Gospel: February 8, 2025
February 8, 2025 (Saturday)
4th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 4 (Green/White)
Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Jerome Emiliani, priest
St. Josephine Bakhita, virgin
Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
1st Reading: Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21
Let us, then, continually offer, through Jesus, a sacrifice, of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips, celebrating his name. Do not neglect good works and common life, for these are sacrifices pleasing to God. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are concerned for your souls, and are accountable for them. Let this be a joy for them, rather than a burden, which would be of no advantage for you. May God give you peace, he, who brought back, from among the dead, Jesus our Lord, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, whose blood seals the eternal Covenant. He will train you in every good work, that you may do his will, for it is he who works in us what pleases him, through Jesus Christ, to whom all glory be forever and ever. Amen!
Gospel: Mark 6:30-34
The apostles returned and reported t`o Jesus all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves into a remote place and have some rest.” For there were so many people coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a secluded area by themselves. But people saw them leaving, and many could guess where they were going. So, from all the towns, they hurried there on foot, arriving ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Reflection:
“Let us go off by ourselves into a remote place and have some rest.”
Inspired by the teaching of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Pope Francis encourages us to be “contemplatives in action.” This means that our action needs to be combined with reflection, so that the Lord might “train [us] in every good work, that [we] may do his will, for it is he who works in us.” We need to spend time in rest and quiet reflective prayer so we can examine our lives and learn from the Lord. “Let us go off by ourselves into a remote place and have some rest.” Our activity is to be complemented by resting in the Lord in prayer, so that he might give his peace and wisdom to us. Saint Ignatius recommends the prayer which he calls the examen, a practice of going over the events of the day so that we might recognize both where God was at work, and where we failed to cooperate with him. The examen helps us to grow in our awareness of God and of our actions, so that we might attune our choices more and more to his will. May we rest in the Lord so that we might work for the Lord.
