Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorials: St. Fabian, Pope and martyr. According to the historian Eusebius, he was elected Pope by divine inspiration when he was but a simple layman. It is said that a dove descended over his head during the conclave assembled to elect the successor of Pope Anterus. He died as a victim of the persecution of Decius, in 250; St. Sebastian, martyr († fourth century). As a Praetorian guard in the Imperial palace and friend of Emperor Maximian, he made use of his position to aid Christians and to evangelize among the other soldiers, aiding in their conversion. Accused before the emperor, he was condemned to being bound to a tree trunk and shot with arrows.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Sam16:1-13
The LORD said to Samuel: “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.” But Samuel replied: “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.” To this the LORD answered: “Take a heifer along and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do; you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you.” Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired, “Is your visit peaceful, O seer?” He replied: “Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet.” He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves and invited them to the sacrifice. As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is here before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, “The LORD has not chosen him.” Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any one of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.” Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, “There–anoint him, for this is he!” Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 89:20, 21-22, 27-28 (R.21a)
R. I have found David, my servant.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.” R.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.” R.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
And I will make him the first-born,
highest of the kings of the earth.” R.
Gospel – Mk 2:23-282
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 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?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
Featured Saints
St. Wulfstan , Bishop (†1095). Benedictine religious appointed as Bishop of Worcester by recommendation of King St. Edward III. He opposed the trafficking of slaves and supported the Gregorian reforms.
St. Henry of Uppsala, bishop and martyr (†c. 1157). Of English origin, he was appointed Bishop of Uppsala, Sweden. He was cruelly assassinated in Finland by a man whom he had reproached.
St. Asclas, martyr (†fourth century). He was subjected to cruel tortures and finally thrown into the Nile River in Antinoopolis,Egypt.
St. Stephen Min Kuk-ka, martyr (†1840). Catechist beheaded in prison in Seoul, Korea, for defending the Catholic Faith.
St. Eustochia Calafato, abbess (†1485). Daughter of a wealthy merchant from Messina (Italy), she entered the Clarist Order and founded the Monastery of Montevergine, where she worked at restoring the primitive discipline of regular life.
St. Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception, virgin (†1906). She dedicated her life to the Christian formation of children in Casoria, Italy, and founded the Congregation of Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, dedicated to Perpetual Adoration and to teaching children.
Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, priest (†1964). Cistercian religious born in the region of Onitsha, Nigeria. Once baptized as a schoolboy, he dedicated himself to catechizing others. He became a priest and then a Trappist monk, and was later sent to Mount St. Bernard in England where he lived for the last 14 years of his life.
Image gallery
Image gallery
