PRAYER OF THE DAY

Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament in Honor of the Holy Family

Grant us,

O Lord Jesus,

faithfully to imitate the examples of Thy Holy Family,

so that in the hour of our death,

in the company of Thy glorious Virgin Mother and St. Joseph,

we may deserve to be received by Thee into eternal tabernacles.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading

Heb 13:1-8

Let brotherly love continue.

Do not neglect hospitality,

for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.

Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,

and of the ill-treated as of yourselves,

for you also are in the body.

Let marriage be honored among all

and the marriage bed be kept undefiled,

for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.

Let your life be free from love of money

but be content with what you have,

for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.

Thus we may say with confidence:

The Lord is my helper,

and I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?

Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.

Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 27:1, 3, 5, 8b-9abc

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life’s refuge;

of whom should I be afraid?

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Though an army encamp against me,

my heart will not fear;

Though war be waged upon me,

even then will I trust.

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

For he will hide me in his abode

in the day of trouble;

He will conceal me in the shelter of his tent,

he will set me high upon a rock.

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Your presence, O LORD, I seek.

Hide not your face from me;

do not in anger repel your servant.

You are my helper: cast me not off.

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Gospel

Mk 6:14-29

King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread,

and people were saying,

“John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;

That is why mighty powers are at work in him.”

Others were saying, “He is Elijah”;

still others, “He is a prophet like any of the prophets.”

But when Herod learned of it, he said,

“It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.”

Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison

on account of Herodias,

the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.

John had said to Herod,

“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Herodias harbored a grudge against him

and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.

Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,

and kept him in custody.

When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,

yet he liked to listen to him.

Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,

gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers,

and the leading men of Galilee.

His own daughter came in and performed a dance

that delighted Herod and his guests.

The king said to the girl,

“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”

He even swore many things to her,

“I will grant you whatever you ask of me,

even to half of my kingdom.”

She went out and said to her mother,

“What shall I ask for?”

Her mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”

The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request,

“I want you to give me at once on a platter

the head of John the Baptist.”

The king was deeply distressed,

but because of his oaths and the guests

he did not wish to break his word to her.

So he promptly dispatched an executioner

with orders to bring back his head.

He went off and beheaded him in the prison.

He brought in the head on a platter

and gave it to the girl.

The girl in turn gave it to her mother.

When his disciples heard about it,

they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

SAINT OF THE DAY

February 8

St. Jerome Emiliani (1481?-1537)

A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In prison Jerome had a lot of time to think, and he gradually learned how to pray. When he escaped, 

he returned to Venice where he took charge of the education of his nephews—and began his own studies for the priesthood.

In the years after his ordination, events again called Jerome to a decision and a new lifestyle. Plague and famine swept northern Italy. Jerome began caring for the sick and feeding the hungry at his own expense. While serving the sick and the poor, he soon resolved to devote himself and his property solely to others, particularly to abandoned children. He founded three orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes and a hospital.

Around 1532 Jerome and two other priests established a congregation, the Clerks Regular of Somasca, dedicated to the care of orphans and the education of youth. Jerome died in 1537 from a disease he caught while tending the sick. He was canonized in 1767. 

In 1928 Pius Xl named him the patron of orphans and abandoned children.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 99 (100)

The Lord is our delight: come, bless his name.

– The Lord is our delight: come, bless his name.

Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,

and serve him with joy.

Exult as you enter his presence.

– The Lord is our delight: come, bless his name.

Know that the Lord is God.

He made us and we are his

– his people, the sheep of his flock.

– The Lord is our delight: come, bless his name.

Cry out his praises as you enter his gates,

fill his courtyards with songs.

Proclaim him and bless his name;

for the Lord is our delight.

His mercy lasts for ever,

his faithfulness through all the ages.

– The Lord is our delight: come, bless his name.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

– The Lord is our delight: come, bless his name.

Hymn

God has spoken by his prophets,

Spoken his unchanging word,

Each from age to age proclaiming

God the One, the righteous Lord.

Mid the world’s despair and turmoil,

one firm anchor holdeth fast:

God is King, his throne eternal,

God the first and God the last.

God has spoken by Christ Jesus,

Christ, the everlasting Son,

Brightness of the Father’s glory,

With the Father ever one;

Spoken by the Word incarnate,

God of God, ere time began,

Light of Light, to earth descending,

Man, revealing God to man.

Psalm 54 (55)

Against a faithless friend

Do not reject my plea, O God,

for wicked men assail me.

Open your ears, O God, to my prayer,

and do not hide when I call on you:

turn to me and answer me.

My thoughts are distracted and I am disturbed

by the voice of my enemy and the oppression of the wicked.

They let loose their wickedness on me,

they persecute me in their anger.

My heart is tied in a knot

and the terrors of death lie upon me;

fear and trembling cover me;

terror holds me tight.

I said, “Will no-one give me wings like a dove?

I shall fly away and rest.

I shall flee far away

and remain all alone.

I shall wait for him who will save me

from the stormy wind and the tempest.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Do not reject my plea, O God,

for wicked men assail me.

Psalm 54 (55)

The Lord will free us from the hand of the enemies

and from those who wish us harm.

Scatter them, Lord, and separate their tongues,

for I see violence and conflict in the city.

By day and by night they circle it

high on its battlements.

Within it are oppression and trouble;

scheming and fraud fill its squares.

