3rd Week in Ordinary Time
24th January 2023 (Tuesday) Readings and Reflection
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Reading of the Day
First Reading: HEBREWS 10. 1-10
Brethren: Since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,"Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book."" When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Psalm 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11 (R. see 8a, 9a
Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.
Gospel : MARK 3. 31-35
At that time: The mother of Jesus and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you." And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."
Daily Gospel Reflection
The Reflection by Fr. Thumma Mariadas Reddy MSFS{alertWarning}
Main Theme: Rise beyond!
Indicative: All of us belong to one God and one family of God. What is required is a constant awareness of this oneness of God’s family{alertSuccess}
1. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and brother”. Thereby, Jesus makes his priorities clear. Belonging to God is higher and more important than belonging to the human group. Spiritual family is higher and more important than natural family. Doing God’s will is higher and more important than mere formal duties.
2. Thus, Jesus does not allow himself to be confined or conditioned by natural affinities. In fact, he himself is the perfect embodiment of God’s will. He came to do God’s will. In the light of the first reading, Jesus makes it clear that God is pleased not by mere sacrifices and offerings but by doing God’s will.
3. This is a crucial challenge and urgent exigency. Sadly, we are living in a society that is fragmented by various divisive factors like caste, region, religion, language, culture, rite, et cetera. Subsequently, nepotism, favouritism, and communalism are rupturing the sense of unity.
4. These secondary affinities are overriding and even substitute the core identity of one family of God’s children and brothers and sisters. Consequently, a good number live and promote these affinities and their interests and agendas, detriment to the larger concerns and growth.
5. St Francis de Sales whom we commemorate today was a living testimony to this sense of spiritual family and priority to God’s will. His life of fidelity to God and fraternity toward others shows that when one does God’s will and not one’s own will, one will grow in this higher sense of spiritual family.
Imperative: Every division and disunity is a sign of inner narrowness. Therefore, let us enlarge our hearts and foster the spirit of a spiritual and fraternal family{alertSuccess}