Tuesday, January 25 : Psalms 117(116),1.2.
Praise the LORD, all you nations; glorify him, all you peoples! For steadfast is his kindness for us, and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar
Tuesday, January 25 : Acts of the Apostles 22,3-16.
Paul addressed the people in these words: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.
Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment there as well. “On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’
My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.
I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’
Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus. “A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him.
Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard.
Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Monday, January 24 : Saint John Cassian
“There are good reasons why these beings are called principles and powers. Namely, they dominate and rule over a peoples and lord it over lesser spirits and demons, about whom the gospels testify and also by their own assurance are legion. For they cannot be called dominations unless there are those over whom they can exercise the sway of their dominations, nor can they be named powers or principalities unless there are those over whom they might claim to be princes. We find it spoken of very openly in the Gospel by the blaspheming Pharisees: “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he casts out demons.” (Mt 12:24) We also read that they are called “the rulers of darkness” (Eph 6:12) and yet another has the title of “the prince of this world.” (Jn 14:30) Yet the blessed Apostle asserts that these grades will be eliminated in the world to come when all things have been subjected to Christ, when, as he says, he has handed over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has “fed every principality and power and dominion.” (1 Cor 15:24) This could certainly never happen unless they were removed from the sway of those over whom powers and dominations and Principalities are known to exercise authority in this world.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Monday, January 24 : Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3,22-30.
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Monday, January 24 : Psalms 89(88),20.21-22.25-26.
Once you spoke in vision; to your faithful ones you said: “On a champion I have placed a crown; over the people I have set a youth.” I have chosen David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him.
That my hand will be with him; and that my arm will make him strong. My loyalty and love will be with him; through my name his horn will be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Monday, January 24 : 2nd book of Samuel 5,1-7.10.
In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.'”
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD, and they anointed him king of Israel.
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years:
seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah.
Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the region. David was told, “You cannot enter here: the blind and the lame will drive you away!” which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”
But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.
David grew steadily more powerful, for the LORD of hosts was with him.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Sunday, January 23 : Origen
When you read that: “He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him”, take care not to consider Christ’s listeners to be blessed and to think of yourselves as deprived of his teaching. If Scripture is true then God did not just speak in former times in the meeting places of the Jews but he still speaks today in our own assemblies. And not just here, in our own assembly, but in other meeting places. And all over the world Jesus teaches and seeks out bearers of his word to pass on his teaching. Pray that he may find me both ready and able to sing it. Just as almighty God, seeking for prophets at a time when prophecy was lacking to men, finds Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, for example, so Jesus seeks out bearers of the message to pass on his word, to “teach in their synagogues and be praised by all.” Today Jesus is even more “praised by all” than at the time when he was only known in a single province.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Sunday, January 23 : Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1,1-4.4,14-21.
Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us,
just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,
I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus,
so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read
and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Sunday, January 23 : First Letter to the Corinthians 12,12-30.
Brothers and sisters: As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many.
If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.
Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended.
If they were all one part, where would the body be?
But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.”
Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary,
and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety,
whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it,
so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another.
If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds?
Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Sunday, January 23 : Psalms 19(18),8.9.10.15.
The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; The decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; The ordinances of the LORD are true, all of them just. Let the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart find favor before you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team