For if my enemy had slandered me,

I think I could have borne it.

And if the one who hated me had trampled me,

perhaps I could have hidden.

But you – a man just like me,

my companion and my friend!

We had happy times together,

we walked together in the house of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

The Lord will free us from the hand of the enemies

and from those who wish us harm.

Psalm 54 (55)

Entrust your cares to the Lord and he will support you.

Let death break in upon them!

Let them go down alive to the underworld,

for wickedness shares their home.

As for me, I will call upon God,

and the Lord will rescue me.

Evening, morning, noon – I shall watch and groan,

and he will hear my voice.

He will redeem my soul

and give it peace from those who attack me –

for very many are my enemies.

God will hear and will bring them low,

God, the eternal.

They will never reform:

they do not fear God.

That man – he stretched out his hand against his allies:

he corrupted his own covenant.

His face was smoother than butter,

but his heart was at war;

his words were softer than oil,

but they were sharp as drawn swords.

Throw all your cares on the Lord

and he will give you sustenance.

He will not let the just be buffeted for ever.

No – but you, Lord, will lead the wicked

to the gaping mouth of destruction.

The men of blood and guile

will not live half their days.

But I, Lord, will put my trust in you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Entrust your cares to the Lord and he will support you.

My son, attend to my wisdom,

– and turn your ears to my words of prudence.

Reading

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

To turn now, brothers,

to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be gathered round him:

please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour or any letter claiming to come from us,

implying that the Day of the Lord has already arrived.

Never let anyone deceive you in this way.

It cannot happen until the Great Revolt has taken place and the Rebel,

the Lost One, has appeared.

This is the Enemy,

the one who claims to be so much greater than all that men call ‘god’,

so much greater than anything that is worshipped,

that he enthrones himself in God’s sanctuary and claims that he is God.

Surely you remember me telling you about this when I was with you?

And you know, too, what is still holding him back from appearing before his appointed time.

Rebellion is at its work already, but in secret,

and the one who is holding it back has first to be removed before the Rebel appears openly.

The Lord will kill him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with his glorious appearance at his coming.

But when the Rebel comes,

Satan will set to work:

there will be all kinds of miracles and a deceptive show of signs and portents,

and everything evil that can deceive those who are bound for destruction 

because they would not grasp the love of the truth which could have saved them.

The reason why God is sending a power to delude them and make them believe what is untrue

is to condemn all who refused to believe in the truth and chose wickedness instead.

But we feel that we must be continually thanking God for you,

brothers whom the Lord loves,

because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctifying Spirit and by faith in the truth.

Through the Good News that we brought he called you to this so that you should share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Stand firm, then, brothers,

and keep the traditions that we taught you,

whether by word of mouth or by letter.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself,

and God our Father who has given us his love and,

through his grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope,

comfort you and strengthen you in everything good that you do or say.

Responsory

The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,

and all the peoples of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Then the Rebel will appear openly and the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth,

and all the peoples of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Reading

From a homily by a spiritual writer of the fourth century

May you be filled to the complete fullness of Christ

Those who have been found worthy to become children of God and also to be born again through the Holy Spirit,

those who carry Christ within them, shining within them and renewing them –

these people are guided by the Spirit in various ways and led forward by grace working invisibly in the inner peace of their hearts.

Sometimes they are, as it were,

in mourning and lamentation for the whole human race.

They utter prayers for all mankind and fall back in tears and lamentation.

They are on fire with spiritual love for all humanity.

Sometimes they burn, through the Spirit,

with such love and exultation that they would embrace all mankind if they could,

without discrimination, good and bad alike.

Sometimes they are cast down by humility,

down below the least of men,

as they consider themselves to be in the lowest,

the most abject of conditions.

Sometimes the Spirit keeps them in a state of inextinguishable and unspeakable gladness.

Sometimes they are like some champion who puts on a full suit of royal armour and plunges into battle,

combats his enemies fiercely and at length vanquishes them.

For in the same way the spiritual champion,

wearing the heavenly armour of the Spirit,

attacks his enemies and, winning the battle, treads them underfoot.

Sometimes their soul is in the deepest silence,

stillness and peace,

experiencing nothing but spiritual delight and ineffable power:

the best of all possible states.

Sometimes their soul is in a state of understanding and boundless wisdom and attention to the inscrutable Spirit,

taught by grace things that neither tongue nor lips can describe.

And sometimes their soul is in a state just like anyone else’s.

Thus grace is poured into them in different ways,

and by different paths it leads the soul,

renewing it according to God’s will.

It guides it by various paths until it is made whole,

sinless and stainless before the heavenly Father.

Therefore let us pray to God, pray with great love and hope,

that he may give us the heavenly grace of the Spirit.

Let us pray that the Spirit may guide us and lead us,

following God’s will in every way, and may re-make us in stillness and in quiet.

Thanks to his guidance and spiritual strengthening,

may we be found worthy to attain the perfection and fullness of Christ.

As St Paul says: that you may be filled to the complete fullness of Christ.

Responsory

You have been anointed by the Holy One,

and you have not lost the anointing that he gave you,

and you do not need anyone to teach you:

the anointing he gave teaches you everything.

Be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given you a teacher of justice;

and you do not need anyone to teach you:

the anointing he gave teaches you everything.

Let us pray.

Lord our God,

make us love you above all things,

and all our fellow-men

with a love that is worthy of you.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.