My Friday Daily Blessings, January 21, 2011

My Friday Daily Blessings

 

Be still, quiet your heart and mind, the Lord is here loving you, talking to you.................

 

Friday of the second week in Ordinary Time (Roman Rite Calendar)

 

First Reading: Heb 8:6-13

 

We have seen that Christ has been given a ministry of a far higher order, and to the same degree it is a better covenant of which he is the mediator, founded on better promises. If that first covenant had been without a fault, there would have been no need for a second one to replace it. And in fact God does find fault with them; he says:

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –

when I will establish a new covenant

with the House of Israel and the House of Judah,

but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors

on the day I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

They abandoned that covenant of mine,

and so I on my side deserted them. It is the Lord who speaks.

No, this is the covenant I will make

with the House of Israel

when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks.

I will put my laws into their minds

and write them on their hearts.

Then I will be their God

and they shall be my people.

There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour,

or brother to say to brother,

‘Learn to know the Lord.’

No, they will all know me,

the least no less than the greatest,

since I will forgive their iniquities

and never call their sins to mind.

 

By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is already old. Now anything old only gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears.

 

*Responsorial Psalm: Ps 85:8 and 10, 11-12, 13-14

  

"KIndness and truth shall meet."

  

Gospel: Mk 3:13-19

 

Jesus went up into the hills and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to preach, with power to cast out devils. And so he appointed the Twelve: Simon to whom he gave the name Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges or ‘Sons of Thunder’; then Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.

 

**Meditation: 

What is God's call on your life? When Jesus embarked on his mission he chose twelve men for the task of preaching the kingdom of God and healing the sick in the power of that kingdom. In the choice of the twelve, we see a characteristic feature of God's work: Jesus chose very ordinary people. They were non-professionals, who had no wealth or position. They were chosen from the common people who did ordinary things, had no special education, and no social advantages. Jesus wanted ordinary people who could take an assignment and do it extraordinarily well. He chose these men, not for what they were, but for what they would be capable of becoming under his direction and power. When the Lord calls us to serve, we must not shrug back because we think that we have little or nothing to offer. The Lord takes what ordinary people, like us, can offer and uses it for greatness in his kingdom. Do you make your life an offering to the Lord and allow him to use you as he sees fit? 

 

**Prayer:  

 

"Lord Jesus, fill me with gratitude and generosity for all you have done for me. Take my life and all that I have as an offering of love for you, who are my All."
AMEN.

 

Sources: 

 

The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world.

 

*Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970  Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

 

**Don Schwager

 Author and Writer for  The Word Among Us

Member, Servants of the Word (c) 2006

Word Life Community