Posted on 02/04/2020 9:29:05 PM PST by Salvation
King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,
Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba
and register the people, that I may know their number.
Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered:
in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service;
in Judah, five hundred thousand.
Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,
and said to the LORD:
I have sinned grievously in what I have done.
But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant,
for I have been very foolish.
When David rose in the morning,
the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, Davids seer, saying:
Go and say to David, This is what the LORD says:
I offer you three alternatives;
choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.
Gad then went to David to inform him.
He asked: Do you want a three years famine to come upon your land,
or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you,
or to have a three days pestilence in your land?
Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me.
David answered Gad: I am in very serious difficulty.
Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful;
but let me not fall by the hand of man.
Thus David chose the pestilence.
Now it was the time of the wheat harvest
when the plague broke out among the people.
The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed,
and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.
But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD regretted the calamity
and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people,
Enough now! Stay your hand.
The angel of the LORD was then standing
at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking the people,
he said to the LORD: It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred.
For the readings of the Memorial of Saint Agatha, please go here.
KEYWORDS: catholic; mk6; ordinarytime; prayer; saints;
Please FReepmail me to get on/off the Alleluia Ping List.
From: 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
The Census
[10] But Davids heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
Pestilence. Gods Forgiveness
[15] So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. [16] And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented of the evil, and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, It is enough; now stay your hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. [17] Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was smiting the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my fathers house.
***********************************************************************
Commentary:
24:1-25. The account of the census contains some elements similar to those in the account of the deaths of the house of Saul (cf. 21:1-14): there were three years of famine; the earlier tragedy was caused by a sin of Saul, and we have a sin of David; previously the Lord was appeased once David piously buried Saul and his family, that is, when a page in the history of Israel was closed (cf. 21:14); now a similar effect is attributed to the sacrifices offered by David on the new altar of Jerusalem, that is, when a new and promising stage begins for the chosen people (v. 25).
The account starts in a surprising way because it anticipates the outcome, that is, divine anger and punishment, and it also gives the circumstances of the transgression, by pointing out that it was the Lord who incited David to commit it (v. 1). In the mentality of that time all human events were attributed to God, even natural disasters, and temptation to sin; such anthropomorphisms serve to show the gravity of the transgression. The census was so enormous a sin that the idea behind it is imputed to a supernatural being (1 Chronicles 21:1calls him Satan) and its consequences are such that only God can prevent or alleviate them.
To know the number of members that make up the people (v. 2) was equivalent to lording it over them and taking advantage of them, sometimes by way of taxes, sometimes by conscripting them into the army or making them slaves to do hard labor for the king. The people of Israel belong only to the Lord, and are subject only to him. When the Law permitted a census, each of those counted had to pay a ransom similar to what was paid when a first-born was redeemed (cf. the note on Ex 30:11-16), indicating that in some way they were passing from the Lord’s domain into that of the king.
From: Mark 6:1-6
No Prophet Is Honored In His Own Country
***********************************************************************
Commentary:
1-3. Jesus is here described by His occupation and by the fact that He is the son of Mary. Does this indicate that St. Joseph is dead already? We do not know, but it is likely. In any event, the description is worth underlining: in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke we are told of the virginal conception of Jesus. St. Mark’s Gospel does not deal with our Lord’s infancy, but there may be an allusion here to His virginal conception and birth, in His being described as “the son of Mary.”
“Joseph, caring for the Child as he had been commanded, made Jesus a craftsman, transmitting his own professional skill to him. So the neighbors of Nazareth will call Jesus both “faber” and “fabri filius”: the craftsman and the son of the craftsman” ([St] J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 55). This message of the Gospel reminds us that our vocation to work is not marginal to God’s plans.
“The truth that by means of work man participates in the activity of God Himself, his Creator, was ‘given particular prominence by Jesus Christ’—the Jesus at whom many of His first listeners in Nazareth ‘were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to Him?... Is not this the carpenter?’” (Mark 6:23). For Jesus not only proclaimed but first and foremost fulfilled by His deeds the ‘Gospel’, the word of eternal Wisdom, that had been entrusted to Him. Therefore this was also ‘the gospel of work’, because ‘He who proclaimed it was Himself a man of work’, a craftsman like Joseph of Nazareth (cf. Matthew 13:55). And if we do not find in His words a special command to work—but rather on one occasion a prohibition against too much anxiety about work and life—(Matthew 6:25-34)—at the same time the eloquence of the life of Christ is unequivocal: He belongs to the `working world’, He has appreciation and respect for human work. It can indeed be said the ‘He looks with love upon human work’ and the different forms that it takes, seeing in each one of these forms a particular facet of man’s likeness with God, the Creator and Father” (John Paul II, “Laborem Exercens”, 26).
