January 21, 2026
Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin
and Martyr
Lectionary: 313
Reading
1
David spoke to
Saul:
"Let your majesty not lose courage.
I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine."
But Saul answered David,
"You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him,
for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth."
David continued:
"The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear,
will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine."
Saul answered David, "Go! the LORD will be with you."
Then, staff in hand, David selected five smooth stones from the wadi
and put them in the pocket of his shepherd's bag.
With his sling also ready to hand, he approached the Philistine.
With his shield bearer marching before him,
the Philistine also advanced closer and closer to David.
When he had sized David up,
and seen that he was youthful, and ruddy, and handsome in appearance,
the Philistine held David in contempt.
The Philistine said to David,
"Am I a dog that you come against me with a staff?"
Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods
and said to him, "Come here to me,
and I will leave your flesh for the birds of the air
and the beasts of the field."
David answered him:
"You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar,
but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.
Today the LORD shall deliver you into my hand;
I will strike you down and cut off your head.
This very day I will leave your corpse
and the corpses of the Philistine army for the birds of the air
and the beasts of the field;
thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God.
All this multitude, too,
shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves.
For the battle is the LORD's and he shall deliver you into our hands."
The Philistine then moved to meet David at close quarters,
while David ran quickly toward the battle line
in the direction of the Philistine.
David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone,
hurled it with the sling,
and struck the Philistine on the forehead.
The stone embedded itself in his brow,
and he fell prostrate on the ground.
Thus David overcame the Philistine with sling and stone;
he struck the Philistine mortally, and did it without a sword.
Then David ran and stood over him;
with the Philistine's own sword which he drew from its sheath
he dispatched him and cut off his head.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (1) Blessed
be the Lord, my Rock!
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
My refuge and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust,
who subdues my people under me.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
O God, I will sing a new song to you;
with a ten-stringed lyre I will chant your praise,
You who give victory to kings,
and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus entered the
synagogue.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
"Come up here before us."
Then he said to the Pharisees,
"Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?"
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012126.cfm
Commentary on 1
Samuel 17:32-33,37,40-51
Today we read part of the famous story of David and Goliath.
Today’s reading goes back to another source for the story of David. In this
story, David has not yet been anointed king. Rather, today’s exploit will be
one of the factors leading to his being chosen as both successor and
replacement for Saul.
Earlier on (not in today’s reading) we are told of the
awesome sight of the fully-armed Goliath, a giant of a man who was the champion
of the Philistines. Day after day he challenged the Israelites to send out one
of their men to take him on in single combat. There were no takers.
It was about this time that Jesse sent his youngest son
David to the battlefield to bring food to some of his older brothers who were
with the army. David himself is still too young to fight and is a shepherd at
home. It is while he is with the army that he sees Goliath come to taunt the
soldiers of Israel and they are all too afraid to take him on.
It is then—the beginning of today’s reading—that David
approaches Saul and offers to challenge Goliath:
Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will
go and fight with this Philistine.
Saul, who at this time does not actually know David, is very
much against a young boy taking on Goliath and says:
You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight
with him, for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.
But Saul does not take into account the power of Yahweh who
will be on David’s side against the infidel.
David’s confidence is in the Lord. This will be an essential
qualification for a king who will rule in God’s name, a qualification which
stands in strong contrast to Saul’s loss of faith. David, too, appeals to his
experience as a shepherd, where God had protected him from predatory lions and
bears attacking his sheep. “Go then,” says Saul. After all, David is the only
one at least willing to take on the giant, even if the odds seem overwhelmingly
against him.
And so, with Saul’s blessing, David goes forth. In his hand
he bore his shepherd’s staff, the symbol of his coming role as shepherd and
protector of God’s people. He picked some suitable stones from a nearby wadi.
These stones were usually round and smooth and somewhat larger than a baseball
or cricket ball. When thrown by a master slinger, they could travel at more
than 150 km an hour.
Goliath came to meet him with his shield bearer and armed
with a sword, spear and scimitar. He mocked when he saw the young, handsome and
virtually unarmed boy coming out to challenge him (earlier Saul had offered his
armour to David, but it was so heavy he could not walk in it!). Goliath is
almost insulted to be facing a mere boy and mocked him:
Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?
