Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 13th February, 2024
Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St James 1:12-18
God does not tempt anybody.
Happy the man who stands firm when trials come. He has proved himself, and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Never, when you have been tempted, say, ‘God sent the temptation’; God cannot be tempted to do anything wrong, and he does not tempt anybody. Everyone who is tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a child, and the child is death.
Make no mistake about this, my dear brothers: it is all that is good, everything that is perfect, which is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow of a change. By his own choice he made us his children by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he had created.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 93
Response Happy the man whom you teach, O Lord.
1. Happy the man whom you teach, 0 Lord, whom you train by means of your law:
to him you give peace in evil days. Response
2. The Lord will not abandon his people nor forsake those who are his own;
for judgement shall again be just and all true hearts shall uphold it. Response
3. When I think: ‘I have lost my foothold’, your mercy, Lord, holds me up.
When cares increase in my heart your consolation calms my soul. Response
Gospel Acclamation Acts 16: 14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord, to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
or Jn 14: 23
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 8: 14-21 Glory to you, O Lord
Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod.
The disciples had forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then Jesus gave them this warning,
‘Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod’.
And they said to one another,
‘It is because we have no bread’.
And Jesus knew it, and he said to them,
‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’
They answered, ‘Twelve’.
And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?‘
And they answered, ‘Seven’.
Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 8:14-21
Immediately prior to the gospel scene in today’s gospel reading, Jesus had fed a crowd of four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish. Yet, as they cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat, the disciples are fretting because they had only one loaf with them. They completely misunderstood Jesus’ warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod as a reference to the scarcity of bread present among them. Jesus didn’t intend his reference to ‘leaven’ to be taken literally. Leaven was a traditional image for a hidden element working moral corruption. Jesus is portrayed as being totally frustrated with his disciples, asking a series of eight questions, like a schoolteacher who feels he will never get through to his pupils. Jesus, however, remained faithful to them to the end, even though they would go on to desert him. Even after they deserted him, he appeared to them as risen Lord and renewed their calling.
The portrayal of the disciples in the gospel of Mark can be of some consolation to us. Their inability to hear what Jesus is saying, to see what he is showing them, and their self-protective flight at the end, shows up all the more the faithful love of the Lord for them. The Lord who was faithful to the first disciples is faithful to us, even though we get it wrong from time to time. He keeps coming towards us, inviting us to renew our response to his call to become his faithful followers in today’s world, and also promising us that, if we strive to respond to his call he will give us the spiritual resources that we need.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
