January 26, 2026
Memorial of Saints Timothy and
Titus, Bishops
Lectionary:
520/317
Reading
1
Paul, an Apostle
of Christ Jesus by the will of God
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,
so that I may be filled with joy,
as I recall your sincere faith
that first lived in your grandmother Lois
and in your mother Eunice
and that I am confident lives also in you.
For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
Or
Paul, a slave of
God and Apostle of Jesus Christ
for the sake of the faith of God’s chosen ones
and the recognition of religious truth,
in the hope of eternal life
that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,
who indeed at the proper time revealed his word
in the proclamation with which I was entrusted
by the command of God our savior,
to Titus, my true child in our common faith:
grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.
For this reason I left you in Crete
so that you might set right what remains to be done
and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (3) Proclaim
God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The scribes who
had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012626.cfm
Commentary on 2
Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
Note: When the Memorial to Saints Timothy and Titus falls
on a weekday, the First Reading must be taken from the Memorial Readings in
lieu of the First Reading for Ordinary Time.
Today there is a choice of First Readings: the first is from
the Second Letter to Timothy and the other from the Letter to Titus.
These two letters are purported to come from the hand of
Paul, but recent studies suggest that they are from a later hand, although they
surely reflect Paul’s thoughts and feelings.
In the passage from the Letter to Timothy, Paul expresses
his deep affection for Timothy, his companion on many missions, and relates his
strong desire to see him. He thanks God for Timothy’s faith, which he owes to
his Jewish mother Eunice and grandmother Lois. At the same time, he reminds
Timothy of the gift he received when Paul laid his hands on him. That gift,
says Paul, was not one of timidity but one of power, love and self-control,
bringing with it the courage of witnessing to the gospel even when, as in Paul’s
case, it involved persecution and suffering. Like Paul, Timothy was to rely:
…on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a
holy calling.
In the alternative reading from the Letter to Titus, Paul
reminds his fellow missionary of the duties of an apostolic person:
…to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge
of the truth that leads to godliness…
In the case of Titus, Paul reminds him that he has been sent
to Crete to set up the Christian communities in each town, appointing an elder
or presbyter as a leader in each one. Titus’ role was one of episcopus or
‘overseer’, to coordinate the Christian witness of these communities, making of
them a community of communities, united with Christ and with each other.
In a way that is highly relevant for Church life today, both
readings suggest the dynamic and essentially apostolic nature of Christian
witness, and how it is to be exercised in a community setting.
Comments Off
Commentary on Mark
3:22-30
We have seen how the religious leaders have tried various
ploys to expose Jesus as a violator of the Law. They now try a new tactic to
discredit him by making two accusations:
- He
is possessed, not just by any ordinary demon, but by Beelzebul the prince
of demons.
- It
is through the power of the demon in him that he expels evil spirits from
others.
Jesus answers both charges. He responds to the second charge
by showing its internal contradictions. If the devil were acting against
himself, his power would eventually collapse like a divided household. To drive
the demon from someone as Jesus did was to liberate that person, free that
person from evil powers. Why would the demon want to do something like that?
The charge does not make sense. It could only be made by a perverse mind.
Nor can someone:
…enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property
without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
Clearly Jesus is the strong man who cannot be overcome.
The next statement of Jesus, however, may cause difficulties
for some. Jesus says:
Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins
and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin…
But why only this sin? Is God’s mercy not infinite and
omnipotent?
The Spirit is the origin of all that is good in Jesus, in
people, and in the world. God is present in the world through the Spirit. To
blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to deliberately refuse to see that
presence, that goodness—as the scribes, for instance, obstinately refused to
see the hand of God’s love in all that Jesus was doing. This was something the
ordinary people had no difficulty in seeing.
Once we are in a position where we have closed our minds to
God’s presence in our lives, how can God reach us? God readily forgives those
who reach out to him in sorrow and repentance. Forgiveness came to the Prodigal
Son when he turned back to find his father. Forgiveness for God enables
reconciliation; it is the healing of our wound. He does not, he will not, reach
into a heart that has closed itself tight. He will never force his way in.