To be regarded as a dog was one of the lowest forms of
debasement. We remember Jesus asking the Syro-phoenician woman whether it was
right to give the children’s food to dogs, an insulting term used for Gentiles,
who like scavenging dogs made no distinction between food that was clean and
unclean. He then curses David and his ‘gods’. To the polytheistic Philistine,
the Israelites, like him, believed in many gods. He threatens to leave David as
food for carrion birds and other wild animals wandering the desert.
But David is not cowed. Goliath comes against him armed to
the teeth, but David says:
You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I
come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel,
whom you have defied.
To insult God’s people is to insult God himself and:
…the Lord does not save by sword and spear…
David’s reliance is totally on his Lord. And it will not be
David who will be feeding the birds and animals, but Goliath, thereby giving
proof that Israel has an all-powerful God. And this battle is not David’s or
the Israelites’, but God’s.
The two then approach each other. Before Goliath knew what
had happened, David had armed his sling with a stone, aimed skilfully, and
struck the giant in the centre of his forehead. Goliath fell to the ground.
David then drew the giant’s sword from its sheath and beheaded him.
The upshot was that the Philistines were thrown into
confusion and fled with the Israelites in pursuit. The day was a great victory
for Israel and it was the beginning of David’s rise as leader of his people.
The story proves not so much the courage and skill of David,
but the protection of God who was choosing him to be the leader of his people.
It was a dramatic message to Israelites and Philistines alike. It can happen to
us, too, that we find ourselves capable of taking on challenges which we
believed were well beyond us.
Let us remember the words of Paul:
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak,
then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:10)
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Commentary on Mark
3:1-6
Once again we see Jesus in confrontation with the religious
leaders. It follows the same pattern as before between him and his critics,
here simply referred to as “they”. But it is quite clear who “they” are.
The scene is in the local synagogue. Once again “they” were
looking for evidence with which to convict Jesus. They were watching to see if
Jesus would cure a man with a withered hand on a Sabbath day. There is every
likelihood that the man was ‘planted’ as a ‘set up’. To use a person with some
sort of illness or condition in this way was really despicable.
There is no doubt that Jesus is fully aware of what is
happening. Unhesitatingly, he tells the man to come out and stand in the middle
of the assembly. Then he puts his question:
Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to
save life or to kill?
His opponents are reduced to silence. They have neither the
honesty nor the integrity to give the obvious answer to the question.
In another example of how Jesus shows his feelings, we are
told that he was both grieved and angry at their stubborn attitude. Grieved
because their attitude was so inappropriate for people who believed they were
close to God. Angry because of the terrible injustice they were prepared to
impose on this man. In their book, no suffering justified breaking the Law. But
for Jesus, it is not a matter of keeping or breaking laws, but of doing good.
He tells the man to stretch out his withered arm and it is
completely cured. The Pharisees—humiliated—immediately went out and began to
plot with the Herodians to get rid of Jesus. The Pharisees needed the help of the
Herodians (supporters of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea), if
they were to take action against Jesus. This strange alliance shows the extent
of the Pharisees’ anger and blinding hatred. The Herodians represented
everything the Pharisees despised.
The story once again highlights the difference between
morality and law. It was against the Law to do healing work on the Sabbath.
This was because, in normal circumstances, the attention of a doctor might
involve extensive treatment. But here, the healing is instantaneous. Can it be
called work? Can it be seen as a violation of the spirit of the Sabbath?
In this particular case, where the situation was chronic and
causing no immediate distress to the man, it is worth noting that the healing
could easily have taken place on another day. But Jesus uttered two principles
that transcend all positive law:
- It
is always justified to do what is good, provided no greater good is
denied.
- No
truly loving act can ever be sinful even though it may violate a law.
All laws, except for the law of love, are relative. The Law
about healing on the Sabbath had good intentions and was part of the observance
of the Lord’s day, but it was being absolutised by the Pharisees. This is a
tendency in our Christian life which we must also avoid. Even the law about
being at Mass on Sunday can be absolutised. Sometimes there are pressing needs,
e.g. the care of a sick person or a child, which can override the ‘law’ about
Sunday Mass.
