Lord,
our God and Father,
you call us to listen
to the word of love and mission
which you speak to us in this eucharist.
Make us receptive to your word
and let it stir our hearts.
Attune us also to your voice
speaking in people and events.
And make us also attentive to your silence.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading Introduction:
Today's first reading tells us the beautiful story of Samuel's
vocation. He is the man attentive to signs of God's presence,
hearing the inaudible, seeing the invisible, where others do not
hear or see anything. He is in contact with God, like also Jesus
withdrawing in a lonely place to pray. We hear God best when all
is silent in us.
First
Reading: 1 Sm 3:1–10, 19–20
During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD underEli,
a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infre-quent.
One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes hadlately
grown so weak that he could not see. The lamp of Godwas not yet
extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in thetemple of the LORD
where the ark of God was. The LORD calledto Samuel, who answered,
“Here I am.”Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called
me.” “Idid not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.” So he
wentback to sleep. Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose andwent
to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But Elianswered,
“I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.” Atthat time Samuel
was not familiar with the LORD, because theLORD had not revealed
anything to him as yet. The LORD calledSamuel again, for the third
time. Getting up and going to Eli,he said, “Here I am. You called
me.” Then Eli understood thatthe LORD was calling the youth. So
Eli said to Samuel, “Go tosleep, and if you are called, reply,
‘Speak, LORD, for your servantis listening.’” When Samuel went
to sleep in his place, theLORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before,“Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel answered, “Speak,
for your servantis listening.”
Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permittingany word
of his to be without effect. Thus all Israel from Danto Beersheba
came to know that Samuel was an accreditedprophet of the LORD.
Responsorial
Psalm: Psalms 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
R/
Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood. R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.” R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me.
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!” R/
Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know. R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Gospel
Reading Introduction:
The gospel shows this compassion of Jesus to those afflicted with
all sorts of ills, to the brokenhearted. He is committed against
death and misery. Isn’t that the mission he entrusts also to us
today?
Gospel
Reading: Mk 1:29-39
As
soon as Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, Jesus went
to the home of Simon and Andrew with James and John. As Simon's
mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever, they immediately told
him about her. Jesus went to her and taking her by the hand, raised
her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That
evening at sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those
who had evil spirits: the whole town was pressing around the door.
Jesus healed many who had various diseases, and drove out many
demons; but he did not let them speak, for they knew who he was.
Very
early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus went off to a lonely
place where he prayed. Simon and the others went out, too, searching
for him; and when they found him they said, "Everyone is
looking for you." Then Jesus answered, "Let's go to
the nearby villages so that I may preach there too; for that is
why I came." So Jesus set out to preach in all the synagogues
throughout Galilee; he also cast out demons.
Commentary
Who
are the demons that Jesus casts out? They are the spirits that are
at odds with God's plan for the human race. They enter in and lead
a person into attitudes and behaviors that corrupt and disfigure.
They are evil, and they have no place in the Kingdom of God, nor
do they have a place in any citizen of the Kingdom.
Jesus came to cast out demons, and He continues that ministry to
this very day. Demons flee when we draw near to Him in prayer and
in the sacraments. Demons might be powerful, but they are not all-powerful.
Draw near the Lord and experience true freedom from anything that
might harm you.
General
Intercessions
- That we may bring
our pains and problems before the Lord and talk them over with him in
trusting prayer, we pray:
- That disappointments and failures may not embitter us but help us
to grow closer to the Lord and grow as human persons, we pray:
- That our own sufferings may help us understand people better when
we see them in trouble, and dispose us to offer them our discreet help,
we pray:
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord
our God,
we are here before you
with gifts of bread and wine
to share the table of your Son.
Help us to see his veiled presence
in our midst
and to hear his call
to commit ourselves to one another.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer
After Communion
Lord
our God,
as we leave this place
of silence and prayer,
we ask you to create within us
islands of peace and silence.
Do not allow us to lose and forget
you and ourselves
in the bustle and stir of our work,
but help us to return always to you,
the center of our being,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
There
are so many ways in which God keeps speaking to us in life. Be aware
of his presence; learn to see him, to hear him, to be close to him.
May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.