St. Mark mentions by name a number of brothers of Jesus, and refers in general to His sisters. But the word “brother” does not necessarily mean son of the same parents. It can also indicate other degrees of relationship—cousins, nephews, etc. Thus in Genesis 13:8 and 14:14 and 16 Lot is called the brother of Abraham (translated as “kinsman” in RSV), whereas we know that he was Abraham’s nephew, the son of Abraham’s brother Haran. The same is true of Laban, who is called the brother of Jacob (Genesis 29:15) although he was his mother’s brother (Genesis 29:15); there are other instances: cf. 1 Chronicles 23:21-22, etc. This confusion is due to the poverty of Hebrew and Aramaic language: in the absence of distinct terms, the same word, brother, is used to designate different degrees of relationship.
From other Gospel passages we know that James and Joses, who are mentioned here, were sons of Mary of Clophas (John 19:25). We know less about Judas and Simon: it seems that they are the Apostles Simon the Cananaean (Matthew 10:4) and Judas the son of James (Luke 6:16), the author of the Catholic Epistle, in which he describes himself as “brother” of James. In any event, although James, Simon and Judas are referred to as brothers of Jesus, it is nowhere said they were “sons of Mary”—which would have been the natural thing if they had been our Lord’s brothers in the strict sense. Jesus always appears as an only son: to the people of Nazareth, He is “the son of Mary” (Matthew 13:55). When He was dying Jesus entrusted His mother to St. John (cf. John 19:26-27), which shows that Mary had no other children. To this is added the constant belief of the Church, which regards Mary as the ever-virgin: “a perfect virgin before, while, and forever after she gave birth” (Paul IV, “Cum Quorumdam”).
5-6. Jesus worked no miracles here: not because He was unable to do so, but as punishment for the unbelief of the townspeople. God wants man to use the grace offered him, so that, by cooperating with grace, he become disposed to receive further graces. As St. Augustine neatly puts it, “He who made you without your own self, will not justify you without yourself” (”Sermon” 169).
Liturgical Colour: Red.
These are the readings for the feria
First reading |
---|
2 Samuel 24:2,8-17 © |
Responsorial Psalm |
---|
Psalm 31(32):1-2,5-7 © |
Gospel Acclamation | Mt4:4 |
---|
Or: | Jn10:27 |
---|
Gospel | Mark 6:1-6 © |
---|
These are the readings for the memorial
First reading |
---|
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 © |
Responsorial Psalm |
---|
Psalm 30(31):3-6,8,16-17 © |
Gospel Acclamation | 1P4:14 |
---|
Gospel | Luke 9:23-26 © |
---|
Mark | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
Mark 6 |
|||
1. | AND going out from thence, he went into his own country; and his disciples followed him. | Et egressus inde, abiit in patriam suam : et sequebantur eum discipuli sui : | και εξηλθεν εκειθεν και ηλθεν εις την πατριδα αυτου και ακολουθουσιν αυτω οι μαθηται αυτου |
2. | And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were in admiration at his doctrine, saying: How came this man by all these things? and what wisdom is this that is given to him, and such mighty works as are wrought by his hands? | et facto sabbato cpit in synagoga docere : et multi audientes admirabantur in doctrina ejus, dicentes : Unde huic hæc omnia ? et quæ est sapientia, quæ data est illi, et virtutes tales, quæ per manus ejus efficiuntur ? | και γενομενου σαββατου ηρξατο εν τη συναγωγη διδασκειν και πολλοι ακουοντες εξεπλησσοντο λεγοντες ποθεν τουτω ταυτα και τις η σοφια η δοθεισα αυτω και δυναμεις τοιαυται δια των χειρων αυτου γινονται |
3. | Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? are not also his sisters here with us? And they were scandalized in regard of him. | Nonne hic est faber, filius Mariæ, frater Jacobi, et Joseph, et Judæ, et Simonis ? nonne et sorores ejus hic nobiscum sunt ? Et scandalizabantur in illo. | ουχ ουτος εστιν ο τεκτων ο υιος μαριας αδελφος δε ιακωβου και ιωση και ιουδα και σιμωνος και ουκ εισιν αι αδελφαι αυτου ωδε προς ημας και εσκανδαλιζοντο εν αυτω |
4. | And Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred. | Et dicebat illis Jesus : Quia non est propheta sine honore nisi in patria sua, et in domo sua, et in cognatione sua. | ελεγεν δε αυτοις ο ιησους οτι ουκ εστιν προφητης ατιμος ει μη εν τη πατριδι αυτου και εν τοις συγγενεσιν και εν τη οικια αυτου |
5. | And he could not do any miracles there, only that he cured a few that were sick, laying his hands upon them. | Et non poterat ibi virtutem ullam facere, nisi paucos infirmos impositis manibus curavit : | και ουκ ηδυνατο εκει ουδεμιαν δυναμιν ποιησαι ει μη ολιγοις αρρωστοις επιθεις τας χειρας εθεραπευσεν |
