Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time

2nd book of Samuel

At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign, David sent out Joab along with his officers and the army of Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. David, however, remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David rose from his siesta and strolled about on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.
David had inquiries made about the woman and was told, "She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and wife of (Joab's armor-bearer) Uriah the Hittite."
Then David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he had relations with her. She then returned to her house.
But the woman had conceived, and sent the information to David, "I am with child."
David therefore sent a message to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David.
When he came, David questioned him about Joab, the soldiers, and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well.
David then said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and bathe your feet." Uriah left the palace, and a portion was sent out after him from the king's table.
But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his own house.
David was told that Uriah had not gone home. On the day following,
David summoned him, and he ate and drank with David, who made him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed among his lord's servants, and did not go down to his home.
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab which he sent by Uriah.
In it he directed: "Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead."
So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the defenders were strong.
When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab, some officers of David's army fell, and among them Uriah the Hittite died.

Psalms

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
That you may be justified in your sentence,
vindicated when you condemn.
Indeed, in guilt was I born,
and in sin my mother conceived me.
Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my guilt.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark

Jesus said to the crowds: "This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come."
He said, "To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade."
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

St. Thomas Aquinas(Priest & Doctor of the Church (+ 1274) - Memorial)

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS Priest and Doctor of the Church (c. 1225-1274) St. Thomas was born of noble parents in Aquino, Italy. At the age of nineteen, he received the Dominican habit at Naples where he was studying. Disapproving of his vocation, St. Thomas' brothers seized him while he was on the way to Paris; and held him fortwo years' captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca. Despite the threats and stratagems of his brothers, and the tears and caresses of his mother and sisters, St. Thomas remained steadfast, and proved his virtue of fortitude. While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber a woman whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that St. Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his confessor, a little while before his death. Hence originated the Confraternity of the "Angelic Warfare," for the preservation of the virtue of chastity. Having at length escaped, St. Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor, She has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study. His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, "Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?" he replied, "Naught save Thyself, O Lord." He passed away at Fossa-Nuova, 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X had summoned him.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2022 / Catholic Missal of january 2022