January 29, 2026
Thursday of the Third Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 320
Reading
I
After Nathan had
spoken to King David,
the king went in and sat before the LORD and said,
“Who am I, Lord GOD, and who are the members of my house,
that you have brought me to this point?
Yet even this you see as too little, Lord GOD;
you have also spoken of the house of your servant
for a long time to come:
this too you have shown to man, Lord GOD!
“You have established for yourself your people Israel as yours forever,
and you, LORD, have become their God.
And now, LORD God, confirm for all time the prophecy you have made
concerning your servant and his house,
and do as you have promised.
Your name will be forever great, when men say,
‘The LORD of hosts is God of Israel,’
and the house of your servant David stands firm before you.
It is you, LORD of hosts, God of Israel,
who said in a revelation to your servant,
‘I will build a house for you.’
Therefore your servant now finds the courage to make this prayer to you.
And now, Lord GOD, you are God and your words are truth;
you have made this generous promise to your servant.
Do, then, bless the house of your servant
that it may be before you forever;
for you, Lord GOD, have promised,
and by your blessing the house of your servant
shall be blessed forever.”
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 132:1-2, 3-5, 11, 12,
13-14
R. (Lk
1:32b) The Lord God will give him the throne of David, his
father.
LORD, remember David
and all
his anxious care;
How he swore an oath to the LORD,
vowed
to the Mighty One of Jacob.
R. The Lord God will give him
the throne of David, his father.
“I will not enter the house where I live,
nor lie
on the couch where I sleep;
I will give my eyes no sleep,
my
eyelids no rest,
Till I find a home for the LORD,
a
dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
R. The Lord God will give him
the throne of David, his father.
The LORD swore an oath to David
a firm
promise from which he will not withdraw:
“Your own offspring
I will
set upon your throne.”
R. The Lord God will give him
the throne of David, his father.
“If your sons keep my covenant,
and the
decrees which I shall teach them,
Their sons, too, forever
shall
sit upon your throne.”
R. The Lord God will give him
the throne of David, his father.
For the LORD has chosen Zion,
he
prefers her for his dwelling:
“Zion is my resting place forever;
in her
I will dwell, for I prefer her.”
R. The Lord God will give him
the throne of David, his father.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
A lamp to my feet is your word,
a light to my path.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
disciples,
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible;
nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”
He also told them, “Take care what you hear.
The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you,
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given;
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012926.cfm
Commentary on 2
Samuel 7:18-19,24-29
Today’s reading contains a prayer of David. David
immediately responds to the word of God which has come to him through the
prophet Nathan and which was the reading for yesterday.
The reading does not contain the whole prayer (see vv
18-29). It is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving made for the promises to
establish an everlasting dynasty through David. It expresses wonder that God
could make such commitments to him and his descendants. But he also
acknowledges that what God had pledged to him was for Israel’s sake; its
purpose is the fulfilment of God’s covenanted promise to his people—and that
its ultimate effect will be the honour and praise of God throughout the world
now and for always.
David “went in and sat before the Lord”. This presumably
means that he went into the tent where the Ark was kept. And the ark was the
symbol of God’s presence among his people. This is very similar to our praying
before the Blessed Sacrament, the real and sacramental presence of Jesus among
us.
In a way David is alarmed by his new calling:
Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have
brought me thus far?
David, deeply aware of his own inadequacies (soon to be made
very evident), begs God to make sure that what he has foretold will be
realised, praying:
O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken
concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever; do as you
have promised.
David is fully aware that the fulfilment of God’s promise
will depend entirely on God and that he, David, is a very fragile instrument in
the process.
Again and again, we will see this beautiful characteristic
of David—his humility and acknowledgment of his weakness. But as Paul will
point out later, it is precisely in and through our weaknesses that God’s work
is carried out. And David is confident because the Lord has made the solemn
promise:
I will build you a House.
So he prays:
…may it please you to bless the house of your servant so
that it may continue forever before you, for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and
with your blessing shall the house [i.e. the dynasty] of your
servant be blessed forever.
