The Word today, 6C

February 17 - February 22, 2025

Monday 17 February

The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order or St Fintan (Finan), abbot

Genesis 4:1-15,25 Sibling rivalry is present through the book of Genesis, seen in the tension between a whole series of brothers. There is more at stake: the rivalry between the settled farmer (Cain) and the nomadic shepherd (Abel). There is more: a lesson in not imposing too great a punishment. As usual, the book of Genesis is not history or indeed science but rather acute observation of the human condition.

Mark 8:11-13 Though not explicitly observed, we see in this reading the frustration, not to say the anger of Jesus. The Pharisees are looking for some kind of guaranteed evidence—this could be true of us today.

Tuesday 18 February

Genesis 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 10 The story of Noah’s ark is a very ancient tale, being older than the bible itself. Myth in popular usage means simply something untrue. Myth in religion means a deep story, which somehow captures important dimensions of our human experience and reect that experience back to us.

Mark 8:14-21 This passage must always sound extraordinary. Why the seven questions? Why the exasperated insistence? What could it mean today? Mark is forcing the hearer of his Gospel to think again about the double multiplication of the loaves. Mark is declaring: unless you believe Jesus is “bread” for both Jew and Gentile, you have no idea who Jesus is as Messiah.

Wednesday 19 February

Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22 In an earlier time, we might have viewed this story of universal devastation as “mythical”, but the effects of climate change have made us all anxious again. Perhaps we need to hear the reassurance at the end, where God reafrms his commitment to the good earth.

Mark 8:22-26 Mark’s miracles can be read at two levels. At a surface level, a blind person has his sight restored — a sign of the good news. At another level, the story points to the journey of faith, often gradual and in stages. At this second level, the story is “true” of us all really.

Thursday 20 February

Genesis 9:1-13 As the listeners will notice, this conclusion to the Noah story is really a reiteration of the story of creation in Genesis 1. At the same time, it makes use of the very latest “theology” at the time, which was covenantal theology. It reads this theology back into the very ancient ood story, in which God makes a covenant not with one people but with all humanity and, indeed, with all creation.

Mark 8:27-33 Occasionally a reading “jumps off the page” and we feel ourselves directly addressed. Our reading today is an example of just that. Jesus asks each one of us today, “Who do you say I am?”

Friday 21 February

Saint Peter Damian, bishop and doctor

Genesis 11:1-9 The story of the tower of Babel can be read on two levels. At the level of ancient saga, it answers the question why are there to many languages and how is it that we do not easily understand each other? At the level of spirituality, it identies unbridled ambition as the cause of human division and inability to cooperate. This message has lost none of its currency, alas!

Mark 8:34-9:1 Sometimes, Jesus can sound very like a philosopher asking penetrating, essential questions: What gain, then, is it for a man to win the whole world and ruin his life? Again, this question is as alive today as in the time of Jesus. Greed and ambition do lead to loss of self—a very high price indeed!

Saturday 22 February

Chair of Peter

1 Peter 5:1-4 Here we have simple and clear advice on Christian leadership which, for all its antiquity, is never out of date: watch over the ock of God, not simply as a duty but gladly, because God wants it. This applies not only to those in leadership, but to us all.

Matthew 16:13-19 This Gospel passage reects the role of Peter in the church at Antioch — the exemplary faith of the apostle is our foundation stone and principle of unity. The heart of it all is Peter’s faith in Christ.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025n, February 16). Sixth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021625.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/

SOCL, 6C

Sunday February 16, 2025

(Septuagesima)

See

Jesus's Beatitudes shatter our metrics of success like a hammer striking glass. Where we chase comfort, Jesus exalts deprivation. Where we cultivate influence, He blesses the excluded. Where we pursue satisfaction, He pronounces blessing on the hungry. These are not gentle suggestions but explosive inversions of everything our society holds dear.

The poor, the hungry, the grieving – these are not conditions to escape but portals through which divine grace floods in. Our desperate attempts to avoid suffering and secure comfort become the very barriers that block our path to true blessing. Each "woe" Jesus pronounces falls like a thunderclap on our carefully constructed fortresses of self-sufficiency.

Modern life tempts us to curate our image, satisfy every appetite, and accumulate endless security. Yet Jesus' words strip away these illusions, revealing that our emptiness, not our fullness, creates space for God's kingdom to take root. The path to blessing runs straight through the valley of vulnerability.

Listen

Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26

Reflect

(Luke 6:17, 20-26)

-Stand with Jesus on that level ground, surrounded by the desperate and broken crowd. How have you been running from your own poverty – spiritual, emotional, or material? What would it mean to embrace it as a gateway to God's kingdom?

-Picture the hungry multitude hanging on Jesus's words. Consider the empty spaces in your own life that you rush to fill with food, entertainment, or activity. Can you let that hunger become holy ground?

-Enter into the scene of disciples being denounced and excluded. Where in your life have you compromised your values to maintain others' approval? What truth is Christ calling you to speak, regardless of the cost?

-Witness the false prophets receiving universal praise. Examine your own desire for validation and acceptance. How might your pursuit of others' approval be blocking your receptivity to God's voice?

Pray

Lord, you turn our world upside down to set it right, break open our hearts where they have grown hard with comfort. Transform our poverty into possibility, our hunger into holy longing, our tears into testament. Make us brave enough to be blessed in the way of Your Son, finding treasure in empty hands and fullness in sacred sacrifice. Amen.

References

Blessed Are They Who Hope in the Lord

One another, 5C

February 09, 2025

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

Let us join with the song of the angels and saints in praise and petition before God:

That, in our parish’s worship and ministries, we may proclaim the gospel of the Risen Christ: let us pray to the Lord.

That all who serve the Church as pastors, ministers, and teachers may faithfully carry on the apostle’s work of building up the body of Christ: let us pray to the Lord.

That all Churches and faith communities may be partners in “catching” souls in the net of God’s love and forgiveness: let us pray to the Lord.

That the nations and peoples of the world may sing together a song of peace and thanksgiving to the Creator of all: let us pray to the lord.

That those who are separated and estranged from the love of God and the love of family and friends may be restored, like Paul, to communion with God and community with us: let us pray to the Lord.

That all who have died in the Peace of Christ [especially _________], may sing the praises of the Lord in the presence of the angels forever: let us pray to the Lord.

That God will hear the prayers we now make in the silence of our hearts [Pause...]: let us pray to the Lord.

With hearts filled with gratitude for all you have done for us, O God, and with joyful hope in your blessings to come, we ask you to grant these prayers we offer to you in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

References

--United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025l, February 9). Fifth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020925.cfm

-Cormier, J. (1995). Lord, Hear Our Prayer: Prayer of the Faithful for Sundays, Holy Days, and Ritual Masses.