamp the church. He does ask, however, that we keep faith in him while the storm is doing its worst and not just in the calm after it.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
