February 3, 2025
Daily Readings
Monday of the Fourth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 323
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
What more shall I say?
I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
of David and Samuel and the prophets,
who by faith conquered kingdoms,
did what was righteous, obtained the promises;
they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires,
escaped the devouring sword;
out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle,
and turned back foreign invaders.
Women received back their dead through resurrection.
Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance,
in order to obtain a better resurrection.
Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point;
they went about in skins of sheep or goats,
needy, afflicted, tormented.
The world was not worthy of them.
They wandered about in deserts and on mountains,
in caves and in crevices in the earth.
Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,
did not receive what had been promised.
God had foreseen something better for us,
so that without us they should not be made perfect.
Responsorial
R. (25) Let your hearts take
comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
How great is the goodness, O LORD,
which you have in store for those who fear you,
And which, toward those who take refuge in you,
you show in the sight of the children of men.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plottings of men;
You screen them within your abode
from the strife of tongues.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
Blessed be the LORD whose wondrous mercy
he has shown me in a fortified city.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
Once I said in my anguish,
“I am cut off from your sight”;
Yet you heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried out to you.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
Love the LORD, all you his faithful ones!
The LORD keeps those who are constant,
but more than requites those who act proudly.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A great prophet has arisen in our midst
and God has visited his people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020325.cfm
Monday
of Week 4 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Hebrews 11:32-40
We continue today another part of this wonderful passage
about faith and what our Old Testament predecessors were prepared to undergo in
order to preserve the integrity of their faith and trust in God. Many of the
sufferings described are similar to those experienced by Christian martyrs in
later centuries.
The author begins by mentioning some well-known
personalities but does not describe particular qualities in detail. Among those
mentioned are Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and “the
prophets”.
Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah all appear in the Book of
Judges, as leaders of God’s people. David is, of course, King David who
succeeded Saul, and is one of the most human and endearing characters in the
whole Bible, as well as an ancestor of Jesus. Samuel is the prophet who lived
in the time of Saul and David, and he anointed both Saul and David as kings,
one succeeding the other (see 1 and 2 Samuel).
The writer then gives a brief list of exploits done for God
but without attributing the actions to particular people. His readers would
have known well the examples given. These include:
– People who have conquered kingdoms, administered justice,
or obtained promises.
– Some have even shut the mouths of lions:
Samson “tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear
apart a kid” (Judg 14:6); David told Saul that, as a shepherd, he had killed a
lion to protect his sheep (1 Sam 17:34-35); Daniel remained unharmed though
cast into a den of lions (Dan 6:19-23).
– Others quenched raging fire:
Three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, friends of
Daniel, survived unharmed in the furnace into which Nebuchadnezzar had had them
thrown (Dan 3:12-97).
– Some escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of
weakness, became mighty in war, or put foreign armies to flight:
Gideon, who lamented his weakness, is given strength to
overcome the Midians (Jud 6:15-16); Samson, made weak after his hair is cut,
destroys the Philistines when it grows again (Jud 16:15-30); women like Esther
overcame powerful enemies of God’s people (Est 1:1—10:10).
– Some prophets assisted women to receive their dead by
resurrection:
The prophet Elijah restores life to the son of the widow of
Zarephath in whose house he was given hospitality (1 Kings 17:17-24); the
prophet Elisha brought the young son of a Shunammite woman back to life (2
Kings 4:8-37).
– Some people were tortured, refusing to accept release in
order to get a better resurrection:
Among those tortured were Eleazar (2 Macc 6:18-31), who chose
death rather than eat pork and so deny his Jewish faith, or the seven brothers,
who were martyred, killed in front of their mother, for the same reason (2 Macc
7:1-42).
– Some suffered mocking and flogging, even chains and
imprisonment:
This may refer to Jeremiah.
– Others were stoned to death, sawn in two, or killed by the
sword:
According to 2 Chron 24:21, Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the
priest, was stoned, and legend has it that Jeremiah met the same fate; there
was also a legend that Isaiah had been sawn in two by order of King Manasseh.
– Finally, there were those who went about in skins of sheep
and goats, destitute, persecuted and tormented, as well as people who wandered
in deserts and mountains, or in caves and holes in the ground.
And yet:
…all these, though they were commended for their faith,
did not receive what was promised…
Only when Jesus came and made his supreme sacrifice to
reconcile all of us with God could they also, together with us, be made
perfect.
The heroes of the Old Testament obtained their full reward
only after the saving work of Christ had been accomplished. This is the meaning
of Jesus’ actions, after his death, descending to Sheol (the
place of the dead) and bringing all of these people with him to glory. After
the death of Jesus, Matthew tells us:
The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints
who had fallen asleep were raised. (Matt 27:52)
And we are also told:
He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the
spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison… (1
Pet 3:18-19)
Now, however, they already enjoy what we Christians who are
still struggling do not yet possess in its fullness. Although we live in the
age of Jesus, we still have to prove ourselves by our faith and the record of
our lives lived in that faith. But we have many models in both the Old Testament
and in Christian times to inspire us.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1042r/
Commentary on Mark 5:1-20
Today we see Mark at his best—a story full of drama and
excitement. Compare this to a much more bland version of the story in Matthew
where, for some reason, there are two men. It takes place in the “region of the
Gerasenes”, which was gentile territory.
There was a man who was possessed by several “unclean
spirits”, i.e. demons (“My name is Legion, for we are many.”). He was
absolutely uncontrollable, could smash through chains and lived in isolated
places, an outcast and a source of fear to people everywhere.
But when Jesus appears, it is the demons’ turn to fear. They
begged not to be sent out of that district (as gentile territory it was fertile
ground for their activities—perhaps even a demon’s paradise). They offer a
deal. They ask to be allowed to enter a herd of pigs. Clearly, the presence of
pigs indicates this was gentile territory. Jesus grants their request, and once
possessed:
…the herd, numbering about two thousand, stampeded down
the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.
To the thinking of many today, this seems like a terrible
waste of good pigs! How could Jesus do such a thing? But we need to remember
that this was written in a Jewish context where pigs were regarded as unclean
and to be avoided at all costs. We remember how the Prodigal Son was condemned
in his hunger to get a job tending pigs and even to eating their food. For a
Jew, this was the very lowest any human could go in terms of humiliation and
degradation. So getting rid of these pigs was a case of good riddance. A better
place to put evil spirits could not be imagined!
On the other hand, the swineherds were naturally upset at
losing their means of livelihood and went back to the towns to announce what
had happened. Subsequently, the people from those towns came out to see this
extraordinary happening. They found Jesus and the man, perfectly composed and
fully dressed—and they were afraid. Naturally, they realised that, in Jesus,
they were in the presence of someone very special who had such powers. They
were also very upset that their herds of pigs had been destroyed and, not
surprisingly, they begged Jesus to go elsewhere.
The man, however, asked to follow Jesus. Jesus’ response is
interesting:
Jesus refused and said to him, “Go home to your own
people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy he has
shown you.”
This was, in fact, another kind of following and is a
message each of us can hear.
Some of us think that following Jesus means spending a lot
of time ‘with Jesus’ in religious activities or joining the priesthood or
religious life. For most of us, our calling and our following of Jesus takes
place right where we are. It is there that we need to share with others our
experience of knowing and being loved by Jesus.
Let us go home and tell others what Jesus means in our
lives. And, like the people in this Gospel, they may be amazed.
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