THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 26, 2024
PRAY TO PROTECT HUMAN LIFE! 9 DAYS FOR LIFE NOVENA: JANUARY 19-27, 2024
Link for 9 Days for Life Novena below. Every life is a gift!
Greetings, beloved family and Happy Friday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time!
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on January 26, 2024 on EWTN” |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” |
January 26, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | January 26, 2024 |
Pray “Chaplet of the Divine Mercy from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | January 26, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary Novena From Lourdes” | January 26, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Today’s Bible Readings: Friday, January 26, 2024
1st Reading, 2 Timothy 1:1-8 Or Titus 1:1-5
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 96:1-2A, 2B-3, 7-8A, 10
Gospel, Luke 10:1-9 or Mark 4:26-34 [Gospel Reading: Luke 10:1-9 for the Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus and on
Mark 4:26-34 for Friday, Third Week in Ordinary Time]
PRAY TO PROTECT HUMAN LIFE! 9 DAYS FOR LIFE NOVENA: JANUARY 19-27, 2024
9 Days for Life is a novena for the protection of human life. Each day’s intention is accompanied by a short reflection and suggested actions to help build a culture of life. Link for 9 Days for Life: January 19-27, 2024: https://www.respectlife.org/9-days-for-life
Every life is a gift!
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 special feast day, as we complete the week of prayer for Christian Unity, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we particularly pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and 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/
SAINTS OF THE DAY: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops. The two followers and friends of St. Paul the Apostle who were among the first bishops of the Church, as the successors of the Apostles. It was fitting that we celebrate them today as yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, as a reminder for us just how significant the contributions that St. Paul, formerly Saul, a great enemy of the Christian faithful turned a most ardent defender of the faith, had in the early history of the Church.
We also celebrate the Memorial of Saint José Gabriel Brochero, Priest.
SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS: Saints Timothy and Titus were close companions of the Apostle Paul and bishops of the Catholic Church in its earliest days. St.Paul called St. Timothy a “dearly beloved son, brother, companion in labor & man of God” and called St. Titus “my true child in common faith.” Both men received letters from St. Paul, which are included in the New Testament. Pope Benedict XVI discussed these early bishops during a general audience on Dec. 13, 2006, noting “their readiness to take on various offices” in “far from easy” circumstances. Both saints, the Pope said, “teach us to serve the Gospel with generosity, realizing that this also entails a service to the Church herself.”
SAINT TIMOTHY: St.Timothy (17-97 AD) was St. Paul’s dearest disciple, his most steadfast associate. He was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father, born in AD 17. St. Timothy came from Lystra in present-day Turkey. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are known to have joined the Church, and Timothy himself is described as a student of Sacred Scripture from his youth. After St. Paul’s visit to Timothy’s home region of Lycaonia, around the year 51, the young man joined the apostle and accompanied him in his travels. After religious strife forced Paul to leave the city of Berea, Timothy remained to help the local church. St. Paul later sent him to Thessalonica to help the Church during a period of persecution. The two met up again in Corinth, and St. Timothy eventually journeyed to Macedonia on St. Paul’s behalf. Problems in the Corinthian Church brought St. Timothy back for a time, after which he joined St. Paul and accompanied the apostle in subsequent travels. Like St. Paul, Timothy endured a period of imprisonment in the course of his missionary work. His release is mentioned in the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews.
