Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 30th January, 2024
Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Memorials of St Aidan, bishop,
Bl Margaret Ball and Francis Taylor, martyrs
FIRST READING
A reading from the second book of Samuel 18: 9-10, 14, 24-25, 30–19:3
My son Absolom! Would I had died in your place.
Absalom happened to run into some of David’s followers. Absalom was riding a mule and the mule passed under the thick branches of a great oak. Absalom’s head caught fast in the oak and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule he was riding went on. Someone saw this and told Joab. ‘I have just seen Absalom’ he said ‘hanging from an oak.’ Then Joab said, ‘I cannot waste my time with you like this’. And he took three lances in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive there in the oak tree.
David was sitting between the two gates. The lookout had gone up to the roof of the gate, on the ramparts; he looked up and saw a man running all by himself. The watch called out to the king and told him. The king said, ‘If he is by himself, he has good news to tell’. As the man drew still nearer, The king said, ‘Move aside and stand there’. He moved aside and stood waiting.
Then the Cushite arrived. ‘Good news for my lord the king!‘ cried the Cushite.
‘The Lord has vindicated your cause today by ridding you of all who rebelled against you.’ ‘Is all well with young Absalom?‘ the king asked the Cushite.
‘May the enemies of my lord the king’ the Cushite answered ‘and all who rebelled against you to your hurt, share the lot of that young man.‘
The king shuddered. He went up to the room over the gate and burst into tears, and weeping said,
‘My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! Would I had died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!’
Word was brought to Joab, ‘The king is now weeping and mourning for Absalom’. And the day’s victory was turned to mourning for all the troops, because they learned that the king was grieving for his son. And the troops returned stealthily that day to the town, as troops creep back ashamed when routed in battle.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 85
Response Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer.
1 Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful: save the servant who trusts in you. Response
2 You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.
Give joy to your servant, O Lord, for to you I lift up my soul. Response
3 O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my voice. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 14: 16
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia
or Mt 8: 17
Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our sicknesses away, and carried our diseases for us.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 5: 21-43
Little girl, I tell you to get up.
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.‘
Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.
Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak. ‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.
Immediately aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said,
‘Who touched my clothes?’
His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”‘
But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. ‘My daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’
While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, ‘Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?’ But Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official,
‘Do not be afraid; only have faith’. And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them,
‘Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’ But they laughed at him.
So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, ku‘m! which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up’. The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 5:21-43
The grief of David in the first reading is very moving. Even though his son Absalom had led a rebellion against his father, he was still David’s son and on hearing the news of Absalom’s death David grieved bitter tears, as any father would for a son, even a rebellious son. In the gospel reading, we hear of the death of a daughter, not a rebellious daughter but a young girl of twelve years of age. Her death causes people to grieve, to weep and wail unreservedly, in the words of the gospel reading. The death of children is especially heart-breaking, especially for the child’s parents. In the gospel reading, Jesus takes the child by the hand and restores her to life and instructs that she be given something to eat. The evangelist is showing us that the power of Jesus is stronger than the power of death. This became very evident to the early church in the light of the resurrection of Jesus. As believers in a risen Lord, we continue to grieve when a loved one dies. Yet, there is hope in our grief because we are convinced that the Lord is stronger than death. If we open ourselves in faith to the Lord, like Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood in the gospel reading, we will experience his life-giving power just as they did. Jesus remains the life-giver for all who turn to him in faith, both in the course of this earthly life and, especially, at the hour of our death.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
