THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions

Martyrs

Antiphon

Ps 95 (94): 6-7

 

O come, let us worship God

and bow low before the God who made us,

for he is the Lord our God.

Collect

O God, strength of all the Saints,

who through the Cross were pleased to call

the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life,

grant, we pray, that by their intercession

we may hold with courage even until death

to the faith that we profess.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Gn 1:1-19

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,

the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,

while a mighty wind swept over the waters.

Then God said,

"Let there be light," and there was light.

God saw how good the light was.

God then separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."

Thus evening came, and morning followed–the first day.

Then God said,

"Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters,

to separate one body of water from the other."

And so it happened:

God made the dome,

and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.

God called the dome "the sky."

Evening came, and morning followed–the second day.

Then God said,

"Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin,

so that the dry land may appear."

And so it happened:

the water under the sky was gathered into its basin,

and the dry land appeared.

God called the dry land "the earth,"

and the basin of the water he called "the sea."

God saw how good it was.

Then God said,

"Let the earth bring forth vegetation:

every kind of plant that bears seed

and every kind of fruit tree on earth

that bears fruit with its seed in it."

And so it happened:

the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed

and every kind of fruit tree on earth that

bears fruit with its seed in it.

God saw how good it was.

Evening came, and morning followed–the third day.

Then God said:

"Let there be lights in the dome of the sky,

to separate day from night.

Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,

and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky,

to shed light upon the earth."

And so it happened:

God made the two great lights,

the greater one to govern the day,

and the lesser one to govern the night;

and he made the stars.

God set them in the dome of the sky,

to shed light upon the earth,

to govern the day and the night,

and to separate the light from the darkness.

God saw how good it was.

Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 24 and 35c

R. May the Lord be glad in his works.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!

You are clothed with majesty and glory,

robed in light as with a cloak.

R. May the Lord be glad in his works.

You fixed the earth upon its foundation,

not to be moved forever;

With the ocean, as with a garment, you covered it;

above the mountains the waters stood.

R. May the Lord be glad in his works.

You send forth springs into the watercourses

that wind among the mountains.

Beside them the birds of heaven dwell;

from among the branches they send forth their song.

R. May the Lord be glad in his works.

How manifold are your works, O LORD!

In wisdom you have wrought them all—

the earth is full of your creatures;

Bless the LORD, O my soul! Alleluia.

R. May the Lord be glad in his works.

Alleluia

Mt 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom

and cured every disease among the people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mk 6:53-56

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,

Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret

and tied up there.

As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.

They scurried about the surrounding country

and began to bring in the sick on mats

to wherever they heard he was.

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,

they laid the sick in the marketplaces

and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;

and as many as touched it were healed.

SAINT OF THE DAY

February 6

Saint Paul Miki and Companions

(d. 1597)

Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers, and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits, and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans, and servants, old men and innocent children—

all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his Church.

Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross, Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: “The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, 

and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. 

Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862.

THE LITURGY OF HOURS

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God
(Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer.  The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer.  At times the dialogue is between the Church or individual soul and God; at times it is a dialogue among the members of the Church; and at times it is even between the Church and the world.  The Divine Office "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father." (SC 84)  The dialogue is always held, however, in the presence of God and using the words and wisdom of God.  Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.  The two most important or hinge Hours are Morning and Evening Prayer. These each include a Gospel canticle:  the Canticle of Zechariah from Luke 1:68-79 for Morning Prayer (known as the Benedictus), and the Canticle of Mary from Luke 1:46-55 for Evening Prayer (known as the Magnificat). The Gospel canticle acts as a kind of meditative extension of the scriptural proclamation in light of the Christ event.  Morning and Evening Prayer also include intercessions that flow from the scriptural proclamation just as the Psalms prepare for it.

In the Hours, the royal priesthood of the baptized is exercised, and this sacrifice of praise is thus connected to the sacrifice of the Eucharist, 

both preparing for and flowing from the Mass.

"The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer." (CCC 1177)

OFFICE OF READINGS

"The office of readings seeks to provide God's people, and in particular those consecrated to God in a special way, with a wider selection of passages from sacred Scripture for meditation, together with the finest excerpts from spiritual writers. Even though the cycle of scriptural readings at daily Mass is now richer, the treasures of revelation and tradition to be found in the office of readings will also contribute greatly to the spiritual life" (General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours [GILH], no. 55).

https://www.universalis.com/0/readings.htm

LAUDS - Morning Prayer

"As is clear from many of the elements that make it up, morning prayer is intended and arranged to sanctify the morning. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God, as it is written: 'I was mindful of God and was glad' (Ps 77:4 [Jerome's translation from Hebrew]), or set our bodies to any task before we do what has been said: 'I will pray to you, Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning; I will stand before you in the morning and gaze on you' 

(Ps 5:4-5)."

"Celebrated as it is as the light of a new day is dawning, this hour also recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light enlightening all people (see Jn 1:9) and "the sun of justice" (Mal 4:2), "rising from on high" (Lk 1:78). Hence, we can well understand the advice of St. Cyprian: "There should be prayer in the morning so that the resurrection of the Lord may thus be celebrated" (GILH, no. 38).

https://www.universalis.com/0/lauds.htm

TERCE - Mid-Morning Prayer

"Following a very ancient tradition Christians have made a practice of praying out of private devotion at various times of the day, even in the course of their work, in imitation of the Church in apostolic times. In different ways with the passage of time this tradition has taken the form of a liturgical celebration.

"Liturgical custom in both East and West has retained midmorning, midday, and midafternoon prayer, mainly because these hours were linked to a commemoration of the events of the Lord's passion and of the first preaching of the Gospel" 

(GILH, no. 74-75).

https://www.universalis.com/0/terce.htm

SEXT - Mid-Day Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/sext.htm

NONE - Afternoon Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/none.htm

VESPERS - Evening Prayer

"When evening approaches and the day is already far spent, evening prayer is celebrated in order that 'we may give thanks for what has been given us, or what we have done well, during the day.' We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (see Ps 141:2). This sacrifice 'may also be interpreted more spiritually as the true evening sacrifice that our Savior the Lord entrusted to the apostles at supper on the evening when he instituted the sacred mysteries of the Church or of the evening sacrifice of the next day, the sacrifice, that is, which, raising his hands, he offered to the Father at the end of the ages for the salvation of the whole world.' Again, in order to fix our hope on the light that knows no setting, 'we pray and make petition for the light to come down on us anew; we implore the coming of Christ who will bring the grace of eternal light.' Finally, at this hour we join with the Churches of the East in calling upon the 'joy-giving light of that holy glory, born of the immortal, heavenly Father, the holy and blessed Jesus Christ; now that we have come to the setting of the sun and have seen the evening star, we sing in praise of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…'" 

(GILH, no. 39).

https://www.universalis.com/0/vespers.htm

COMPLINE - Night Prayer

"Night prayer is the last prayer of the day, said before retiring, even if that is after midnight" (GILH, no. 84).The Psalms that are chosen for Night Prayer are full of confidence in the Lord.

https://www.universalis.com/0/compline.htm

ABOUT TODAY

https://www.universalis.com/0/today.htm