Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 28th January, 2026Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Saints of the day; Jan 28: St Thomas Aquinas O.P., doctor of the Church
C/f A short life of this saint can be found below todays’ Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the second book of Samuel 7: 4-17
Your House and your Sovereignty will always stand secure before me.
The word of the Lord came to Nathan ‘Go and tell my servant David,
“Thus the Lord speaks:
‘Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I say to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of Israel my people: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
This is what you must say to my servant David,
“The Lord Sabaoth says this:
I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel;
I have been with you on all your expeditions;
I have cut off all your enemies before you.
I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. |
I will provide a place for my people Israel;
I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel;
I will give them rest from all their enemies. the Lord will make you great; The Lord will make you a House.
And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.)
I will be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet my will is not to withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”‘
Nathan related all these words to David and this whole revelation.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 88: 4-5, 27-28, 29-30
Response I will keep my love tor him always.
1. I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever and set up your throne through all ages. Response
2. He will say to me: ‘You are my father, my God, the rock who saves me:
And I will make him my first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth. Response
3. I will keep my love for him always; for him my covenant shall endure.
I will establish his dynasty for ever, make his throne as lasting as the heavens. Response
Gospel Acclamation 1 Sam 3: 9
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
or
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds the seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark 4: 1-20 Glory to you, O Lord
Imagine a sower going out to sow.
Again Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them,
And he said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant.
He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven’.
He said to them,
‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them.
Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once.
Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing.
And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday Third Week in Ordinary Time Mark 4:1-20
Those who like to do some gardening are aware that not everything that is planted will survive the various assaults of weather and insects. However, what doesn’t grow or what grows and doesn’t last can be more than compensated for by what flourishes. It can be such a joy when something that is planted reaches its full potential, even if other plantings are much less successful.
In the parable, Jesus imagines a sower scattering seed in a very liberal fashion. Much of it does not come to fruition, because of hungry birds, thin soil, thorny weeds and much else. However, some seed survived all those threats and produced an extraordinary crop. Thirty, sixty, a hundredfold is way above the yield any farmer would expect. At this point the parable loses touch a little with reality. However, perhaps that is the point. Much of Jesus’ preaching has encountered unreceptive hearts. It made little or no impact. The interpretation of the parable, which may reflect the setting of the early church rather than the setting of Jesus’ ministry, suggests reasons why the preaching of the word fails to bear fruit in people’s lives. Yet, Jesus was saying to his disciples that whenever his word is received by hearts that are open and receptive the fruits can be wonderful. In spite of so much indifference and failure, even a small number of receptive hearts can usher in the kingdom of God in ways that defy all normal expectations. We can easily get discouraged by the indifference of many to the message of the gospel. The Lord is reminding us that even in times of great loss, he can nevertheless work powerfully through those whose hearts are receptive to his word. They can be the beachhead in our world for the coming of God’s kingdom.
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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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Saints of the day; Jan 28: St Thomas Aquinas O.P., priest and doctor of the Church
Thomas was born near Aquino (Italy) about 1225; Educated at Monte Cassino, Naples, Paris, and Cologne, he became a Dominican in 1244 and died on his way to the Council of Lyons in 1274. He is regarded as one of the greatest theologians in the history of the Church.
Patrick Duffy traces his story.
Early life
At five Thomas was sent there for his education with the hope perhaps that he might become the abbot there like his uncle. At sixteen he went to the University of Naples where he became interested in the Dominican friars. When his brothers heard he wished to become a Dominican, they held him captive at one of their castles and even brought a woman to tempt him, but he persisted and in the end his now widowed mother allowed him go back to the Dominicans.
Cologne and Paris (1244-59)
The Dominicans soon sent him to Cologne where Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great 1200-1280) was lecturing in philosophy and theology. Thomas accompanied him to Paris. Here he graduated and became a master in theology in 1252. He was ordained a priest at Cologne. This was the time when the works of Aristotle with commentaries by the Islamic scholars Avicenna and Averrhoes were debated at Paris. Where others feared Aristotle as a “pagan“, Aquinas valued his enquiring mind, the power of his reasoning and always referred to him very respectfully as “the philosopher”.
At this time too, persuaded by fellow Dominican Raymund of Peñafort to help to confute the teaching of the Moors and Jews in Spain, Thomas began writing the Summa contra Gentes. It is a treatise that moves from truths known from natural reason, such as creation, to truths of Christian revelation, centering on the person of Jesus.
Thomas in Italy (1259-69)
Thomas was recalled to Italy in 1259 and for ten years taught at and organised schools of the Dominican Order in Orvieto, Viterbo and Rome. After completing the Summa contra Gentes in 1264, he began his life’s most important work, the Summa Theologica, which is a comprehensive explanation of the Christian faith, the moral life and the sacraments. In 1264 at the request of Pope Urban IV, he composed the Office and Mass for the new feast of Corpus Christi. This included the famous eucharistic hymns Adoro te devote, Verbum supernum, Lauda Sion Salvatorem and Pange lingua gloriosi (eucharistic version).
Friendship with King (Saint) Louis (1269-72)
In 1269 Thomas returned to Paris for three years, lecturing at the university of Paris and frequently a guest at the table of King (St) Louis IX. Once while dining with the King, he became absorbed in thought. Suddenly he banged on the table with his fist, shouting: “That finishes the heresy of the Manichees!”. After this outburst he was rebuked by his prior and Thomas’s secretary was ushered in quickly to write down his argument!
Later years in Italy (1272-74)
Death and Influence
In January 1274 Pope Gregory X called him to attend the Second Council of Lyon where he hoped to re-unite the Eastern Church with the West. Thomas, though unwell, set out, but suffered a stroke en route and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossanuova.
P.S. Thomas’s written output is enormous.
See www.corpusthomisticum.org. The Council of Trent placed his Summa Theologica on the altar beside the Bible; a less dynamic Thomistic system dominated Catholic theology between Trent and Vatican II. His philosophy, especially his ‘Five ways’ towards the existence of God and his ethical teaching on the virtues, have been consistently influential in the Western philosophical tradition.
Despite ecclesiastical opposition at the time, the substance of his life’s work has endured as an authentic exposition of Christian teaching and carries unique official approval. He was recognised for his modesty, the prayerfulness of his personal life, and the abiding influence of his thought. He was declared patron of catholic schools, colleges and universities. But he is also invoked for protection against lightening, since, once when he was a young boy, his baby sister was killed by a bolt in a storm.
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Thomistic wise words for today
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.
To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
also
“The things we love tell us what we are”
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