January 17, 2026
Memorial of Saint Anthony,
Abbot
Lectionary: 310
Reading
I
There was a
stalwart man from Benjamin named Kish,
who was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror,
son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite.
He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man.
There was no other child of Israel more handsome than Saul;
he stood head and shoulders above the people.
Now the asses of Saul’s father, Kish, had wandered off.
Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you
and go out and hunt for the asses.”
Accordingly they went through the hill country of Ephraim,
and through the land of Shalishah.
Not finding them there,
they continued through the land of Shaalim without success.
They also went through the land of Benjamin,
but they failed to find the animals.
When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD assured him,
“This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people.”
Saul met Samuel in the gateway and said,
“Please tell me where the seer lives.”
Samuel answered Saul: “I am the seer.
Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today.
In the morning, before dismissing you,
I will tell you whatever you wish.”
Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul’s head;
he also kissed him, saying:
“The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage.
You are to govern the LORD’s people Israel,
and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout.
“This will be the sign for you
that the LORD has anointed you commander over his heritage.”
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (2a) Lord,
in your strength the king is glad.
O LORD, in your strength the king is glad;
in your
victory how greatly he rejoices!
You have granted him his heart’s desire;
you
refused not the wish of his lips.
R. Lord, in your strength the
king is glad.
For you welcomed him with goodly blessings,
you
placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
He asked life of you: you gave him
length
of days forever and ever.
R. Lord, in your strength the
king is glad.
Great is his glory in your victory;
majesty
and splendor you conferred upon him.
For you made him a blessing
forever;
you
gladdened him with the joy of your face.
R. Lord, in your strength the
king is glad.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus went out
along the sea.
All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed Jesus.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples;
for there were many who followed him.
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,
“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus heard this and said to them,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011726.cfm
Commentary on 1 Samuel 9:1-4,17-19; 10:1
Today we hear
about the choice of Saul as Israel’s first king. Here, in contrast to
yesterday, the attitude towards monarchy is much more positive and represents
the royalist view. Today’s narrative has, in fact, nothing to do with
yesterday’s where we saw a negative view of monarchy. Saul, the king-to-be, is
the central figure. Samuel is presented as a prophet whom Saul meets apparently
by chance.
Here, the monarchy
is seen as something willed by God, and Saul is clearly God’s choice as the
first king.
We are introduced to Saul as the son of
Kish and belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest of the tribes and
named after Jacob’s youngest son. His name means “asked for [from God]”. He is
presented as having qualities suitable to his future role: young, handsome and
a commanding figure, well above average in height.
The hand of God is
now seen as events unfold. The donkeys of Saul’s father, Kish, had wandered off
somewhere and Saul was sent by his father to bring them back. It is perhaps
symbolic that Saul is presented as a handler of donkeys, which tended to stray
far from home. He is, after all, going to be the king of a rebellious people.
On the other hand, David will be introduced as a shepherd, taking care of his
father’s flock and will later, as king, be pictured as the shepherd of the
Lord’s flock. As such, David will be a prototype of Jesus.
The apparently
accidental encounter between Saul and Samuel is presented (in the full text) as
something clearly planned by God. When they first meet, Saul does not recognise
the prophet. Samuel, for his part, has already been told by God that this
Benjaminite has been specially chosen to lead God’s people and save them from
the hands of the Philistines.
On the morning of
the following day, at a designated rendezvous, they meet and go to a place
outside the city. Then, having dismissed Saul’s servants, Samuel pours oil on
Saul’s head and kisses him. At the same time he gives Saul his mandate:
The Lord has
anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of
the Lord, and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around.
The Lord’s
“heritage” includes both the people and the land.
After departing
from Samuel, Saul will receive three signs (in the passage immediately
following the end of today’s reading) to authenticate the prophet’s words and
to assure him that the Lord has indeed chosen him to be king.
In our lives, too,
we can see apparently chance events leading us into certain, sometimes very
unexpected, situations. While we should not see God as simply manipulating
events in an arbitrary way, we can say that in every experience we have, in
every person we meet, God is communicating something to us. Let us recall some
of those events today and how we responded (or did not respond) to them.
It is for us to
discern what God is saying and where he wants us to go and what choices he
wants us to make arising out of every experience. It calls for a pro-active and
not simply a re-active response.
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Commentary on Mark 2:13-17
Jesus certainly
chose some very strange people to be his followers. Levi was a tax collector,
one of a much despised group of people. The Romans did not collect taxes
themselves from their subject people. Instead, a local person would pay a lump
sum or deposit to the Romans to be designated a publican (tax
collector) for a particular area. Along with the job, publicans were
given the right to recoup their initial deposit from the taxes they collected.
Since they also wanted to make a profit, this laid the system open to
widespread abuse and corruption. Tax collectors were regarded as traitors to
their own people in collecting taxes for Rome, the hated colonial power. They
and their families were social outcasts. No self-respecting and observant Jew
would have anything to do with such people.
Yet, here is Jesus
offering one such person an invitation, “Follow me”. We need to know that Jesus
never goes by stereotypes. Nor does he judge people by their past behaviour. He
is only interested in what they can be in the now and in the future. There and
then, Levi drops everything and goes after Jesus. That is what following Jesus
means. It is what Peter and Andrew, and James and John had also done.