Christianity is about loving relationships, not about
conformity to laws. Says St Paul:
…if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not
have love, I am nothing. (1 Cor 13:2)
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2024g/
Wednesday, January 21,
2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father of heaven and earth, hear
our prayers, and show us the way to your peace in the world.
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 3: 1-6
Another time he went into the
synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered. And they were
watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for
something to charge him with. He said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get
up and stand in the middle!' Then he said to them, 'Is it permitted on the
Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?' But they said
nothing.
Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved
to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He
stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and began at
once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
Reflection
•
In today’s Gospel we meditate on the last of the
five conflicts which Mark presents at the beginning of his Gospel (Mk 2: 1 to
3: 6). The four previous conflicts were provoked by the enemies of Jesus. This
last one is provoked by Jesus himself and reveals the seriousness of the
conflict between him and the religious authority of his time. It is a conflict
of life or death. It is important to note the category of enemies which has
arisen in this conflict. It is a question of the Pharisees and the Herodians,
that is of the religious and the civil authority. When Mark wrote his Gospel in
the year 70, many of them still remembered very well the terrible persecution
of the 60’s, perpetuated by Nero against the Christian communities. In hearing
that Jesus himself had been threatened to death and how he behaved in the midst
of these dangerous conflicts, the Christians found a source of courage and
orientation so as not to be discouraged along the journey.
•
Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus
enters into the Synagogue. He had the habit of participating in the
celebrations of the people. A man was there who had a withered hand. A
physically disabled person who could not participate fully, because he was
considered to be impure. Even if he was present in the community, he was
marginalized. He had to remain far away from the rest.
•
The concern of the enemies of Jesus. The enemies
were observing him to see if Jesus would cure on Saturday. They wanted to
accuse him. The second commandment of the Law of God ordered to “sanctify the
Sabbath.” It was prohibited to work on that day (Ex 20: 8-20). The Pharisees
said that to cure a sick person was the same as working. And for this reason,
they taught: “It is prohibited to cure on the Sabbath!” They placed the law
above the well-being of persons. Jesus was an uncomfortable person for them,
because he placed the well-being of persons above the norms and the laws. The
concern of the Pharisees and of the Herodians was not the zeal for the Law, but
rather the will, the desire to accuse and get rid of Jesus.
•
Get up and stand in the middle! Jesus asks two
things of the physically disabled person: Get up and stand in the middle! The
word “get up” is the same one which the communities of Mark also used to say
“rise, resurrect.” The disabled person has to “resurrect,” to get up, to live
in the middle and to take his place in the center of the community! The
marginalized, the excluded, have to live in the middle! They cannot be
excluded. They must be together with the others! Jesus calls the excluded one
to stand in the middle. • The question of Jesus
leaves the others without knowing what to say. Jesus asks: Is it permitted on
the Sabbath to do good or to do bad? To save life or to kill? He could have
asked: “On the Sabbath is it permitted to cure: yes or no?! And in this way all
would have answered: “No, it is not permitted!” But Jesus changed the question.
For him, in that concrete case, “to cure” was the same as “to do good” or “to
save a life,” and not “to kill!” With his question Jesus put the finger on the
wound. He denounced the prohibition of curing on the Sabbath considering this
to be a system of death. A wise question! The enemies remain without knowing
what to answer.
•
Jesus looked angrily around at them, grieved to
find them so obstinate. Jesus reacts with indignation and sadness before the
attitude of the Pharisees and the Herodians. He orders the man to stretch out
his hand, and he cures him. By curing the disabled man, Jesus shows that he
does not agree with the system which places the law above life. In response to
the action of Jesus, the Pharisees and the Herodians decide to kill him. With
this decision they confirm that, in fact, they are defenders of a system of
death! They are not afraid to kill in order to defend the system against Jesus
who attacks and criticizes it in the name of life.
Personal Questions
•
The disabled man was called to stand in the
center of the community. In our community, do the poor and the excluded have a
privileged place?
•
Have you already confronted yourself, sometimes,
with persons such as the Herodians and the Pharisees who place the law above
the well-being of persons? What did you feel at that moment? Have you agreed
with them, or have you criticized them?
Concluding Prayer
Yet you are merciful to all, and
nothing that you have made disgusts you, Lord, lover of life! (Wis 11: 23-26)
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