MEMORIAL OF SAINT ADRIAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT AND SAINTS JULIAN AND BASILISSA, MARTYRS

FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 9, 2024

Greetings beloved family and Happy Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time!

Today, we all begin the time of the Ordinary Season, the first of the two Ordinary Times of this current liturgical year, which will continue on towards the Season of Lent. We pray for God’s grace and mercy upon us through this Ordinary Time, and may the Lord grant us the grace to serve Him in spirit and in truth🙏

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 on EWTN” |

Pray “Holy Rosary Novena From Lourdes” | January 9, 2024 |

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Today’s Bible Readings: Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Reading 1, First Samuel 1:9-20
Responsorial Psalm, First Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8
Gospel, Mark 1:21-28

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JANUARY – MONTH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS: The month of January is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. After the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Angel Gabriel appeared to St. Joseph and told him that the Child’s name should be called Jesus, meaning “God Saves.” According to Jewish law, on the 8th day after his birth a male child was to be circumcised, receive his name, and become a full member of God’s covenant people. According to the old Roman liturgical calendar, the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus was celebrated on January 1st, eight days after Christmas, the same day that He was given His sacred name. Currently we celebrate the Solemnity of the Mother of God on January 1st and honor the Holy Name of Jesus on January 3rd. For Catholics, Jesus’ sacred name is the object of a special devotion symbolized by the monogram “IHS,” (sometimes called a Christogram), which is the first three letters of the Greek spelling of His name.

On this feast day, we continue to remember our beloved late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the first memorial anniversary of his death. We pray for the repose of his gentle soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May the gentle soul of Pope Benedict XVI and souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯

Please let us continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏

PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life, you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil, and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏

A PRAYER FOR PEACE: Lord Jesus Christ, You are the true King of peace. In You alone is found freedom. Please free our world from conflict. Bring unity to troubled nations. Let Your glorious peace reign in every heart. Dispel all darkness and evil. Protect the dignity of every human life. Replace hatred with Your love. Give wisdom to world leaders. Free them from selfish ambition. Eliminate all violence and war. Glorious Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel, Every Angel and Saint: Please pray for peace. Pray for unity amongst nations. Pray for unity amongst all people. Pray for the most vulnerable. Pray for those suffering. Pray for the fearful. Pray for those most in need. Pray for us all. Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear our prayers. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen 🙏

Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/

Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Adrian of Canterbury, Abbot and Saints Julian and Basilissa, Martyrs.

SAINT ADRIAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT: St. Adrian of Canterbury (d. 710 A.D.), also known as St. Hadrian, was a native of North Africa who was sent to England to accompany his friend, Theodore of Tarsus, who was appointed to the prestigious archbishopric of Canterbury. This learned and saintly man, St. Adrian became Abbot of monastery near Monte Casino, Italy. Pope St. Vitalian judged him to be the best person to fill the vacant post of Archbishop of Canterbury, for his talents were most suitable for instructing and nurturing a nation still young in the Faith. But St. Adrian, deeming himself unworthy, suggested St. Theodore of Tarsus in his place. The Pope agreed but sent him along to be the assistant and adviser of the Archbishop. Setting out in 668, the two holy men proceeding by way of France. There, St. Adrian was arrested by Ebroin, Mayor of Neustria, as an agent of the Eastern Emperor; and St. Theodore alone was able to go on. When St. Adrian was finally able to reach England, he found St. Theodore already confirmed in his See, and was named Abbot of the monastery of St. Augustine’s Abbey at Canterbury (originally called the Monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul at Canterbury).

Under St. Adrian’s administration, this monastic school attracted students from all over and had a far-reaching influence. The monastic school grew and thrived under his leadership, and became an important center of learning where many future scholars, bishops, and abbots were educated in Latin, Greek, scripture, theology, Roman law, arithmetic, and other subjects. Saint Adrian himself was learned in the Scriptures, was well known for being a great teacher of religion, math, science, and literature, well versed in the Fathers of the Church, and a fine Greek and Latin scholar. All these subject were taught there, as well as poetry, astronomy, and calendar calculation. He also served as the Holy Father’s assistant and adviser. During the lives of Adrian and Theodore, education and learning flourished in England. After his death, his tomb became famous for miracles. St. Adrian died on January 9, 710. His feast day is January 9th.

PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. Adrian the Abbot. Amen🙏

SAINTS JULIAN AND BASILISSA, MARTYRS: Saint Julian, Martyr (died 313) and Saint Basilissa, his wife (died 4th century), though married, lived by mutual consent in perpetual chastity. They sanctified themselves by the most perfect exercises of an ascetic life, and employed their revenues in relieving the poor and the sick. For this purpose they converted their house into a kind of hospital, in which they sheltered up to a thousand poor people. Basilissa attended those of her sex in separate lodgings, and Julian, who for his charity is known as the Hospitaler, cared for the men.

Egypt, where they lived, was in those days blessed with persons who, either in the cities or in the deserts, devoted themselves to the most perfect exercises of charity, penance, and mortification. Conversions were numerous, and persecutions by furious pagans followed as the numbers of Christians increased. St. Basilissa, after having survived seven of those, died in peace, foretelling to her husband that he would die a martyr. St. Julian lived afterwards for a number of years, but eventually received the crown of a glorious martyrdom in 313. His interrogation and his tortures were accompanied by astonishing prodigies and numerous conversions. With him died thirty-one other persons, including a priest named Anthony, a new Christian named Anastasius, Celsus, the seven-year-old son of the judge who sentenced Julian, Marcianilla, the mother of Celsus, who when she came to visit her son was won over to the faith, and many other Christians. Spared by fire and wild beasts, Saint Julian finally was decapitated. His tomb became illustrious by many great miracles, including the cure of ten lepers on the same day. Many churches and hospitals, in both the East and in the West, bear the name of one or another of these martyrs. Four churches at Rome and three in Paris are dedicated to Saint Julian.

Reflection: God often rewards men for works that are pleasing in His sight by giving them grace and opportunity to do other works higher still. Such was the case for Saint Julian, whose posthumous miracles attained prodigious numbers. Saints Julian and Basilissa, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏

Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints, on this feast day, we humbly pray and thank God for blessing us all with the gift of His precious son, may we be saved by the name of our Savior Jesus Christ! And as we begin the Ordinary Time, may the Lord grant us the grace to serve Him in spirit and in truth. We pray for peace, love and unity in our marriages, our families and our world today, as we face these incredibly challenging times. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the sick and dying, especially sick children, those who are sick with the coronavirus, mental illness, stroke, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. We pray for torture victims, the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable in our communities and around the world. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and for all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. We pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world… Amen🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

Bible Readings for today, Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Mark 1:21-28

“Jesus taught them as one having authority”

“Jesus came to Capernaum with His followers, and on the sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; He cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.”

In today’s Gospel reading a clearly very disturbed person turned on Jesus with great anger, shouting, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?’ Jesus did not react to this man in a similar way. This person’s disturbed state did not disturb Jesus. Instead, Jesus’ own calm state had a calming effect on this man. In response to the man’s aggressive questions, Jesus simply said, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’, and these calming words had a profound effect on this man’s disturbed spirit. Jesus did not react to people; rather, He responded to them and He responded to them out of His deep relationship with God. As a result, His presence brought peace where there was disturbance and calm where there was aggression. The Lord can have the same calming effect on each of us if we open ourselves to Him in our brokenness and our need. When we honestly bring our own disturbance to the Lord in prayer, we don’t disturb Him. Rather, His presence works to calm our disturbance and heal our brokenness of spirit. As we open ourselves to the Lord and grow in our relationship with Him, we too can respond to others out of that relationship, rather than just reacting to them. In responding to others out of our relationship with the Lord, we can become channels of the Lord’s calming and healing presence to others.