Later, when Jesus
is dining at Levi’s house, several known sinners and tax collectors are at
table with Jesus and his disciples. In some translations of the Bible, Jesus is
said to be dining in “his” house, which is (deliberately?) ambiguous. Is it the
house of Levi or the house of Jesus? In either case, it is very
meaningful—Jesus eats in a sinner’s house, or he invites a sinner to eat in his
house. Perhaps they are celebrating Levi’s becoming a follower. And who else
could Levi have invited if not the only people who would mix with him—other tax
collectors and outcasts? But in addition, the Gospel says that:
…many tax
collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for
there were many [tax
collectors and their like] who followed him.
This is a real
source of scandal for the scribes and Pharisees. If Jesus really was a Rabbi,
he would have had nothing to do with such people. To sit down and eat with such
‘unclean’ people was to be contaminated oneself. Jesus replies:
Those who are
well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to
call the righteous but sinners.
As we have already
seen, Jesus’ whole mission is one of salvation and redemption of restoring
people to wholeness. And how is he to help sinners change unless he is in
direct contact with them? By being with sinners, Jesus is not approving or
condoning or turning a blind eye to their behaviour. He describes them as
“sick”; they are in need of healing and rehabilitation. This can only be done
by reaching out to them.
Of course, one can
ask if those judging Jesus were not also sick and in need of healing
themselves. The difference was that the ‘sinners’ approached Jesus, while the
Pharisees could not see or acknowledge their particular kind of sin and consequent
need of healing.
Perhaps our Church
should look more closely at this passage. So much of our Church work involves
serving the already converted or the semi-converted. We are often not present
where people are most in need of hearing the gospel message. We tend to side
with the Pharisees and feel we should keep away from the ‘sinful’ and the
‘immoral’. We also need to learn the ways by which the gospel message and the
gospel vision can most effectively be communicated to those who have lost touch
with God and the meaning of life.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2017g/
Saturday, January 17,
2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father of love, hear our prayers.
Help us to know your will and to do it with courage and faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Mark 2: 13-17
He went out again to the shore of
the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them. As he was walking
along, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said
to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him.
When Jesus was at dinner in his house,
several tax collectors and sinners were also sitting at table with Jesus and
his disciples; for there were many of them among his followers. When the
scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors,
they said to his disciples, 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?'
When Jesus heard this he said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need the
doctor, but the sick. I came to call not the upright, but sinners.'
Reflection
•
In yesterday’s Gospel, we have seen the first
conflict which arose concerning the forgiveness of sins (Mk 2: 1-12). In
today’s Gospel we meditate on the second conflict which arose when Jesus sat at
table with the sinners (Mk 2: 1317). In the years 70’s, the time when Mark
wrote, in the communities there was a conflict between Christians who had been
converted from Paganism and those from Judaism. Those from Judaism found great
difficult to enter into the house of converted Pagans and to sit with them
around the same table (cf. Acts 10: 28; 11: 3). In describing how Jesus faces
this conflict, Mark orientates the community to solve the problem.
•
Jesus taught, and the people were happy to
listen to him. Jesus goes out again to go near the sea. People arrive and he
begins to teach them. He transmits the Word of God. In Mark’s Gospel, the
beginning of the activity of Jesus is characterized by much teaching and much
acceptance on the part of the people (Mk 1: 14, 21, 38-39; 2: 2, 13), in spite
of the conflicts with religious authority. What did Jesus teach? Jesus proclaimed
the Good News of God (Mk 1: 14). He spoke about God, but he spoke in a new way,
different. He spoke starting from his experience, of the experience which he
himself had of God and of Life. Jesus lived in God. Surely, he had touched the
heart of the people who liked to listen to him (Mk 1: 22, 27). God, instead of
being a severe Jew who threatens from far, at a distance, with punishment and
hell, becomes once again, a friendly presence, the Good News for the people.
•
Jesus calls a sinner to be a disciple and
invites him to eat in his house. Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, and he,
immediately, leaves everything and follows Jesus. He begins to be part of the
group of the disciples. Immediately, the text says literally:
•
While Jesus was at table in his house. Some
think that in his house means the house of Levi. But the most probable
translation is that it was a question of the house of Jesus. It is Jesus who
invites all to eat in his house: sinners and tax collectors, together with the
disciples.
•
Jesus has come not for the just, but for
sinners. This gesture or act of Jesus causes the religious authority to get
very angry. It was forbidden to sit at table with tax collectors and sinners,
because to sit at table with someone meant that he was considered a brother!
Instead of speaking directly with Jesus, the Scribes of the Pharisees speak
with the disciples: How is it that he eats and drinks together with tax
collectors and sinners? Jesus responds: “It is not the healthy who need the
doctor, but the sick. I came to call not the upright, but sinners! As before
with the disciples (Mk 1: 38), now also, it is the conscience of his mission
which helps Jesus to find theresponse
and to indicate the way for the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus.
Personal Questions
•
Jesus calls a sinner, a tax collector, a person
hated by the people, to be his disciple. Which is the message for us in this
act of Jesus, of the Catholic Church?
•
Jesus says that he has come to call sinners. Are
there laws and customs in our Church which prevent sinners to have access to
Jesus? What can we do to change these laws and these customs?
Concluding Prayer
May the words of my mouth always find favor, and the
whispering of my heart, in your presence, Yahweh, my rock, my redeemer. (Ps 19:
14)
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