FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ FEBRUARY 1, 2024
Greetings beloved family and Happy Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time!
We thank God for the gift of life and the gift of the new month of February. May His name be praised forever and ever~ Amen🙏
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | February 1, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on February 1, 2024 on EWTN” |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | February 1, 2024 |
Pray “Chaplet of the Divine Mercy from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | February 1, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary Novena From Lourdes” | February 1, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Today’s Bible Readings: Thursday, February 1, 2024
Reading 1, First Kings 2:1-4, 10-12
Responsorial Psalm, First Chronicles 29:10, 11, 11-12, 12
Gospel, Mark 6:7-13
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY: MONTH OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD: The month of February is traditionally dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord in anticipation of the liturgical season of Lent. In this month, we begin to meditate on the mystery of Jesus’ sufferings which culminated in his death on the Cross for the redemption of mankind. Saints who had a special devotion to Christ’s passion include St. Francis of Assisi, who was the first known saint to receive the stigmata; St. John of the Cross; St. Bridget of Sweden; and St. Catherine of Siena.
On this special feast day, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we 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/
SAINT OF THE DAY: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Brigid of Ireland, Abbess and Virgin.
SAINT BRIGID OF IRELAND, ABBESS AND VIRGIN: St. Brigid of Ireland (450-525 A.D.), also known as St. Brigid of Kildare (also spelled Bridget, Brigit, Bride, Bridey, Irish Bríd) and “the Mary of the Gael” was a monastic foundress who together with St. Patrick and St. Columcille is one of the country’s three patron saints. St. Brigid directly influenced several other future saints of Ireland, and her many religious communities helped to secure the country’s conversion from paganism to the Catholic faith. St. Brigid was born in Fochart, near Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland about 450, born out of wedlock to a pagan Irish chieftain named Dubthach and a Christian slave mother named Broicsech. The cheiftain sold the child’s pregnant mother to a new master, but contracted for Brigid to be returned to him eventually. Being the daughter of a slave woman, she also was a slave, and worked as a dairy maid. According to de Blacam, the child was probably baptized as an infant and raised as a Catholic by her mother. Thus, she was well-formed in the faith before leaving Broicsech’s slave-quarters, at around age 10, to live with Dubthach and his wife. Within the new circumstances of the cheiftain’s household, Brigid’s faith found expression in feats of charity. From the abundance of her father’s food and possessions, she gave generously to the poor. Dubthach became enraged, threatening to sell Brigid, who was not recognized as a full family member, but worked as a household servant to the King of Leinster. But the Christian king understood Brigid’s acts of charity and convinced Dubthach to grant his daughter her freedom. Released from servitude, St. Brigid was expected to marry. But she had other plans, which involved serving God in consecrated life. She even disfigured her own face, marring her beauty in order to dissuade suitors. Understanding he could not change her mind, Dubthach granted Brigid permission to pursue her plan and material means by which to do so. Thus did a pagan nobleman, through this gift to his illegitimate daughter, play an unintentional but immense part in God’s plan for Ireland.
While consecrated religious life was part of the Irish Church before St. Brigid’s time, it had not yet developed the systematic character seen in other parts of the Christian world by the fifth century. Among women, vows of celibacy were often lived out in an impromptu manner, in the circumstances of everyday life or with the aid of particular benefactors. St. Brigid, with an initial group of seven companions, is credited with organizing communal consecrated religious life for women in Ireland. Bishop Mel of Ardagh, St. Patrick’s nephew, and later “St. Mel” accepted St. Brigid’s profession as a nun and she became Ireland’s first nun. According to tradition, the disfigurement she had inflicted on her face disappeared that day, and her beauty returned. St. Mel went on to serve as a mentor to the group during their time at Ardagh. Around the time of his death in 488, St. Brigid’s community got an offer to resettle. Their destination is known today as Kildare (“Church of the Oak”), after the main monastery she founded there. She formed Ireland’s first convent at “Cil-Dara” (Kildare) and became its abbess. She went on to found many other religious communities, as well as a School of Art famous for its metal working and illuminated manuscripts. St. Brigid was known for her extraordinary spirituality, even converting her father to the faith after he witnessed her fashioning the sign of the cross from strands of rushes.
