DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time (January 29)

"Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister"

GOSPEL

Mark 3:31-35

31 And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you." 33 And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" 34 And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: The cross of Christ as victory, by Augustine of Hippo, 430-543 A.D.

"[Mary] did the Father's will. It was this in her that the Lord magnified, not merely that her flesh gave birth to flesh... When he said, 'Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it' (Luke 11:28), he was in effect saying: 'My mother whom you have called blessed is blessed for the reason that she keeps the Word of God, not that the Word was made flesh in her and dwelt among us (John 1:14), but that she keeps the very Word of God through which she was made and which was made flesh in her."

(excerpt from TRACTATE ON JOHN 10.3.2)
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FIRST READING

Hebrews 10:1-10

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin.3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me;6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.7 Then I said, `Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God, 'as it is written of me in the roll of the book."8 When he said above, "Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),9 then he added, "Lo, I have come to do thy will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALM 39(40):2-4, 7-8, 10, 11

Response: Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.

I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.

R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”

R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.

Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.

R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
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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.