Gospel: January 15, 2024
(Monday)
2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 2 / (Green)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 50: 8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23
To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
1st Reading: 1 Samuel 15: 16-23Samuel then told Saul, “Enough! Let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Please tell me.” So Samuel went on and said, “Though you had no confidence in yourself, you became chief of the tribes of Israel, for Yahweh wanted to anoint you king over Israel. Then he sent you with this command, ‘Go. Completely crush the Amalekite offenders, engaging them in battle until they are destroyed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh but instead swooped down on the spoil, doing what was evil in his sight?” To this, Saul replied, “I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh and have carried out the mission for which he sent me. I have captured Agag, king of Amalek and completely destroyed the Amalekites. If my men spared the best sheep and oxen from among those to be destroyed, it was in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh, your God, in Gilgal.”
Samuel then said, “Does Yahweh take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to his command? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness like holding onto idols. Since you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he too has rejected you as king.”
Gospel: Mk 2: 18-22One day, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it that both the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast, but yours do not?” Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come, when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”
Reflection:“New persons.”
We are called to be kinder in our words and actions. This also means that we are challenged to become more responsible, carrying out the tasks we need to accomplish. When we are entrusted with a greater responsibility, we need to gauge how much resources we have for us to carry out our tasks. In our faith journey, the tasks set for us to do is our mission. To accomplish our mission in life, we need to strengthen our inner resources more than the external ones. In the first reading, Saul, who was anointed as the first king of Israel, has now been rejected. Saul disobeyed the Lord. Such disobedience resulted from his lack of inner resources to see what needs to be changed. Saul appeared to be the same person as he was before becoming a king. He could have attuned his life to the special office given to him but he did not. The Gospel tells of Jesus’ teaching about the new wine which must be placed in new wine skins. If we have inner resources, like the ability to give up our old self, we would become new persons worthy of the newness of God’s grace.
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