6. | And he wondered because of their unbelief, and he went through the villages round about teaching. | et mirabatur propter incredulitatem eorum, et circuibat castella in circuitu docens. | και εθαυμαζεν δια την απιστιαν αυτων και περιηγεν τας κωμας κυκλω διδασκων |
As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251.
Legend has it that Agatha, like Agnes, was arrested as a Christian, tortured, and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated. She was preserved from being violated, and was later put to death.
She is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania. The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mt. Etna was attributed to her intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers for protection against fire.
The scientific modern mind winces at the thought of a volcanos might being contained by God because of the prayers of a Sicilian girl. Still less welcome, probably, is the notion of that saint being the patroness of such varied professions as those of foundry workers, nurses, miners and Alpine guides. Yet, in our historical precision, have we lost an essential human quality of wonder and poetry, and even our belief that we come to God by helping each other, both in action and prayer?
Diseases of the Breast
Nurses
Pray for Pope Francis.
Catholic Church in Nigeria Appeals to the West: Make Known the Atrocities
50 Boko Haram Islamic Radicals Killed; 1,000 Hostages, Women and Children, Rescued in Nigeria
Nigeria: In the Face of Ongoing Islamist Attacks, the Faith is Growing
US Promises to Help Nigeria Exterminate Boko Haram
Is This Bishop Right about the Rosary Conquering Boko Haram? [Catholic Caucus]
Why Boko Haram and ISIS Target Women
Report reveals scale of Boko Haram violence inflictef on Nigerian Catholics
Military evacuating girls, women rescued from Boko Haram
Echos of Lepanto Nigerian bishop says rosary will bring down Boko Harm
After vision of Christ, Nigerian bishop says rosary will bring down Boko Haram (Catholic Caucus)
Nigerian Bishop Says Christ Showed Him How to Beat Islamic Terror Group
We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.
Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.
Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.
Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.
Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.
Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.
O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.
Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests
This icon shows Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.
The gold pelican over His heart represents self-sacrifice.
The border contains an altar and grapevines, representing the Mass, and icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.
Melchizedek: king of righteousness (left icon) was priest and king of Jerusalem. He blessed Abraham and has been considered an ideal priest-king.
St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.
1. Sign of the Cross: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
2. The Apostles Creed: I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
3. The Lord's Prayer: OUR Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
4. (3) Hail Mary: HAIL Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen. (Three times)
5. Glory Be: GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
6. Fatima Prayer: Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.
Announce each mystery, then say 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be and 1 Fatima prayer. Repeat the process with each mystery.
End with the Hail Holy Queen:
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus!
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Final step -- The Sign of the Cross
The Mysteries of the Rosary By tradition, Catholics meditate on these Mysteries during prayers of the Rosary. The biblical references follow each of the Mysteries below.
The Glorious Mysteries
(Wednesdays and Sundays)
1.The Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-8, Mark 16:1-18, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29) [Spiritual fruit - Faith]
2. The Ascension (Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-11) [Spiritual fruit - Christian Hope]
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13) [Spiritual fruit - Gifts of the Holy Spirit]
4. The Assumption [Spiritual fruit - To Jesus through Mary]
5. The Coronation [Spiritual fruit - Grace of Final Perseverance]
St. Michael the Archangel
~ PRAYER ~
St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle
Be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil;
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
Cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
+
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.