Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 15th January, 2026Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2
Saint of the Day; Jan 15th ; St Ita, religious. ‘foster mother of Irish saints’
C/f A short life of this saint can be found below todays’ Readings and Reflection
FIRST READING
A reading from the first book of Samuel. 4: 1-11
Israel was defeated and the ark of God was captured.
It happened at that time that the Philistines mustered to fight Israel and Israel went out to meet them in battle, encamping near Ebenezer while the Philistines were encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up their battle line against Israel, the battle was hotly engaged, and Israel was defeated by the Philistines and about four thousand of their army were killed on the field. The troops returned to the camp and the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord allowed us to be defeated today by the Philistines?
Let us fetch the ark of our God from Shiloh so that it may come among us and rescue us from the power of our enemies.’
So the troops sent to Shiloh and brought away the ark of the Lord Sabaoth, he who is seated on the cherubs; the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, came with the ark. When the ark of of the Lord arrived in the camp, all Israel gave a great shout so that the earth resounded. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, ‘What can this great shouting in the Hebrew camp mean?‘
And they realised that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. At this the Philistines were afraid; and they said, ‘God has come to the camp’. ‘Alas!’ they cried ‘This has never happened before. Alas! Who will save us from the power of this mighty God? It was he who struck down Egypt with every kind of plague! But take courage and be men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you. Be men and fight.’
So the Philistines joined battle and Israel was defeated, each man fleeing to his tent. The slaughter was great indeed, and there fell of the Israelites thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured too, and the two sons of Eli died, Hophni and Phinehas.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 43: 10-11, 14-15, 24-25
Response Redeem us, 0 Lord, because of your love.
1. Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us: you no longer go forth with our armies.
You make us retreat from the foe and our enemies plunder us at will. Response
2. You make us the taunt of our neighbours, the mockery and scorn of all who are near.
Among the nations, you make us a byword, among the peoples a thing of derision. Response
3. Awake, 0 Lord, why do you sleep? Arise, do not reject us for ever!
Why do you hide your face and forget our oppression and misery. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 118: 88
Alleluia, alleluia!
Because of your love give me life, and I will do your will.
Alleluia!
or Mt 4: 23
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 1: 40-45 Glory to you, O Lord
The leprosy left him and he was cured.
‘If you want to‘ he said ‘you can cure me’.
Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’
And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him,
‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery’.
The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Thursday First Week in Ordinary Time Mark 1:40-45
Making choices is something that we do every day. We try to choose well, to make the best choice possible, the choice that the Lord would want us to make. We don’t always succeed in choosing well; sometimes, we make choices the Lord would not have wanted us to make. In the gospel reading, a leper comes up to Jesus and says, ‘If you want to – if you choose – you can cure me’. The leper could not presume that Jesus would choose to heal him, because lepers were not supposed to approach others; they were to keep out of the way, for fear they would contaminate others. However, in reply, Jesus said to him, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured’. Jesus chose to do what nobody else would have chosen to do; he reached out and touched the leper and, as a result, his leprosy was healed.
In the gospels, Jesus is consistently portrayed as choosing to make contact with those who are broken in body, mind or spirit, and who live on the margins because of their brokenness. The risen Lord continues make those same choices today; he chooses to connect with each of us in our own brokenness. He will always be a healing and life-giving presence in our lives. He asks us to be the same for each other, to make the kinds of choices that bring healing and new life to others.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Saint of the Day; Jan 15th ; St Ita, religious. ‘foster mother of Irish saints
Summary: Ita was born in County Waterford, Ireland of noble and Christian parents. Early on she set her mind on serving Christ in religious life. She founded a monastery in Killeedy, County Limerick, which attracted a variety of young people. She was given the title ‘foster-mother of the saints of Ireland’. She died in 570.
Patrick Duffy tells what is known about her.
Originally from the Déise
Ita (originally called Deirdre) belonged to the royal family of the Déise (present-day Co Waterford). Her father was not a Christian and made an arranged marriage for her with a young nobleman. But from an early age she wanted to consecrate herself to God and serve him in another location. In her youth, Ita dreamed that an angel gave her three precious stones. So struck is she by the significance this, she awakens to puzzle over the symbolism. Thankfully, inspiration is at hand in the form of another celestial visitor who explains in a vision, that throughout her earthly life, she will experience dreams and visitations. The stones in the dream signify the gifts of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to whom she dedicated her life.
A natural organizer
sick. Killeedy became known as Cluain Chredal, the holy meadow, and they made another foundation at nearby Kilmeedy (from Cill Mo Íde: Mo Íde – = “my Ita” – is a more intimate form of her name).
A school for boys
As well as educating those who joined her community as nuns, Ita also set up a school for boys. She taught them:
“faith in God with purity of heart; simplicity of life with religion; and
generosity with love”
Some of these later became famous, among them St Brendan – whether Brendan the Navigator or Brendan of Birr is not clear.
In a poem of Alcuin Ita is called “the foster mother of the saints of Ireland”.
Death and influence
Ita died around the year 570. Many church dedications and place-names recall her, even in her place of origin. Oengus calls her ‘the white sun of the women of Munster’.
Fo-ráith már n-gur n-galar,
carais már tromm tredan,
in grían bán ban Muman
Íte Chluana Credal.
Locally, her feast on 15th January is regarded as the last day of Christmas and is traditionally a day of family reunion. Girl children in the area round her foundations are still proud to bear her name.
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Memorable saying about following your dreams
You are never too old to set another goal
or to dream a new dream
~ C.S. Lewis ~
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