St. Brigid’s life as a nun was rooted in prayer, but it also involved substantial manual labor: cloth-making, dairy farming, and raising sheep. In Ireland, as in many other regions of the Christian world, this communal combination of work and prayer attracted vast numbers of people during the sixth century. Kildare, however, was unique as the only known Irish “double monastery”: it included a separately-housed men’s community, led by the bishop Saint Conleth. From this main monastery, St. Brigid’s movement branched out to encompass a large portion of Ireland. It is not clear just how large, but it is evident that St. Brigid traveled widely throughout the island, founding new houses and building up a uniquely Irish form of monasticism. When she was not traveling, many pilgrims, including prominent clergy, and some future saints made their way to Kildare, seeking the advice of the abbess. Under St. Brigid’s leadership, Kildare played a major role in the successful Christianization of Ireland. The abbess’ influence was felt in the subsequent era of the Irish Church, a time when the country became known for its many monasteries and their intellectual achievements. St. Brigid of Kildare died around 525 and was buried in Downpatrick in the same grave as Sts. Patrick and Columba (Columcille). She is said to have received the last sacraments from a priest, Saint Ninnidh, whose vocation she had encouraged. Veneration of Brigid grew in the centuries after her death, and spread outside of Ireland through the work of the country’s monastic missionaries. As an abbess, Brigid participated in several Irish councils, and her influence on the policies of the Church in Ireland was considerable. Many stories of her younger days deal with her generosity toward the needy and the poor. She’s Patron Saint of: Babies; blacksmiths; boatmen; cattle; chicken farmers; children whose parents are not married; dairymaids; dairy workers; fugitives; infants; Ireland; Leinster; mariners; midwives; milk maids; newborn babies; nuns; poets; poultry farmers; poultry raisers; printing presses; sailors; scholars; travelers; watermen.
PRAYER: Lord, our God, grant that Your faithful spouse, St. Brigid, may kindle the flame of Divine love in us for the everlasting glory of Your Church ~ 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 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. Every life is a gift. We continue to pray for all those who are 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 them during this challenging time. We pray for an end to wars, political and religious unrest. We pray for the safety and well-being of us all and our families. 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, Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Mark 6:7-13
“Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out”
“Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick –no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus sent out His twelve disciples ahead of Him to share in His mission. They were to carry out their missions and works, in caring for the need of the people of God. They were told not to bring anything extra with them beyond just the minimum of what was necessary, except for a staff and the clothes that were on their bodies, with no food or money or bag on themselves. What this means is that, the disciples were told to trust in the Lord and in His providence, guiding them through the goodwill of all those to whom the disciples were sent to. He anticipates that not everyone will welcome their words or their works. There were bound to be those who would refuse to welcome them and rejected them, but there were also bound to be those who would accept them and embrace the truth and Good News which they brought with them. Jesus had just been rejected by the people of Nazareth in the reading immediately preceding our Gospel reading today. His disciples were prepared to expect something similar at times. As Jesus anticipated, the disciples will enter places where they will not be welcomed and where people refuse to listen to them. Yet, that experience of failure is not to discourage them, just as it did not discourage Jesus. They are to be faithful to their calling to share in Jesus’ mission, in season and out of season, regardless of how they are received. In spite of the experience of failure and rejection, the disciples did great good, proclaiming the Gospel and healing the sick. The Lord encourages us to keep being faithful to our baptismal calling, in spite of the setbacks along the way, whether they are failings in ourselves or failings in others. We are to be more attentive to the Lord’s call and promise than to the negative voices that come to us from others or from within ourselves.
According to the Gospel reading, Jesus sent His disciples out in pairs. Jesus clearly saw a greater value in sending out the twelve in twos. No one was to work alone; each would have someone else to work alongside. As disciples of the Lord today, we still need to work together, rather than as individuals or loners. When we work together we learn to receive from and give to each other and, thereby, the Lord is more fully present to others. He did say that where two or three are gathered He would be there in their midst. Even Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, was very aware of the debt he owed to what he called his co-workers. The Lord needs us to work together if His work is to be done in today’s world. As members of the Lord’s body, we are interdependent. In the life of faith, we never go it alone. The Lord needs us all if His work is to continue today, and just as He sent out the twelve in pairs, in six groups of two, He does sends us out not as individuals but with others. He can work through us most effectively when we work together, pooling our gifts and resources.
Our first reading today from the Book of Kings, details the moment when King David of Israel was about to die, and how he passed over the kingship to his son, Solomon, who would become the King of Israel after him. King David reminded Solomon of what he should be doing as the king and ruler over the whole people of God, in doing what God has commanded him to do and in the responsibilities that he would be having as king. David reminded Solomon that he should always firmly hold onto the Law and commandments which God had entrusted to His people, and if he did so, then the Lord would continue to bless him and his descendants, and keep their reigns secure and strong as how it has been during the days of David’s reign. Solomon took over from David as King of Israel and as we all should be familiar with, he was a truly mighty and wise king, whose reign was blessed by God in all things, and he was abundant in wealth and glory, and all of his works and designs were successful. Early in his reign, Solomon was faithful and obedient in following God’s commands and laws, and in doing what he has been entrusted to do. But, as the years gone by, and he grew ever more in wealth and power, gradually, he began to be swayed and tempted by power and corruptions, and he began to listen to his many wives and concubines instead of obeying God’s words, Law and commandments. That was how eventually Solomon fell into disobedience and sin against God, as he allowed pagan and idol worship to happen throughout the kingdom. All of those things happened because Solomon became enamoured and misguided by all the power, glory and wealth which he had gained and accumulated, and he ended up falling deeper and deeper into the trap of the worldly desires and temptations, which led him and many others from the path of God’s righteousness and grace. And as a result, eventually after Solomon passed away, the kingdom of Israel was torn apart into two, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, which reminds us all that what God had told Solomon through David, were not just merely instructions, but they are reminders that God is always true to His words, and He also expects each and every one of us to do what we are supposed to do as His followers and people, or otherwise, we will have to suffer the consequences of our disobedience and sins, just as King Solomon and the Israelites had experienced.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded that the Lord has entrusted to us many things and responsibilities which He has passed down unto us, giving us the means and the opportunities for all of us to do what He has called us to do, in doing our responsibilities and works for His greater glory. Each and every one of us have been entrusted with various missions in our respective lives, which God has given to us through His Church. Now, the choice is ours to make whether we want to follow His path and whether we want to commit ourselves to the missions and works which He has given to us. All of us have been called to embrace this calling and path, and be truly worthy and faithful in all of our actions and ways as Christians, as God’s beloved people.May the Lord our most loving God and Father continue to help and guide us in our journey, so that in all the things that we do in this life, we will always strive to keep our faith in Him. May He empower each and every one of us and give us all the courage so that by our every commitment, works and deeds, by all of our whole lives and in each and every moments of our existence, we will continue to proclaim the truth and Good News of God, and remain truly in His grace and love, and continue to be faithful to Him, despite the many challenges and temptations present all around us. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to remain faithful and entrust ourselves to Him and may He be with us always, may He strengthen and empower us with His love, His Wisdom, His grace and blessings, now and always, forevermore. Amen🙏
Let us pray
My trustworthy Lord, I accept Your call to go forth and to share Your love and mercy with others. Help me to always rely upon You and Your providence for my mission in life. Use me as You will and help me to trust in Your guiding hand for the upbuilding of Your glorious Kingdom on earth. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Brigid of Ireland ~ 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. Have a blessed, safe and fruitful month of February ~ Amen🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖
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