Catholic Missal of the day: Thursday, January 17 2019

Thursday of the First week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the First week in Ordinary Time

1. Reading

Letter to the Hebrews

3,7-14.

]The holy Spirit says: "Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
]'Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert,
]where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works
]for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, "They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways."
]As I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter into my rest."'"
]Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God.
]Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today," so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
]We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.

Psalm

Psalms

95(94),6-7.8-9.10-11.

]Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
]For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
]Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
]Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”  
]Forty years I was wearied of that generation;
I said: “This people's heart goes astray,
they do not know my ways.”
]Therefore I swore in my anger:
“They shall never enter my rest.”

Gospel

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark

1,40-45.

]A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean."
]Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean."
]The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
]Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
]Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."
]The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

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St. Anthony the Abbot((251-356))

SAINT ANTONY Patriarch of Monks (251-356) St. Antony was born in Upper Egypt. After hearing at Mass, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor," he gifted his estate to the church. He received spiritual direction from an aged hermit and visited various solitaries to emulate their virtues. St. Antony discerned a monastic vocation and entered the desert. While living in a ruin, he was tempted and attacked by fallen angels. They took the form of monsters and wounded him, but his courage never flagged; and he overcame them through the Cross. Prayer is most pleasing to God when performed in spite of darkness and desolation. One night, after St. Antony was attacked by demons, a friend found him half dead and carried him to a house. When St. Antony came to himself, he returned immediately. Alban Butler narrates that he said: "I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ"; whereupon Jesus appeared in glory. Like Bartimaeus whom Christ cured of blindness, we sometimes must cry out more than once to be self-assured of our faith and sincerity; and learn to persevere in prayer (St. Josemaria Escriva, Friends of God). St. Antony fasted daily on bread and water, only eating after sunset. Sometimes, he ate only once in two, three or four days. He wore sackcloth and sheepskin and often knelt in prayer from sunset to sunrise. Many souls flocked to him for advice; and after twenty years of solitude, he consented to guide them. Thus, he founded the first monastery. St. Antony's miracles attracted such multitudes that he sought solitude near the end of his life. He passed away in the peace of the Holy Family. St. Athanasius, his biographer, says that knowing how he lived, prayed and mortified his senses is a guide to virtue.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2019 / Catholic Missal of january 2019