Love is not love if it is not free. But the corollary of
that freedom is the ability to choose the opposite. That was the choice the
scribes were making.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2032g/
Monday, January 26,
2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
All-powerful and ever-living God,
direct your love that is within us, that our efforts in the name of your Son
may bring mankind to unity and peace. 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: 22-30
The scribes who had come down from
Jerusalem were saying, 'Beelzebul is in him,' and, 'It is through the prince of
devils that he drives devils out.'
So, he called them to him and spoke to them
in parables, 'How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot last. And if a household is divided against itself,
that household can never last. Now if Satan has rebelled against himself and is
divided, he cannot last either -- it is the end of him. But no one can make his
way into a strong man's house and plunder his property unless he has first tied
up the strong man. Only then can he plunder his house. 'In truth I tell you,
all human sins will be forgiven, and all the blasphemies ever uttered; but
anyone who blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit will never be forgiven but is guilty
of an eternal sin.' This was because they were saying, 'There is an unclean
spirit in him.' Reflection
•
The
conflict grows. In the Gospel of Mark there is a progressive sequence. In
the measure in which the Good News advances and people accept it, in the same
measure grows also the resistance on the part of the religious authority. The
conflict began to grow and to influence all the groups of persons. For example,
the relatives of Jesus thought that he was out of his mind. (Mk 3: 2021), and
the Scribes who had come from Jerusalem thought that he was possessed, that
Beelzebul was in him (Mk 3: 22).
•
The
conflict with the authority. The Scribes slandered against him. They said
that Beelzebul was in him and that it was through the prince of devils that he
drove out the devils. They had come from Jerusalem, about 120 kilometres
distance, to keep an eye on or watch Jesus’ behavior. They wanted to
defend tradition against the novelty that Jesus taught to the people (Mk 7: 1).
They thought that his teaching was against the good doctrine. The response
given by Jesus had three parts.
•
First Part:
The comparison with a divided family. Jesus
uses the comparison of the divided family and of the divided kingdom to
denounce the absurdity of the slander. To say that Jesus casts out or drives
out the devils with the help of the prince of the devils is to deny the
evidence, what is evident. It is like saying that water is dry, and that the
sun is darkness. The doctors of Jerusalem slandered, because they did not know
how to explain the benefits worked by Jesus in behalf of the people. They were
afraid to lose their leadership.
•
Second
Part: The comparison of the strong man. Jesus compares the devil to a
strong man. Nobody, unless he is a strong person, will be able to take away the
house from a strong man, to rob it. Jesus is the strongest of all. And this is
why he succeeds to enter the house and to dominate and overcome the strong man.
He succeeds in driving out the devils. Jesus wins over the strong man and robs
his house, that is, he liberates the persons who were under the power of the
evil one. The Prophet Isaiah had already used the same comparison to describe
the coming of the Messiah (Is 49: 24-25). Luke adds that the expulsion of the
devil is an evident sign of the coming of the Kingdom
(Lk 11: 20).
•
Third
part: The sin against the Holy Spirit. All sins are forgiven, except the
sin against the Holy Spirit. Which is the sin against the Holy Spirit? It is to
say: “The spirit which impels Jesus to cast out or drive out the devil, comes
precisely from the devil!” The one who speaks in this way
is incapable to receive pardon. Why? Can the one who covers
his eyes guess? He cannot! The one who closes his mouth, can he eat? He cannot.
The one who does not close the umbrella of slander, can he receive the rain of
pardon? He cannot! Pardon would pass by his side but would not reach him. It is
not that God does not want to forgive. God always wants to forgive. But it is
the sinner who refuses to receive pardon!
Personal Questions
•
The religious authorities close themselves up in
themselves and deny the evidence. Has this ever happened to me, that I close myself
in self before the evidence of facts?
•
Slander is the arm or weapon of the weak. Have
you had experience on this point?
Concluding Prayer
The whole wide world has seen the saving power of our God.
Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth, burst into shouts of joy! (Ps
98: 3-4)
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