Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Commentary, by Msgr. João Scognamligio Clá Dias, EP
Mass Readings
Featured Saints
St. Methodius of Olympus, (†c. 311). bishop, theologian and martyr of the end of the Diocletian persecution.
St. Gobain, priest (†c. 670). Born in Ireland, he became a disciple of St. Fursey in England and from there went to France to lead a hermetic life.
St. John of Matera, abbot (†1139). Outstanding for his austerity of
life and preaching, he founded the Congregation of Pulsano, of Benedictine obedience, in the region of Gargano, Italy.
Blessed Dermot O’Hurley, bishop and martyr (†1584). Imprisoned and tortured for months during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, he was finally hanged for refusing to renounce the Church of Rome.
Blessed Francis Pacheco, priest, and companions, martyrs (†1626). Portuguese Jesuit missionary burned alive with eight companions, in Nagasaki, Japan.
Blessed Margaret Ball, martyr (†1584). During the persecution of Elizabeth I of England, she sheltered priests and religious in her home. Denounced by her own son, she was imprisoned in Dublin and died, a victim of the cruellest tortures.
Blessed Margaret Ebner, virgin (†1351). Dominican nun from Mödingen, Germany. She practiced
outstanding mortification and was a model of resignation in face of illness. She left written works on her
mystical experiences.
St. Alban, protomartyr of Britain, probably in the middle of the third century. He was a pagan soldier who gave shelter to a Catholic priest and was converted by him. To save the priest’s life, he put on the cleric’s clothes and was arrested and executed in his place.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Jb 38:1, 8-11
The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands? When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door, and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!
Responsorial Psalm – 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 (R.1b)
R. Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They who sailed the sea in ships,
trading on the deep waters,
These saw the works of the LORD
and his wonders in the abyss. R.
His command raised up a storm wind
which tossed its waves on high.
They mounted up to heaven; they sank to the depths;
their hearts melted away in their plight. R.
They cried to the LORD in their distress;
from their straits He rescued them,
He hushed the storm to a gentle breeze,
and the billows of the sea were stilled. R.
They rejoiced that they were calmed,
and He brought them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his kindness
and his wondrous deeds to the children of men. R.
Second Reading – 2 Cor 5:14-17
Brothers and sisters: The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Gospel – Mk 4:35-41
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as He was.
And other boats were with Him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke Him and said to Him,
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then He asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
