This week’s Gospel Message for Sunday, February 3rd is from Luke 4:21-30.
“And [Jesus] said, ‘Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.’”
“The people of Nazareth were expecting a different kind of Messiah, someone who would overthrow the Roman authorities. But Jesus wants to make sure they understand that he was not sent just for his own people. The world is a lot larger than that. So he reminded them that Elijah brought God’s mercy to a poor pagan widow and Elisha called forth God’s healing power upon a foreigner. God’s love cannot be confined to one town or one people. Neither could God’s Son.”
Source: Pastoral Patterns, Winter 2018-2019
DAILY READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday Heb 11:32-40; Mark 5:1-20
Tuesday Heb 12:1-4; Mark 5:21-43
Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Memorial) – Agatha died in Sicily during the Decian persecution (249-251). It is alleged that she was sent to a brothel to force her to give up her faith. When this failed, she was tortured and died in prison. Her intervention was credited with stilling the eruption of Mount Etna the year after her burial, and people began to ask her for protection against fire.
Wednesday Heb 12:4-7, 11-15; Mark 6:1-6
Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Memorial) – On Feb. 5, 1597, Japanese Jesuit Brother Paul Miki and twenty-five companions (clergy, religious, and laypersons) were martyred in Nagasaki, Japan. From that time until 1865, Japan remained closed to the rest of the world. The faith survived without priests and with only the sacrament of baptism.
Thursday Heb 12:18-19, 21-24; Mark 6:7-13
Friday Heb 13:1-8; Mark 6:14-29
Saturday Heb 13:15-17, 20-21; Mark 6:30-34
Source: Living With Christ, February 2019