Daily Mass Reflection & Daily Mass Readings

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.

10th February – Tuesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

We sometimes use the phrase ‘the dead weight of tradition’. This is when tradition is experienced as a burden that holds us back from forging new paths. However, tradition need not always be a dead weight. There are elements of any tradition which can be liberating and life giving. For us as Christians, it is a matter of discerning which elements of our religious tradition are worth drawing on and returning to and which elements we need to shed and move on from. In today’s gospel reading, the Pharisees and scribes want to know from Jesus why his disciples are not following what they call ‘the tradition of the elders’, when it comes to the usual ritual washings prior to eating. In his response to their criticism, Jesus does not reject the value of his own Jewish tradition. Indeed, he quotes from that tradition, from the prophet Isaiah who declared that human regulations do not always correspond to God’s will for his people, ‘the doctrines they teach are only human regulations’. Jesus quoted from the tradition to critique the elements of the tradition that the Pharisees and scribes were emphasizing. Jesus was saying that all the legal traditions that have grown up over the centuries have to be interpreted in the light of the more important tradition found in the writings of the prophets, in the word of God. That remains the task of the church, of all of us, today. The Scriptures, especially for us Christians the books of the New Testament, are the most authoritative expression of the church’s tradition and all other traditions have to be judged in their light. We have to keep returning to the word of God, to the primary source, to get the true measure of all later church traditions. We have to keep asking, ‘Is this particular church, family or personal tradition serving God’s purpose for our world as revealed in his word, especially the word of Jesus in the gospels?’

9th February – Monday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

According to today’s first reading, ‘the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s Temple’. The Temple in Jerusalem was considered to be the place where God had chosen to dwell, which is why people went up there on pilgrimage from all over Israel and beyond. In the gospels, Jesus begins his public ministry with the announcement, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near’. Jesus announces that God was now powerfully present and at work in and through his own ministry. God’s powerful presence has moved from the Temple in Jerusalem to Jesus. Rather than going on pilgrimage to the Temple, it is to Jesus that people now need to go on pilgrimage. This is what we find people doing in today’s gospel reading. People hurried all through the countryside to reach him and to bring their sick to him for healing. Unlike the Temple, however, Jesus was not stationary in one place. As well as people going to him, he went to them. According to the gospel reading, he went to village, town and farm, to places where people lived and worked, and when he arrived in their neighbourhood they responded by reaching out to him, hoping to touch even the fringe of his cloak. The same Jesus, now risen Lord, is present among us today especially when we celebrate the Eucharist, which is why people come to Mass in all weathers. However, as in the gospels, the Lord is not stationary in churches. He comes to us where we live and work, to our cities, towns, villages, farms and homes. He is always coming towards us, entering our lives. We can turn towards him at any time and in any place and, like the people in the gospel reading, experience his healing and strengthening presence.

10th February >> Mass Readings

Saint Scholastica, Virgin on Tuesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time.

Tuesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: A(II))

(Readings for the feria (Tuesday))

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Tuesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30 ‘Listen to the prayer your servant makes in this place‘.

In the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and, stretching out his hands towards heaven, said, ‘O Lord, God of Israel, not in heaven above nor on earth beneath is there such a God as you, true to your covenant and your kindness towards your servants when they walk wholeheartedly in your way. Yet will God really live with men on the earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built! Listen to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, O Lord my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer your servant makes to you today. Day and night let your eyes watch over this house, over this place of which you have said, “My name shall be there.” Listen to the prayer that your servant will offer in this place. ‘Hear the entreaty of your servant and of Israel your people as they pray in this place. From heaven where your dwelling is, hear; and, as you hear, forgive.’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 83(84):3-5,10-11