Lectionary: 311
Reading 1
Heb 5:1-10
Brothers and sisters:
Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring,
for he himself is beset by weakness
and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself
as well as for the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.
In the same way,
it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him:
You are my Son:
this day I have begotten you;
just as he says in another place,
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
In the days when he was in the Flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4
R. (4b) You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
Alleluia
Heb 4:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mk 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them,
“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
THEME: ON THE FAST TRACK
"You are a priest forever." – Psalm 110:4
Fr. Al Lauer, founder and long-time author of One Bread, One Body, often told this story about God's perspective on fasting: "A man once told God in prayer that he hated the way his priest ran the parish. God responded by telling him to fast for his priest on one meal a day for three months. At the end of the first month, the man reminded God that he had kept his fast, but God hadn't changed the priest at all. After two months, the man grumbled to God that his priest wasn't changing at all, and he was about to quit fasting since he didn't see much good from all his sufferings. Finally, three months passed. As the man was attending Mass in his parish, God reminded him that the three months were up. The man had forgotten the deadline since he had given up his fast weeks ago. God asked him how he thought his priest was doing. The man responded: "Oh, him? Father's doing just fine!"
Would you like to get a lot of priestly vocations fast? Then fast a lot for priestly vocations. Would you like someone you love to be converted? Then fast for that purpose. When the Lord sees we are regularly fasting for an intention, He'll know that our prayers are serious and that we want it enough to sacrifice for it.
Fasting gives evidence of our personal commitment. God wants to know that we are truly fasting for His sake, for what He wants. "Was it really for Me that you are fasting? Or was it not rather for yourself?" (see Zec 7:5-6) Fasting breaks bonds, sets God's will in motion (Is 58:9-14), and puts everything in "fast forward." When God's people truly hunger for His will to be done, for His Church, for holy vocations, for conversions, for an end to abortion, then they will fast (Mk 2:20).
PRAYER: Father, may I hunger for Your will more than for food.
PROMISE: Jesus "became the Source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him." –Heb 5:9
PRAISE: Before Jeanne died at the age of sixteen, she led her best friend and that friend's family to Jesus.
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