Thursday, February 5 2015; Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Lectionary: 326

Reading 1
Heb 12:18-19, 21-24

Brothers and sisters:
You have not approached that which could be touched
and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness
and storm and a trumpet blast
and a voice speaking words such that those who heard
begged that no message be further addressed to them.
Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said,
“I am terrified and trembling.”
No, you have approached Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled Blood that speaks more eloquently
than that of Abel.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 48:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 9, 10-11

R. (see 10) O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth. 
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
As we had heard, so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of hosts,
In the city of our God;
God makes it firm forever.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
O God, we ponder your mercy
within your temple.
As your name, O God, so also your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Of justice your right hand is full.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.

Alleluia
Mk 1:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mk 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
THEME: TALKING BLOOD

"You have drawn near...to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks more eloquently than that of Abel." –Hebrews 12:22, 24

Pope John Paul II has taught: "This blood, which flows from the pierced side of Christ on the Cross (cf Jn 19:34), 'speaks more graciously' than the blood of Abel; indeed, it expresses and requires a more radical 'justice,' and above all it implores mercy, it makes intercession for the brethren before the Father (cf Heb 7:25), and it is the source of perfect redemption and the gift of new life" (The Gospel of Life, 25).

This is a golden age of martyrdom. Pope St. John Paul II wrote: "At the end of the second millennium, the Church has once again become a Church of martyrs. The persecutions of believers...[have] caused a great sowing of martyrdom in different parts of the world. The witness to Christ [is] borne even to the shedding of blood" (Towards the Third Millennium, 37). Like Abel's blood, the blood of the martyrs cries out for justice. "They cried out...: 'How long will it be, O Master, holy and true, before You judge our cause and avenge our blood?' " (Rv 6:10) Like Jesus' blood, the blood of the martyrs cries out for us: "Lord, have mercy!"

Because of the hundreds of millions of surgical and chemical abortions committed each year in the world, we live in oceans of innocent, shed blood (cf 2 Kgs 21:16). The blood of these babies cries out with Jesus' blood for mercy on the people of the culture of death (The Gospel of Life, 25). The blood of Abel, Jesus, martyrs, and babies is crying. By repentance, wash your robes "in the blood of the Lamb," Jesus (Rv 7:14). Receive the mercy of Jesus.

PRAYER: Jesus, when I receive Your precious Body and Blood in Holy Communion (see Jn 6:53ff), may I receive and give mercy.

PROMISE: "They expelled many demons, anointed the sick with oil, and worked many cures." –Mk 6:13

PRAISE: St. Peter denied Christ three times. St. Agatha, as she was being tortured, was asked three times to deny Christ. She held fast to Jesus each time and received the crown of life (see Rv 2:10).