
Daily Mass Reflection & Daily Mass Readings
Daily Mass Reflection & Daily Mass Readings are vital for nurturing spiritual growth and maintaining a strong connection to one’s faith. These practices offer a dedicated time to meditate on the scriptures and the teachings of the homily, helping individuals internalize the lessons and apply them to their daily lives. Regular engagement with the readings fosters a deeper understanding of religious texts, while the reflection period allows for personal introspection and spiritual renewal. Together, they provide a foundation for a more meaningful and conscious practice of faith, promoting a sense of peace, guidance, and communal belonging.

9th February – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our prayer can take many different forms. We probably all have our favourite prayers and our preferred way of praying. I like prayers that are short and simple. One such prayer is often associated with the season of Advent but can be prayed any time, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. It is a very ancient prayer that goes back to the very early years of the church. It is a prayer that expresses our longing for the Lord to draw near to us, to be in communion with us, to enter into our lives. We can pray this prayer regardless of the situation in which we find ourselves.
I was reminded of that prayer by a verse in today’s gospel reading. When Peter was overwhelmed by the huge catch of fish that resulted from Jesus’ word to him, he prayed the reverse of that prayer, not ‘Come Lord’ but ‘Leave me Lord’. The Lord’s goodness towards him make him aware of the lack of goodness in his own life, ‘I am a sinful man’. In the presence of great human goodness and generosity of spirit, we can become more aware of what is lacking in our own lives. In the presence of God’s goodness we can certainly sense our own failings. Jesus did not do as Peter asked. He did not leave Peter. Jesus had come to journey into people’s lives, not away from them. He doesn’t wait for us to reach a certain moral level before coming into our lives. He comes to us as we are, with all our frailties and weaknesses. He wants to gift us, to grace us, as we are.
Each of today’s three readings shows how God entered the lives of three very imperfect people, blessing them in a very striking way. While Isaiah was at prayer in the Temple of Jerusalem, he was blessed with a vision of God’s majesty, of the Lord seated upon a high throne, even though Isaiah, on his own admission, was a person of unclean lips who lived among a people of unclean lips. On the road to Damascus, Paul was blessed with a vision of the risen Lord, even though at that very moment he persecuting the followers of the Lord. Peter the fisherman was blessed with the gift of an extraordinary catch of fish, even though, as he acknowledged, he was a sinful man. The way the Lord relates to each one of us is how he related to Isaiah, Paul and Peter. He bestows his favour upon us without waiting for us to do anything to deserve it. In our second reading Saint Paul says, ‘I hardly deserve the name apostle’. The Lord doesn’t relate to us on the basis of what we deserve but simply out of the abundance of his own goodness and his love for us. He doesn’t ask us to change for the better before giving us his favour. Rather, he bestows his favour on us to empower us to change for the better, to enable us to become the person he wants us to become and knows we can become. As a result of the Lord’s favour towards him, Paul the persecutor of the church became the great apostle to the pagans. Likewise, Peter the fisherman became the rock on which Jesus built his church and Isaiah became one of the greatest prophets of Israel.
When Peter said to Jesus, ‘Leave me, Lord’, he was speaking out of a sense of unworthiness at being so greatly blessed. Yet, Jesus wasn’t asking him to be worthy or deserving. It’s as if Jesus was saying to Peter, ‘I know you are unworthy, but I have blessed you abundantly anyway, and I have a job for you to do’. The Lord doesn’t ask any of us to be worthy or deserving. He wants to bless us with his presence, with his gifts, as we are, even if we are actively opposing him, as Paul was at the time. If we say to him, ‘Leave me, Lord, because I am sinful’, he will ignore us. He wants us, rather, to pray, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. He wants us to open ourselves to the many ways that he can bless and grace us. He can do that whether we are at prayer in a place of worship as Isaiah was, or going about our day job, as Peter was, or actively opposing the Lord’s good work, as Paul was. The Lord wants to touch our lives with his gracious and generous presence, wherever we happen to be on our life’s journey, and he will find a way to do so, if we give him half a chance, if we can bring ourselves to say with all our heart, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’, rather than ‘Leave me, Lord’.
