DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
JANUARY 13, 2025
MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT HILARY, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH)
FIRST READING
HEBREWS 1:1-6 OR (1 JOHN 2:18-25)
1 In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to what angel did God ever say, “Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? 6 And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 97:1, 2, 6-7, 9 OR (PSALMS 110:1-4)
Response: Let all thy angels worship thee.
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
Clouds and thick darkness are round about him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
R. Let all thy angels worship thee.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples behold his glory.
All worshipers of images are put to shame,
who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him.
R. Let all thy angels worship thee.
For thou, O LORD, art most high over all the earth;
thou art exalted far above all gods.
R. Let all thy angels worship thee.
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GOSPEL
The kingdom of God is at hand
MARK 1:14-20 OR (MATTHEW 5:13-19)
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel." 16 And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Common people on an uncommon mission, by Eusebius of Caesarea (260/263-340 AD)
"Reflect on the nature and grandeur of the one Almighty God who could associate himself with the poor of the lowly fisherman's class. To use them to carry out God's mission baffles all rationality. For having conceived the intention, which no one ever before had done, of spreading his own commands and teachings to all nations, and of revealing himself as the teacher of the religion of the one Almighty God to all humanity, he thought good to use the most unsophisticated and common people as ministers of his own design. Maybe God just wanted to work in the most unlikely way. For how could inarticulate folk be made able to teach, even if they were appointed teachers to only one person, much less to a multitude? How should those who were themselves without education instruct the nations?... When he had thus called them as his followers, he breathed into them his divine power, and filled them with strength and courage. As God himself he spoke God's true word to them in his own way, enabling them to do great wonders, and made them pursuers of rational and thinking souls, by empowering them to come after him, saying: 'Come, follow me, and I will make you fish for people' (Mark 1:17, Matthew 4:19). With this empowerment God sent them forth to be workers and teachers of holiness to all the nations, declaring them heralds of his own teaching."
(excerpt from PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 3.7)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.