Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time 2nd book of Samuel 6:12-15.17-19. When it was reported to King David that the LORD had blessed the family of Obed-edom and all that belonged to him, David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David amid festivities. As soon as the bearers of the ark of the LORD had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. Then David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the LORD with abandon, as he and all the Israelites were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn. The ark of the LORD was brought in and set in its place within the tent David had pitched for it. Then David offered holocausts and peace offerings before the LORD. When he finished making these offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. He then distributed among all the people, to each man and each woman in the entire multitude of Israel, a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat, and a raisin cake. With this, all the people left for their homes. Psalms 24(23):7.8.9.10. Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may come in! Who is this king of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle. Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may come in! Who is this king of glory? The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:31-35. The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are outside asking for you. But he said to them in reply, Who are my mother and (my) brothers? And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. (For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. Commentary of the day Pope Francis Encyclical « Lumen fidei / The Light of Faith », § 58 (trans. © Libreria Editrice Vaticana) Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother In the parable of the sower, Saint Luke has left us these words of the Lord about the good soil: These are the ones who when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance (Lk 8:15)... This mention of an honest and good heart which hears and keeps the word is an implicit portrayal of the faith of the Virgin Mary. The evangelist himself speaks of Mary’s memory, how she treasured in her heart all that she had heard and seen (2,19.51), so that the word could bear fruit in her life. The Mother of the Lord is the perfect icon of faith; as Saint Elizabeth would say: Blessed is she who believed (Lk 1:45). In Mary, the Daughter of Zion, is fulfilled the long history of faith of the Old Testament, with its account of so many faithful women, beginning with Sarah: women who, alongside the patriarchs, were those in whom God’s promise was fulfilled and new life flowered. In the fullness of time, God’s word was spoken to Mary and she received that word into her heart, her entire being, so that in her womb it could take flesh and be born as light for humanity. Saint Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho, uses a striking expression; he tells us that Mary, receiving the message of the angel, conceived faith and joy. In the Mother of Jesus, faith demonstrated its fruitfulness; when our own spiritual lives bear fruit we become filled with joy, which is the clearest sign of faith’s grandeur. In her own life Mary completed the pilgrimage of faith, following in the footsteps of her Son (Vatican II, LG 58). In her the faith journey of the Old Testament was thus taken up into the following of Christ, transformed by him and entering into the gaze of the incarnate Son of God.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 21:06:44 +0000
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