Around the year 64, Timothy became the first bishop of the Church of Ephesus. During that same year, he received the first of two surviving letters from St. Paul. The second, written the next year, urges Timothy to visit St. Paul in Rome, where he was imprisoned before his martyrdom. Ancient sources state that St. Timothy followed his mentor in dying as a martyr for the faith. In the year 93, during his leadership of the Church in Ephesus, he took a stand against the worship of idols and was consequently killed by a mob. According to tradition St. Timothy spent the rest of his life at Ephesus as its Bishop. He was martyred during the winter of the year AD 97 at about the age of 80. The pagan festival he was protesting was held Jan. 22, and this date was preserved as St. Timothy’s memorial in the Christian East. St. Timothy is the Patron Saint: Intestinal disorders; stomach diseases. Feast day: January 26, January 24 (Trad)
SAINT TITUS: St. Titus was Bishop and Confessor, 1st century AD. He was a friend and became one of St. Paul’s most illustrious disciples. In contrast with Timothy’s partial Jewish descent and early Biblical studies, St. Titus was born into a pagan family. He is said to have studied Greek philosophy and poetry in his early years. But he pursued a life of virtue, and purportedly had a prophetic dream that caused him to begin reading the Hebrew Scriptures. According to tradition, St. Titus journeyed to Jerusalem and witnessed the preaching of Christ during the Lord’s ministry on earth. Only later, however – after the conversion of St. Paul and the beginning of his ministry – did St. Titus receive baptism from the apostle, who called the pagan convert his “true child in our common faith.” St. Paul was not only Titus’ spiritual father, but also depended on his convert as an assistant and interpreter. St. Titus accompanied Paul to the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem during the year 51, and was later sent to the Corinthian Church on two occasions. After the end of Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, the apostle ordained St. Titus as the Bishop of Crete.
St. Paul sent his only surviving letter to Titus around the year 64, giving instructions in pastoral ministry to his disciple as he prepared to meet up with him in the Greek city of Nicopolis. St. Titus evangelized the region of Dalmatia in modern Croatia before returning to Crete. St. Titus is credited with leading the Church of Crete well into his 90s, overturning paganism and promoting the faith through his prayers and preaching. Unlike St. Timothy, St. Titus was not martyred, but died peacefully of natural cause in old age at the age of 94, having lived in the state of virginity during his whole life. St. Paul left a worthy monument to St. Titus, his faithful disciple, in the beautiful pastoral letter which forms part of the New Testament. St. Titus was Patron Saint of Crete, United States Chaplain Corp. Feastday: January 26 (New) February 6 (Trad).
PRAYER: Lord God, You filled Sts. Timothy and Titus with apostolic virtues, through their intercession may we live good and religious lives her on earth and thus be worthy of our heavenly home. Saints Timothy and Titus, companions of St. Paul ~ Pray for us. Amen🙏
SAINT JOSÉ GABRIEL BROCHERO, PRIEST: St. José Gabriel is known in Argentina as the “cowboy priest.” This gaucho, as local cattle-herders are known, served a large parish spread over miles of mountainous terrain. St. José showed bravery in his first years as a priest by ministering to victims of a cholera epidemic in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. At 29 he was assigned to St. Albert, a remote parish numbering about ten thousand souls with neither schools nor roads. Padre José went on the back of a mule along the mountains to care for his flock, carrying a Mass kit and an image of the Blessed Mother. His flock was, in a sense, “lost,” so remote were they from the larger society. Father José said of his people that “they were abandoned by everyone, but not by God.” Early in his tenure, he desired spiritual renewal for his parish and so he led a group across mountains in a snowstorm to a retreat being held at Cordoba on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This beginning in prayer produced much fruit in the parish.
His priestly ministry drew him to the people, to “go out,” as Jesus and his apostles went out to where the people were to be found. This “going out” involved risk: the danger of terrain, long days far from home, and the unexpected. Pope Francis has especially encouraged priests and generally all Christians to get out on the roads and into the public squares as a necessary first step in evangelization, in sharing Christ. St. José Gabriel was not unknown to the public for his incarnational way of ministering. He worked alongside his people. A Cordoba newspaper wrote about this priest’s way of serving in an 1887 article: “He practices the gospel. Are you missing a carpenter? He’s a carpenter. Are you missing a laborer? He’s a laborer. He rolls up his cassock wherever he is, takes the shovel or hoe and opens a public road in 15 days aided by his parishioners.” In these tasks St. José found a space of communion in labor with his parishioners and a solid imitation of his patron, St. Joseph. He worked to build roads, schools, and to get mail and telegraph couriers for the good of the people. In his letter to those gathered for the beatification ceremony, Pope Francis said: “This shepherd who smelled of sheep became poor among the poor.”