God continues to build his Kingdom through the cooperation
of our feeble efforts. Let us realise that it is precisely in our weakest
moments that he can achieve the most in us and through us. As Paul will say:
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
(Phil 4/13)
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Commentary on Mark
4:21-25
We are still with Mark’s Gospel in a section of parables and
images. Today we see a number of disparate sayings.
No one lights a lamp and then covers it up. Our
Christian faith is a light for the world and not to be kept hidden. Our message
is not meant to be kept secret, but to be broadcast and shared. How many
know that we are Christians? How many see us practise our faith
openly? How many are influenced by our living according to the Christian
vision? Our faith, our knowledge of Jesus and his gospel, is not
something private to be kept to ourselves.
A ‘good’ Catholic is not just one who keeps all the
Commandments, goes often to Mass and stays in the ‘state of grace’, but rather
‘good’ Catholics are those who radiate their faith, share it generously with
others and very much want others to have the same experience of loving and
being loved by God as they have. If we are not seen to be
Christians we have somehow failed, no matter how good our inner lives may be.
To be a Christian is not just to be a good person, but an apostle, an
evangeliser, a sharer of faith by word and action.
What we give out to others is what we ourselves will
receive—and even more:
For to those who have, more will be given, and from those
who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
That is what happened to the man who buried his master’s
money in the ground so as not to lose it. Those who invested it got even
more in return. In the Christian life, we gain by giving, not by
getting. It is only when we give that we can get, and when everyone
gives, everyone gets.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2035g/
Thursday, January 29,
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 4: 21-25
He also said to them, 'Is a lamp brought in
to be put under a tub or under the bed? Surely to be put on the lampstand? For
there is nothing hidden, but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except
to be brought to light. Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!'
He also said to them, 'Take notice of what
you are hearing. The standard you use will be used for you -- and you will
receive more; besides, anyone who has, will be given more; anyone who has not,
will be deprived even of what he has.'
Reflection
•
The lamp which gives light. At that time, there
was no electric light. Imagine all that follows. The family is at home. It
begins to get dark. The father lifts up the small lamp, he lights it and places
under the tub or under the bed. What will the others say? They will begin to
scream: “Father, place it on the table!” This is the story that Jesus tells. He
does not explain. He only says: Anyone who has ears to listen, should listen!
The Word of God is the lamp which should be lit in the darkness of the night.
If it remains closed in the closed Book of the Bible, it is like a small lamp
under the tub. When it is united to the life in community, there it is placed
on the table, and it gives light!
•
Be attentive to preconceptions. Jesus asks the
disciples to become aware of the preconceptions with which they listen to the
teaching which he offers. We should be attentive to the ideas which we have
when we look at Jesus! If the color of the eyes is green, everything seems to be
green. If they are blue, everything will be blue! If the idea with which we
look at Jesus were mistaken, everything which I think about Jesus will be
threatened of being an error. If I think that the Messiah has to be a glorious
King, I will understand nothing of what the Lord teaches, and I will see that
everything is mistaken.
•
Parable: a new way of teaching and of speaking
of Jesus. Jesus used parables, above all, to teach: this was his way. He had an
enormous capacity to find very simple images to compare the things of God with
the things of the life which people knew and experienced in the daily struggle
to survive. This presupposes two things: to be inside, involved in the things
of life, and to be inside, involved in the things of the Kingdom of God.
•
The teaching of Jesus was diverse from the
teaching of the Scribes. It was Good News for the poor, because Jesus revealed
a new face of God, in which people could recognize themselves and rejoice. “I
bless you, Father, Lord of Heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from
the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father,
for that is what it pleased you to do!” (Mt 11: 25-28).
Personal Questions
•
The Word of God, a lamp which gives light. What
place does the Bible have in my life? What light do I receive?
•
Which is the image of Jesus that I have within
me? Who is Jesus for me and who am I for Jesus?
Concluding Prayer
Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him. (Ps 34: 8)
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