When we open ourselves to the Lord’s coming, he will often move us to take a direction we would never have taken if left to ourselves. If left to themselves, Isaiah would never have become the prophet he was, Paul would never have become the apostle to the pagans, and Peter would never have become the leader of the early church. The Lord has something important for each of us to do, some vital contribution to make to his own good work in our world, and he can work powerfully even through our weaknesses, if we allow him.
8th February – Saturday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
You are familiar with the line from Robert Byrne’s poem, ‘To a Mouse’, ‘The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley’ or, in more standard English, ‘often go awry’. We can plan carefully for something, but it doesn’t necessarily happen according to plan. The unforeseen event can knock our plans on the head. Jesus and his disciples seem to have had a similar experience in today’s gospel reading. The disciples had just returned from a successful period of mission. They returned to more ministry. The gospel says that there were so many coming and going that they had no time even to eat. Jesus knew they needed to be by themselves with himself in a lonely place. As the good shepherd, Jesus planned to lead them to restful waters to revive their drooping spirits. However, this very laudable plan came to nothing. Word got out as to where they were going and, upon arriving, the normally lonely place was full of people. We might have expected Jesus to react angrily. On the contrary, the gospel says he had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd. The good shepherd discovered that he had a bigger flock to care for than the little flock of his twelve disciples. Jesus understood that God was in the disappointment of plans not working out. God was calling to him through the spiritual hunger of the crowd. When our plans don’t work out, it’s not always the disaster we think it is at the time. God can be calling to us through the unexpected and unwelcome event. The collapse of our plans can create a space for the Lord to serve us in ways we had never anticipated. When plans don’t work out, a compassionate, accepting, response, in the spirit of Jesus, is often what is called for.

9th February >> Mass Readings
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I))
First Reading Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8 ‘Here I am: send me‘.
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord of Hosts seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings. And they cried out to one another in this way,
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. His glory fills the whole earth.’
The foundations of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said:
‘What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of Hosts.’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this he touched my mouth and said:
‘See now, this has touched your lips, your sin is taken away, your iniquity is purged.’
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’
I answered, ‘Here I am, send me.’
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 137(138):1-5,7-8
R/ Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart: you have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the angels I will bless you. I will adore before your holy temple.
R/ Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
I thank you for your faithfulness and love, which excel all we ever knew of you. On the day I called, you answered; you increased the strength of my soul.
R/ Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
All earth’s kings shall thank you when they hear the words of your mouth. They shall sing of the Lord’s ways: ‘How great is the glory of the Lord!’
R/ Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
You stretch out your hand and save me, your hand will do all things for me. Your love, O Lord, is eternal, discard not the work of your hands.
R/ Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
Either:
Second Reading 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 I preached what the others preach, and you all believed.
Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to anything. Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it. I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Or:
Second Reading 1 Corinthians 15:3a-8,11 I preach what the apostles preach; and this is what you all believed.
Brothers, in the first place I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it. But what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation John 15:15
Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia!
Or: Matthew 4:19
Alleluia, alleluia! Follow me, says the Lord, and I will make you into fishers of men. Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 5:1-11 They left everything and followed him.
Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
0 notes
8th February >> Mass Readings
Saturday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time or Saint Jerome Emilian or Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Saturday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I))
First Reading Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21 May God turn us all into whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ.
Through Christ, let us offer God an unending sacrifice of praise, a verbal sacrifice that is offered every time we acknowledge his name. Keep doing good works and sharing your resources, for these are sacrifices that please God. Obey your leaders and do as they tell you, because they must give an account of the way they look after your souls; make this a joy for them to do, and not a grief – you yourselves would be the losers. I pray that the God of peace, who brought our Lord Jesus back from the dead to become the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood that sealed an eternal covenant, may make you ready to do his will in any kind of good action; and turn us all into whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 22(23)
R/ The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.
R/ The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name. If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort.
R/ The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing.
R/ The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.
R/ The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
Gospel Acclamation John 10:27
Alleluia, alleluia! The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me. Alleluia!
Gospel Mark 6:30-34 They were like sheep without a shepherd.
The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.