St. José Gabriel was born in 1840, the same year of birth as St. Damien of Molokai. Like Damien, José Gabriel served those who were considered untouchable, the lepers, and like Damien he died a leper. He continued to pray and offer Mass although ill and blind. His “going out” was a complete emptying of self. Pope Francis wrote: “Brochero did not stay in the parish offices: he would exhaust himself riding his mule and he ended up being sick with leprosy.” St. José Gabriel died January 26, 1914. The beatification ceremony at Cordoba was attended by close to 150,000 people, including three thousand gauchos wearing the traditional ponchos of the Argentine cowboy. This priest was a lone ranger when he had to be and, like his Divine Master, was brave, courageous, and bold.
PRAYER: We humbly ask you, almighty God, that at the intercession of blessed José Gabriel, you may multiply your gifts among us and order our days in peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen🙏
PRAYER INTENTIONS: We 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! May the Lord grant us His grace as we continue to serve Him in spirit and in truth. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady Queen of Peace and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for peace, love and unity in our families, our marriages and our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the safety and protection of all Unborn Children from conception to natural death and all expectant mothers. Every life is a gift. We continue to pray for the sick and dying, especially sick children, those who are mentally and physically ill, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. May God restore them to good health and grant them His Divine healing and intervention. May our Mother Mary comfort them, may the Angels and Saints watch over them and may the Holy Spirit guide them in peace and comfort during this challenging time. We pray for an end to wars, political and religious unrest. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. 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, Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
[Gospel Reading: Luke 10:1-9 for the Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus and on Mark 4:26-34 for Friday, Third Week in Ordinary Time]
Gospel Reading ~ Luke 10:1-9 (Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus)
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few”
“The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his pay. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus appointed seventy two disciples and sends them out ahead of Him; it wasn’t enough just to appoint the twelve. Indeed, as He sends out the 72, He asks them to pray to the Lord of the harvest for even more workers for the Lord’s harvest. Indeed, the Lord needs us all; we are all called to be His co-workers, proclaiming by our lives that, in the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, ‘the kingdom of God is very near to you’. If the Lord needs us to share in His work, we, in turn, need each other’s support if we are to respond to that call of the Lord. That is why in the Gospel reading, Jesus sends out the seventy-two in pairs, not singly. Labourers in the Lord’s harvest need to labour together. We need each other’s gifts and experience if the Lord’s work is to be done in today’s world. We all have something unique to contribute to that work of the Lord. Each of us has some gift of the Spirit to give to others, and each of us has much to receive from the gifts of the Spirit in others. Jesus’ words to the seventy-two suggest that He was aware that this attempt on His part to touch the lives of a bigger number would not always be successful, ‘I am sending you out like lambs among wolves’. Yet, the Lord was never put off by people’s resistance. Whether people accepted or rejected Him, it remained the case that ‘the kingdom of God is very near to you’. The Lord is always near to us, and never tires of seeking us out and calling out to us to come to Him. He can do this in a whole variety of ways.
Gospel Reading ~ Mark 4:26-34 (Friday, Third Week in Ordinary Time)
“A man scatters seed on the land and would sleep and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how”
“Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” He said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.”
The first of the two parables Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel reading is the parable of the seed growing secretly. Jesus is saying that there is some correspondence between the coming of the kingdom of God and the way the farmer, having thrown seed on the land, then has nothing much to do, until the crop is ready for harvest. Yet, even though the farmer is doing very little in between sowing and harvesting, the seed is working away during that time, producing first a shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Jesus appears to be saying that God can be powerfully at work in our lives even in those times when we ourselves appear to be doing very little. Sometimes we equate God’s work with our own exercise of energy. Yet, there are times in our lives when we can do very little, whether for reasons of health or for some other reason. Jesus suggests in that parable that even in those quiet times when we appear to have very little to show for ourselves, God can be working away in our lives for the good, working in us and through us. It was Paul who said that God’s power is made perfect in weakness.
