Monday January 24

 

 

Monday of 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Led By God’s Good Spirit

FRANCIS OF SALES

 

Introduction

Brilliant, spirited, humorous, and very kind, St. Francis was bishop of Geneva during the Reformation. Both through his eloquence and his personal contact with people, he convinced many not to become Protestants and won many back to Catholicism.

He wanted to lead the simple life of everyone. Wearing ordinary clothes, he mixed with the people in the street, in the café around the corner, in restaurants. In his writings, especially in his Introduction to the Devout Life, he showed how everyone can become a saint in one’s own environment and everyday work. With St. Frances de Chantal he founded the Order of the Visitation.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
we thank you for St. Francis de Sales,
who showed in his amiability to people
how good you are 
and how close you want to be to us. 
Make us open and gentle with everyone 
the way he was,
uncomplicated and understanding
and devoted to you, our living God.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Reading 1: 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10

All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
“Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back.
And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.'”
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,
King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,
and they anointed him king of Israel.
David was thirty years old when he became king,
and he reigned for forty years:
seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah,
and thirty-three years in Jerusalem
over all Israel and Judah.

Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem
against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.
David was told, “You cannot enter here:
the blind and the lame will drive you away!”
which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”
But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.

David grew steadily more powerful,
for the LORD of hosts was with him.

 

Responsorial Psalm PS 89:20, 21-22, 25-26

(25a) My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

 

Alleluia SEE 2 Tm 1:10

Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R.  Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel Mk 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.

 

Intercessions:

–          That all the Churches that believe in Christ may overcome their division and become one in the Lord, who brought them pardon and peace, we pray:

–          That all those who are hardened by sin may be touched by the Spirit of the Lord to repent and to change their ways, we pray:

–          That our communities may accept those who have erred, defend the weak and the victims of injustice and bear witness to the mercy of God, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, our gentle God,
in these signs of bread and wine
we sit at table with your Son.
Let us feel how much you love us
as he calls us his friends.
Keep us in your love
and make us spread it to others
by our disarming friendship for one another
that attracts to you as well as to us
even people hard to deal with.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
we have listened to the words of your Son 
that we are called his friends and yours 
if we live the life of the gospel.
Let the bread of the eucharist
make us gentle, understanding
and unassuming men and women
who grow together in the joy
of the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

A country or a family or a community that is divided cannot stand. We should all be led by the same Spirit. That does not mean that we all have to be the same like clones, for the Spirit is rich enough with his variety of gifts. May God pour out his good Spirit on us and bless us, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary:

Satan Casts off Satan

The truth is, Satan can cast off Satan. This has been the way of the world, from the beginning. Don’t we cast out Satan with Satan when we use violence to heal violence? Think of why we have wars, terrorism, capital punishment, expulsions of members from families, and even the run-of-the-mill cursing while at traffic. And we are convinced of the efficacy of such methods! As René Girard argues, human society is built upon such sacrificial mechanism and the world only knows peace brought by violence. The irony is, such satanic wisdom, instead of breaking down his kingdom, ensures that he is indispensable! However, it is to such a world that Christ brings the “finger of God,” the Holy Spirit, who operates with a different Kingdom logic, with its dynamics of inclusive love. And to equate such interventions to satanic acts is blind, blasphemous, and denial of God.

 

Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF