Monday January 17

Monday of 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

ANTHONY, Abbot

 

Introduction

“If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you own… and come, follow me.” Saint Anthony (251-356) heard these words, gave away what he had and withdrew into the desert, as he thought that this was the place where the evangelical way could be practiced in all its purity. Later Anthony organized monastic life for the “fathers of the desert” who had followed him and for whom he wrote a rule. For a while he left the desert to defend his faith against Arianism and to strengthen those suffering for the faith. Then he retired again to the desert.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
though he was a rich young man, 
Saint Anthony did not refuse the invitation of Jesus
to renounce his material riches
and to follow your Son radically.
Through the prayers of St. Anthony, 
may we too put our riches
not in what we have 
but in what you give us and make us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Reading 1: 1 Sm 15:16-23

Samuel said to Saul:
“Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
Saul replied, “Speak!”
Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem,
are you not leader of the tribes of Israel?
The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying,
‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction.
Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’
Why then have you disobeyed the LORD?
You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”
Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the LORD
and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me.
I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen,
the best of what had been banned,
to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel said:
“Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and presumption is the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the command of the LORD,
he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

 

Responsorial Psalm Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

(23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

 

Alleluia Hb 4:12

Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel Mk 2:18-22

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them,
“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

 

Intentions

–          For the Church, that the People of God and its leaders may follow the promptings of the creative Spirit, to speak to the people of today in the language of today, the ever-new message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we pray:

–          For artists, poets and inventors, that they may reveal to us the splendor of creation and the riches of life beyond its apparent drabness, we pray:

–          For our communities, that we may not be afraid of authentic change and draw from Christ the courage to start the renewal of the world and of the Church with the renewal of ourselves, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
Let these offerings of bread and wine express
that we welcome your Son in our midst.
As he places himself into our hands,
entirely and without holding anything back,
may he give us the wisdom and strength
to go all the way with him,
without becoming sad,
without looking back
and without counting the cost,
for he is our riches and Lord for ever.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you have satisfied our hunger
for food that lasts.
Let it be a hunger that cannot be stilled
for you, for people, for life in its fullness.
Give us the courage to put Jesus and his gospel
above everything else and to give you
not only the best of what we have
but our very selves,
by the power of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

Yes, it is not easy to change ourselves, our Church, our world. But life is growth. We have to grow up to the size and the stature of Christ. We have to become mature Christians in mature communities, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

The Good vs The Best

As the saying goes, the good can be the enemy of the best. It applies to our spiritual intentions as well. Mystics often warn us to be on guard against devil presenting itself as an angel of light, offering us good inspirations which seem to lead us in God’s ways, but actually take us away from God. When Saul captured the best of oxen and sheep from the Amalekites, it was with the noble intention of sacrificing them to the Lord in thanksgiving. But as Samuel points out to him, obedience is far greater and nobler than sacrifice. The Gospel resonates with similar insight too: Neither fasting nor feasting has any merit of its own; they carry relevance only in reference to God. If one’s austerities serve to take one away from God and one’s neighbor, they endanger the soul. Lord, give us this day our daily bread of discernment of Your Will.

 

Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF