January 29, 2020 Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

2020년 1월 29일 연중 제3주간 수요일 

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

사무엘기 하 7,4-17
그 무렵 4주님의 말씀이 나탄에게 내렸다. 5 "나의 종 다윗에게 가서 말하여라.
‘주님이 이렇게 말한다. 내가 살 집을 네가 짓겠다는 말이냐?
6 나는 이집트에서 이스라엘 자손들을 데리고 올라온 날부터 오늘까지,
어떤 집에서도 산 적이 없다. 천막과 성막 안에만 있으면서 옮겨 다녔다.
7 내가 이스라엘의 모든 자손과 함께 옮겨 다니던 그 모든 곳에서,
내 백성 이스라엘을 돌보라고 명령한 이스라엘의 어느 지파에게,

어찌하여 나에게 향백나무 집을 지어 주지 않느냐고
한마디라도 말한 적이 있느냐?’
8 그러므로 이제 너는 나의 종 다윗에게 말하여라.
‘만군의 주님이 이렇게 말한다.
나는 양 떼를 따라다니던 너를 목장에서 데려다가,
내 백성 이스라엘의 영도자로 세웠다.
9 또한 네가 어디를 가든지 너와 함께 있으면서, 모든 원수를 네 앞에서 물리쳤다.
나는 너의 이름을 세상 위인들의 이름처럼 위대하게 만들어 주었다.
10 나는 내 백성 이스라엘을 위하여 한곳을 정하고,
그곳에 그들을 심어 그들이 제자리에서 살게 하겠다.
그러면 이스라엘은 더 이상 불안해하지 않아도 되고,
다시는 전처럼, 불의한 자들이 그들을 괴롭히지 않을 것이다.
11 곧 내가 나의 백성 이스라엘에게 판관을 임명하던 때부터 해 온 것처럼,
나는 너를 모든 원수에게서 평온하게 해 주겠다.
더 나아가 주님이 너에게 한 집안을 일으켜 주리라고 선언한다.
12 너의 날수가 다 차서 조상들과 함께 잠들게 될 때,
네 몸에서 나와 네 뒤를 이을 후손을 내가 일으켜 세우고,
그의 나라를 튼튼하게 하겠다.
13 그는 나의 이름을 위하여 집을 짓고,
나는 그 나라의 왕좌를 영원히 튼튼하게 할 것이다.
14 나는 그의 아버지가 되고 그는 나의 아들이 될 것이다.
그가 죄를 지으면 사람의 매와 인간의 채찍으로 그를 징벌하겠다.
15 그러나 일찍이 사울에게서 내 자애를 거둔 것과는 달리,
그에게서는 내 자애를 거두지 않겠다.
16 너의 집안과 나라가 네 앞에서 영원히 굳건해지고,
네 왕좌가 영원히 튼튼하게 될 것이다.’”
17 나탄은 이 모든 말씀과 환시를 다윗에게 그대로 전하였다.

 

복음

마르코. 4,1-20
그때에 1 예수님께서 호숫가에서 가르치기 시작하셨다.
너무 많은 군중이 모여들어,
그분께서는 호수에 있는 배에 올라앉으시고
군중은 모두 호숫가 뭍에 그대로 있었다.
2 예수님께서 그들에게 많은 것을 비유로 가르치셨다.
그렇게 가르치시면서 말씀하셨다.
3 “자, 들어 보아라. 씨 뿌리는 사람이 씨를 뿌리러 나갔다.
4 그가 씨를 뿌리는데, 어떤 것은 길에 떨어져 새들이 와서 먹어 버렸다.
5 어떤 것은 흙이 많지 않은 돌밭에 떨어졌다.
흙이 깊지 않아 싹은 곧 돋아났지만,
6 해가 솟아오르자 타고 말았다. 뿌리가 없어서 말라 버린 것이다.
7 또 어떤 것은 가시덤불 속에 떨어졌는데,
가시덤불이 자라면서 숨을 막아 버려 열매를 맺지 못하였다.
8 그러나 어떤 것들은 좋은 땅에 떨어져, 싹이 나고 자라서 열매를 맺었다.
그리하여 어떤 것은 서른 배,
어떤 것은 예순 배, 어떤 것은 백 배의 열매를 맺었다.”
9 예수님께서는 이어서 말씀하셨다. “들을 귀 있는 사람은 들어라.”
10 예수님께서 혼자 계실 때,
그분 둘레에 있던 이들이 열두 제자와 함께 와서 비유들의 뜻을 물었다.
11 예수님께서 그들에게 대답하셨다.
“너희에게는 하느님 나라의 신비가 주어졌지만,
저 바깥 사람들에게는 모든 것이 그저 비유로만 다가간다.
12 ‘보고 또 보아도 알아보지 못하고
듣고 또 들어도 깨닫지 못하여
저들이 돌아와 용서받는 일이 없게 하려는 것이다.’”
13 예수님께서 또 그들에게 말씀하셨다.
“너희는 이 비유를 알아듣지 못하겠느냐?
그러면서 어떻게 모든 비유를 깨달을 수 있겠느냐?
14 씨 뿌리는 사람은 실상 말씀을 뿌리는 것이다.
15 말씀이 길에 뿌려지는 것은 이러한 사람들을 두고 하는 말이다.
그들이 말씀을 들으면 곧바로 사탄이 와서
그들 안에 뿌려진 말씀을 앗아 가 버린다.
16 그리고 말씀이 돌밭에 뿌려지는 것은 이러한 사람들이다.
그들은 말씀을 들으면 곧 기쁘게 받는다.
17 그러나 그들에게 뿌리가 없어서 오래가지 못한다.
그래서 말씀 때문에 환난이나 박해가 일어나면 곧 걸려 넘어지고 만다.
18 말씀이 가시덤불 속에 뿌려지는 것은 또 다른 사람들이다.
이들은 말씀을 듣기는 하지만,
19 세상 걱정과 재물의 유혹과 그 밖의 여러 가지 욕심이 들어가,
그 말씀의 숨을 막아 버려 열매를 맺지 못한다.
20 그러나 말씀이 좋은 땅에 뿌려진 것은 이러한 사람들이다.
그들은 말씀을 듣고 받아들여, 어떤 이는 서른 배,
어떤 이는 예순 배, 어떤 이는 백 배의 열매를 맺는다.”

 

January 29, 2020

Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass

Reading 1
2 Sm 7:4-17
That night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?
I have not dwelt in a house 
from the day on which I led the children of Israel 
out of Egypt to the present, 
but I have been going about in a tent under cloth.
In all my wanderings everywhere among the children of Israel , 
did I ever utter a word to any one of the judges 
whom I charged to tend my people Israel , to ask: 
Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’

“Now then, speak thus to my servant David, 
‘The LORD of hosts has this to say: 
It was I who took you from the pasture
and from the care of the flock
to be commander of my people Israel .
I have been with you wherever you went, 
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.
I will fix a place for my people Israel ; 
I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place
without further disturbance.
Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old, 
since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel .
I will give you rest from all your enemies.
The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.
And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, 
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, 
and I will make his Kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
And if he does wrong, 
I will correct him with the rod of men
and with human chastisements; 
but I will not withdraw my favor from him 
as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul, 
whom I removed from my presence.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; 
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

 

Responsorial Psalm
89:4-5, 27-28, 29-30
R.  (29a)  For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will make your dynasty stand forever
and establish your throne through all ages.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant. 
“He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock that brings me victory!’
I myself make him firstborn,
Most High over the kings of the earth.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“Forever I will maintain my love for him;
my covenant with him stands firm.
I will establish his dynasty forever,
his throne as the days of the heavens.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

 

Gospel
Mk 4:1-20
On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him 
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables, 
and in the course of his instruction he said to them, 
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, 
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.  

Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it 

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «What the sower is sowing is the word»

Fr. Antoni CAROL i Hostench
(Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we hear our Lord teaching the “Sower's parable”. The example is highly topical. Our Lord is always “sowing”. Lots of people today also listen to Jesus through his Vicar —the Pope—, his ministers and... his faithful laymen and women: Christ has given a share in his priestly mission to all of us, who have been baptized. There is “hunger” for Jesus. Never ever before our Church has been so Catholic, men and women of all races and colors finding cover under its wings all the over the world. He send us all over the world (cf. Mk 16:15) and, despite the shadows of the panorama, this has become true in Jesus Christ's apostolic commandment.

The sea, the boat and the shore have been replaced by stadiums, screens and modern communication and transport means. However, Jesus today is no different than yesterday. Man and his urge to learn how to love have not changed either. Today, there are also some who, more directly, receive and understand the Word — by grace and free divine election, mysteriously... while, on the other hand, there are many who need more descriptive and deliberated explanations of the Revelation.

God, in any case, requests from both of us the fruits of sanctity. The Holy Spirit helps us but not without our personal cooperation. In the first place, diligence is needed. If we half react, that is, if we halt at the “border” of the road without fully going in, we shall be an easy prey for Satan.

Secondly, we need perseverance in prayer —dialogue—, to be able to get a deeper knowledge and love for Jesus Christ: «Saint without praying...? —I do not believe in this sanctity» (Saint Josemaria Escrivà).

Finally, the spirit of poverty and self-abnegation, will prevent our “suffocating” on the way. It better be clear that: «No one can serve two masters....» (Mt 6:24).

In the Virgin Mary we can find the best model of how to react to the God's call.

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

My job is easy today – Jesus did it for me! I don’t have to explain the gospel, because the explanation is there. But we still have to listen and understand it.  It’s still a lesson we need to learn.  The word of God is here and readily accessible, but how many people think about it seriously?  Lots of people go to church. Lots of people say they are Christian, but how many are living the Christian life and acting on the word of God?  Too often the word is like the seed in the first three circumstances.  People go to church, but as soon as they leave, the words are gone. They don’t think about it again until next week. They get too busy with their day to day lives, and religion is choked out. Their good intentions are eaten up by materialism, or choked out by their daily lives, or their intentions don’t have roots and don’t survive in the outside world. 

Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear, but it’s not enough to hear the word of God, we must live it. We should be the house where the Lord lives.  We can’t let the faith and fervor we feel at church wither up and die outside the church walls. We need to hear the word of God, really listen, think about it, understand it, and live it.  We need to be the rich soil in which God’s word can take root and thrive. It’s easy to let evil or apathy take over. It’s hard to have conviction and live God’s word, but if we do, the harvest will be amazing.

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

LIVING OR DYING EXAMPLES?

"To you the mystery of the reign of God has been confided." �Mark 4:11

Throughout the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit has made many Christians holy by leading them to pray the Mass frequently or daily. However, when daily communicants didn't appear that holy, the practice of daily Mass waned, and the Church weakened. Many of you reading this book pray the Mass daily or at least frequently. If your holy Masses make you holy, the practice of daily Mass will grow, and the Church will become stronger. If, however, you are not holy, a de-emphasis of daily Mass may well contribute to the Church being further victimized by the culture of death. Your holy Masses will probably make you holy if you listen to God's Word at Mass, take it to heart, and yield a great harvest (Mk 4:20). For example, after God's Word burned in the hearts of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they recognized the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:30ff). We too will probably recognize Christ and become holy as He is holy, if we let God's Word penetrate our hearts. Thus, Jesus warns us to guard against choking God's Word by "anxieties over life's demands, and the desire for wealth, and cravings of other sorts" (Mk 4:19). Guard and mortify your senses and worldly desires. Don't be an example of the non-importance of daily Mass. Rather, be an example of Eucharistic holiness.

Prayer: Father, may daily communicants be free from the sins of racism, impurity, and laziness.

Promise: "Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before Me; your throne shall stand firm forever." —2 Sm 7:16

Praise: Pat comes early to prepare herself for Mass and stays to linger afterward in the Lord's presence.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 Jesus taught people using parables

Why did Jesus speak to people in parables? Like the rabbis of his time, Jesus used simple word-pictures, called parables, to help people understand who God is and what his kingdom or reign is like. Jesus used images and characters taken from everyday life to create a miniature play or drama to illustrate his message. This was Jesus' most common way of teaching. His stories appealed to the young and old, poor and rich, and to the learned and unlearned as well. Over a third of the Gospels by Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain parables told by Jesus.

Cyril of Alexandria (150-215 AD ), an early church teacher, described the purpose of Jesus' parables: "Parables are word pictures not of visible things, but rather of things of the mind and the spirit. That which cannot be seen with the eyes of the body, a parable will reveal to the eyes of the mind, informing the subtlety of the intellect by means of things perceivable by the senses, and as it were tangible." (COMMENTARY on THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 8.5.4)

Parable of the sower
What does the parable about seeds and roots say to us about the kingdom of God? Any farmer will attest to the importance of good soil for supplying nutrients for growth. And how does a plant get the necessary food and water it needs except by its roots? The Scriptures frequently use the image of fruit-bearing plants or trees to convey the principle of spiritual life and death. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8; see also Psalm 1:3).

Jesus' parable of the sower is aimed at the hearers of his word. There are different ways of accepting God's word and they produce different kinds of fruit accordingly. There is the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind. Such a person is unteachable and blind to what he or she doesn't want to hear. Then there is the shallow hearer. He or she fails to think things out or think them through; they lack depth. They may initially respond with an emotional reaction; but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else.

Another type of hearer is the person who has many interests or cares, but who lacks the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important. Such a person is too busy to pray or too preoccupied to study and meditate on God's word.

Then there is the one whose mind is open. Such a person is at all times willing to listen and to learn. He or she is never too proud or too busy to learn. They listen in order to understand. God gives grace to those who hunger for his word that they may understand his will and have the strength to live according to it.  Do you hunger for God's word?

Secrets of the kingdom
Why does Jesus say that the secrets of the kingdom of God will be revealed to some while others will not be able to recognize nor understand the kingdom of God (Mark 4:11-12)? Origen (185-254 AD), an early church Bible scholar, comments on why Jesus makes a distinction between those who are ready to hear and understand his message with those who are not ready to hear nor understand:

"Sometimes it does not turn out to be an advantage for one to be healed quickly or superficially, especially if the disease by this means becomes even more shut up in the internal organs where it rages more fiercely. Therefore God, who perceives secret things and who knows all things before they come to be, in his great goodness delays the healing of such persons and defers the remedy to a later time. If I may speak paradoxically, God heals them by not healing them, lest a premature recovery of health should render them incurable. This pertains to those whom our Lord and Savior addressed as 'those outside,' whose hearts and reins he searches out. Jesus covered up the deeper mysteries of the faith in veiled speech to those who were not yet ready to receive his teaching in straightforward terms. The Lord wanted to prevent the unready from being too speedily converted and only cosmetically healed. If the forgiveness of their sins were too easily obtained, they would soon fall again into the same disorder of sin which they imagined could be cured without any difficulty." (ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.1.7)

The Lord Jesus will give us perceiving eyes and listening ears to understand the message of his kingdom if we approach him with faith and humility and the readiness to be taught. The proud cannot see nor hear the truth of God's kingdom because they trust in their own opinion and perception of what is true or real. They have shut their minds to the supernatural truth of God and his word. Do you approach God's word with trust and humility or with doubtful pride and skepticism?

"Lord Jesus, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth. Open my eyes to your deeds, and my ears to the sound of your call, that I may understand your will for my life and live according to it".

Psalm 89:1,3-4,26-29

1 I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
3 You have said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant:
4 `I will establish your descendants for ever, and build your throne for all generations.'" [Selah]
26 He shall cry to me, `You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.'
27 And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29 I will establish his line for ever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Why does this generation seek a sign, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)

"As the sower fairly and indiscriminately disperses seed broadly over all his field, so does God offer gifts to all,11 making no distinction between rich and poor, wise and foolish, lazy or diligent, brave or cowardly. He addresses everyone, fulfilling his part, although knowing the results beforehand... Why then, tell me, was so much of the seed lost? Not through the sower, but through the ground that received it - meaning the soul that did not listen... Even though more seed would be lost than survive, the disciples were not to lose heart. For it is the way of the Lord never to stop sowing the seed, even when he knows beforehand that some of it will not respond. But how can it be reasonable, one asks, to sow among the thorns, or on the rock, or alongside the road? Maybe it is not reasonable insofar as it pertains only to seeds and earth, for the bare rock is not likely to turn into tillable soil, and the roadside will remain roadside and the thorns, thorns. But in the case of free wills and their reasonable instruction, this kind of sowing is praiseworthy. For the rocky soul can in time turn into rich soil. Among souls, the wayside may come no longer to be trampled by all that pass, and may become a fertile field. The thorns may be destroyed and the seed enjoy full growth. For had this not been impossible, this sower would not have sown. And even if no change whatever occurs in the soul, this is no fault of the sower, but of those who are unwilling to be changed. He has done his part." (excerpt from GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, HOMILY 44.5.1)

  

More Homilies

January 24, 2018