Time Is Of The Essence

 

 

We are seeing and hearing more and more of the desperate plight of the people in Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

The people of Haiti desperately need our aid and support. You may begin by going to the site for Catholic Relief Services, and making a donation now. If you are not comfortable making a donation online, you may donate to Catholic Relief Services by phone, by calling 1-800-736-3467 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (U.S. and Canada), or you may send a check by mail to: Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203-7090


You may also go to The Hunger Site, and click on the banner entitled “Earthquake in Haiti - PLEASE HELP NOW”.

This is so important, that this same post is going to be placed on all of the Faith of the Fathers blogs.

Let’s all do what we can. No matter how little it seems, all donations help.

Mass Readings for Tuesday January 19, 2010

 (Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 16: 1 - 13

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1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, `I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'

3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me him whom I name to you."

4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"

5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." And he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they came, he looked on Eli'ab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him."

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

8 Then Jesse called Abin'adab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these."

11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here."

12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he."

13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

PSALM: Psalms 89: 20 – 22, 27 - 28

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20 I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him;

21 so that my hand shall ever abide with him, my arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him.

27 And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth.

28 My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. 

 

GOSPEL: Mark 2: 23 - 28

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23 As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.

24 At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?"

25 He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?

26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?"

27 Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

28 That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

Mass Readings for Monday January 18, 2010

(Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 15: 16 - 23

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16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night." And he said to him, "Say on."

17 And Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.

18 And the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, `Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amal'ekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'

19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

20 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am'alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal'ekites.

21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."

22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king." 

 

PSALM: Psalms 50: 8 – 9, 16 - 17, 21, 23

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8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, nor for your holocausts, set before me daily.

9 I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold.

16 "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips?

17 You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you!

21 When you do these things should I be silent? Or do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay the charge before you.

23 Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; to the obedient I will show the salvation of God."

 

GOSPEL: Mark 2: 18 - 22

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18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

20 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins."

Mass Readings for Sunday January 17, 2010

FIRST READING: Isaiah 62: 1 - 5

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1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her vindication goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.

2 The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the LORD will give.

3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My delight is in her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.

5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

PSALM: Psalms 96: 1 – 3, 7 - 10

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1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!

2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!

7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!

8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!

9 Worship the LORD in holy array; tremble before him, all the earth!

10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity."

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 12: 4 – 11

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4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;

6 and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.

7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

11 All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

GOSPEL: John 2: 1 - 11

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1 On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;

2 Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.

3 When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."

4 And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come."

5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

6 Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.

8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it.

9 When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom

10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."

11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.