DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

JANUARY 26, 2024

FRIDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS

FIRST READING

2 TIMOTHY 1:1-8 OR (TITUS 1:1-5)

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as did my fathers, when I remember you constantly in my prayers. 4 As I remember your tears, I long night and day to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lo'is and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you. 6 Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. 8 Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God.

The Word of the Lord
_

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 95(96):1-3, 7-8, 10

Response: Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.

O sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Sing to the LORD, bless his name.

R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples! 

R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!

R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”

R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
_

GOSPEL

What the kingdom of God is like

MARK 4:26-34

26 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." 30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

The Gospel of the Lord
_

REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

God gave us what was most precious, by Isaac of Nineveh (a Syrian monk, teacher, and bishop), 613-700 A.D.

"The sum of all is God, the Lord of all, who from love of his creatures has delivered his Son to death on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it. Not that he was unable to save us in another way, but in this way it was possible to show us his abundant love abundantly, namely, by bringing us near to him by the death of his Son. If he had anything more dear to him, he would have given it to us, in order that by it our race might be his. And out of his great love he did not even choose to urge our freedom by compulsion, though he was able to do so. But his aim was that we should come near to him by the love of our mind. And our Lord obeyed his Father out of love for us."

(excerpt from ASCETICAL HOMILY 74.28)
_

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.