In our first reading today for the feast of Saints Timothy and Titus, they were two of St. Paul’s closest co-workers. Yesterday the Church celebrated the Conversion of Saint Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles. Today the Church honors two of St. Paul’s co-workers. Saints Timothy and Titus were both chosen as bishops in the apostolic age of the early Church, and each received letters from Saint Paul that are included in the New Testament. St. Paul begins by telling Timothy that he always remembers him in his prayers. St. Paul was very convinced of the value of intercessory prayer. He frequently told people that he remembered them in his prayers. We all appreciate being remembered in other people’s prayers, and other people appreciate it when we let them know that we are praying for them. This is one of the ways we give expression to what the church calls the communion of saints, the deep bond between all the baptized, including the bond between those of us on our pilgrim way and those who have come to the end of their earthly pilgrimage. It is because of that aspect of the communion of saints that we pray not only for the living but also for the dead. In praying for each other, we are being reminded and reminding each other that we need each other on our journey towards God. We need each other’s prayers; we also need each other’s witness. In our first reading St. Paul addresses Timothy as a third-generation believer. He refers to the faith that came first to live in his grandmother Lois, and then in his mother Eunice, and then in Timothy himself. It seems that Timothy caught the faith in his home. The same is true for many of us. Our own faith owes a great deal to the faith of our parents and grandparents. The same could not be said of St. Paul. His parents and grandparents were Jewish. It was his life changing encounter with the risen Lord that brought him to faith in Jesus, probably leaving him at odds with his parents and grandparents. Both Sts. Timothy’s and Paul’s experience reminds us that the Lord can touch the lives of people through the faith of family members, but He can also touch their lives in other, less conventional, ways. The Lord is always reaching out to us in one way or another. St. Paul praises St. Timothy’s sincere faith but he reminds him that his faith has its roots in the faith of his mother and of his grandmother. St. Timothy has received the gift faith from others, from his mother, Eunice, and, before her, from his grandmother, Lois. St. Paul then calls upon him to give to others the gift of faith that he has received from those before him, not in a spirit of timidity but in a spirit of courageous witness. St. Paul encourages us to ‘fan into a flame’ whatever gift God has given us, because, as St. Paul goes on to say, whatever gift God has given us, is never a ’spirit of timidity’ but always a ‘Spirit of power, and love, and self-control’. This is a message we all need to hear today. We need the faith of others if our own faith is to endure. Our efforts to live the faith and to witness to the Lord make it easier for everyone else to do so as well. We can all point to parents, grandparents and various other companions on the pilgrimage of life, without whom we would not have come to faith in the Lord. As St. Paul needed Sts. Timothy and Titus, and Jesus needed many workers, we need each other’s witness if the gift that God gave us in baptism is to be fanned into a living flame, in the words of today’s first reading. We ask the Lord to increase our faith so that we can be a support to one another in the living out of our baptismal calling.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures on this special Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus, all of us are called and reminded to be more like St. Timothy and St. Titus in serving the Lord, in loving Him and our fellow brothers and sisters more and more. Let us ask ourselves if we have been faithful and true to our faith in God, or whether we have allowed ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations of worldly desires and pleasures that we end up falling deeper and deeper into the path of sin and evil. We are called to be better examples and role models of our Christian faith, and the best way for this to happen, is for each one of us to strive to be righteous, just and committed at all times, and not be lukewarm and ignorant in our faith. May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen us in each and every moments throughout our lives. May He empower each one of us that we will always be ever more courageous and committed to live our lives with ever greater faith and love for God and for our fellow men. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace and bless our every actions, good efforts, works and endeavours, and may St. Timothy and St. Titus, holy servants of God, intercede for us all sinners. Amen🙏
Let us pray:
Saints Timothy and Titus, you were called by God to share in the apostolic ministry of Saint Paul, to go forth to preach, and to draw many souls to Heaven. Your faith, zeal, and countless virtues assisted you in this mission. Please pray for me, that I may also share in the apostolic work of the Church and help bring many souls to Christ. Saints Timothy and Titus, pray for me.
My transforming Lord, I thank You for the way that You have sown the seed of Your holy Word into my own life. I thank You for the way in which You have changed me, freed me from sin and set me on the path to holiness. Use me, dear Lord, to sow that seed in the lives of others and fill me with wonder and awe as I witness Your merciful hand at work. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Mother Mary, Saints Timothy and Titus and Saint José Gabriel Brochero ~ 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 and a relaxing weekend ~ Amen🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖
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