Our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Samuel details the beginning of the story of Samuel, the one whom the Lord sent to the Israelites to be their Prophet and Judge, as the one to lead and guide them through their lives, to keep them faithful to the Law and commandments which God had revealed and passed to them through their ancestors. Samuel was conceived and born miraculously after God had answered the prayers of his mother Hannah. At that time, Hannah was married to a man named Elkanah, who also had another wife named Penninah. Penninah had bore many children for Elkanah while Hannah could not have any child and was barren, and yet, Elkanah loved Hannah more, and this led to the jealousy of Penninah who often bullied Hannah and ridiculed her for her barren state. According to our first reading today, Hannah went to seek the Lord at His Holy Tent in Shiloh, asking for God’s help because she was already desperate and out of options, and at that time, it was indeed considered disgraceful and unbecoming for a woman to be barren and unable to bear any child at all. That was why Hannah sought the Lord, promising to Him that she would entrust her firstborn son to Him as His servant, if He would answer her prayers. The High Priest and Judge Eli was there and thought that Hannah was drunk, but Hannah told him everything that she had hoped to achieve in seeking the Lord earnestly in prayer. Thus, Eli understood her predicament and gave Hannah his blessing, and hoped that the Lord would grant her what she has asked for. And God did indeed answer Hannah’s prayer, listening to what she had asked for, and gave her a son, which was miraculously conceived between Elkanah and Hannah, and was therefore born and named as Samuel. As Hannah has promised the Lord, she fulfilled her promise by offering her firstborn son to the Lord, to be His servant, and God made Samuel to be a great Prophet and Judge, the last one to guide and rule over the Israelites. Through Samuel, God would perform many great things among His people, and eventually He gave them kings to rule and lead them, to continue shepherding and guiding them throughout their lives, from Saul and then to David, the virtuous king who led Israel into its golden age. Throughout all these, God kept on guiding and helping His people through Samuel, His prophet and servant.

In our first reading, Hannah describes her prayer in very graphic terms, ‘I was pouring out my soul before the Lord… all this time I have been speaking from the depths of my grief and my resentment’. Her prayer was clearly a very honest prayer. She came before the Lord and poured out her soul before Him, and that meant pouring out all that was in her soul at that time, her grief and resentment. Hannah’s prayer reminds us that when it comes to our own prayer to the Lord, we do not have to be on our best behaviour. According to the old catechism definition of prayer, prayer was the offering up of our mind and heart to God. Offering up our mind and heart to God means offering up all that is in our mind and heart, whatever that might be, such as the grief and resentment that Hannah mentioned. As in our Gospel reading, that very disturbed man addresses Jesus in a similarly honest way. We can sense the anger in the questions that he fires at Jesus. The psalms of lament in the Scriptures are full of questions fired at God out of people’s anger, resentment and grief. Jesus was not disturbed by the man’s questions. Rather He calmed the man’s disturbance. When we honestly bring our own disturbance to the Lord in prayer, we don’t disturb Him. Rather, His presence works to calm our disturbance and heal our brokenness of spirit.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to put our faith and trust in the Lord, because through Him all of us will be safe and taken care of, and we have to trust in Him as no matter what trials and challenges may befall us, or whatever troubles and hardships that we may have to endure, in the end, we shall be triumphant with God, and the Lord will guide us all and give us His strength and power, so that we will be strong throughout our journey and we will be able to persevere through those challenges as long as we keep onto that faith in the Lord. Let us all hence renew our faith in the Lord today, and affirm our trust in Him, and let us all do our very best so that we may always endeavour to put ourselves in the hands of the Lord, and believe that in Him, we can be strengthened and made firm, amidst all the trials and challenges of the world. May the Lord continue to guide us each day throughout this season of Ordinary Time, so that we all may continue to live our lives most faithfully and most obediently, doing whatever we can to glorify the Lord through our lives, our actions and works, our words and interactions among many other things. May He empower each one of us and strengthen us all in faith, so that we may always draw ever closer to Him and continue to persevere and flourish in our faith in Him regardless of the challenges and trials we may have to face in our journey of faith with Him. As we begin this Ordinary Time, the beginning of the public ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, may God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to respond to that call of the Lord to follow Him, to walk in His ways, to live by His values, just as Andrew, Peter, James and John did. May the good Lord continue to guide us through this life, so that our every day moments, our whole lives, and how we live them, will always ever be inspirational and be great role models for others in our Christian virtues and ways. May God bless us, now and forevermore. Amen 🙏

Let us pray:

Lord, give me courage and wisdom when I face the activity of the evil one in this world. Give me wisdom to discern his hand at work and give me courage to confront and rebuke him with Your love and authority. May Your authority be alive in my life, Lord Jesus, and may I daily become a better instrument of the coming of Your Kingdom as I confront the evil present in this world. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Adrian of Canterbury and and Saints Julian and Basilissa ~ Pray for us 🙏

Thanking God for the gift of this new year and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all as we begin this Ordinary Time. Wishing all of us a most blessed, safe, healthy, prosperous and grace-filled New Year! Amen🙏

Blessings and  love always, Philomena💖