Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 3rd February, 2026Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Jesus calls us to life beyond death, eternal life
Saint of the day : Feb 3rd: St Blaise, bishop, martyr
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 18: 9-10, 14, 24-25, 30–19:3
My son Absolom! Would I had died in your place.
Then the Cushite arrived. ‘Good news for my lord the king!‘ cried the Cushite. ‘The Lord has vindicated your cause today by ridding you of all who rebelled against you.’
‘Is all well with young Absalom?‘ the king asked the Cushite.
‘May the enemies of my lord the king’ the Cushite answered ‘and all who rebelled against you to your hurt, share the lot of that young man.‘
The king shuddered. He went up to the room over the gate and burst into tears, and weeping said,
‘My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! Would I had died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!’
Word was brought to Joab, ‘The king is now weeping and mourning for Absalom’.
And the day’s victory was turned to mourning for all the troops, because they learned that the king was grieving for his son. And the troops returned stealthily that day to the town, as troops creep back ashamed when routed in battle.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 85: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Response Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer.
1 Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful: save the servant who trusts in you. Response
2 You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.
Give joy to your servant, O Lord, for to you I lift up my soul. Response
3 O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my voice. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 14: 16
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia
or Mt 8: 17
Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our sicknesses away, and carried our diseases for us.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark 5: 21-43 Glory to you, O Lord
Little girl, I tell you to get up.
Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.
Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak. ‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.
Immediately aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said,
‘Who touched my clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”‘
But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth.
‘My daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’
‘Do not be afraid; only have faith’. And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them,
‘Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’ But they laughed at him.
So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum! which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up’. The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 5:21-43
The grief of David in the first reading is very moving. Even though his son Absalom had led a rebellion against his father, he was still David’s son and on hearing the news of Absalom’s death David grieved bitter tears, as any father would for a son, even a rebellious son.
In the gospel reading, we hear of the death of a daughter, not a rebellious daughter but a young girl of twelve years of age. Her death causes people to grieve, to weep and wail unreservedly, in the words of the gospel reading. The death of children is especially heart-breaking, especially for the child’s parents. In the gospel reading, Jesus takes the child by the hand and restores her to life and instructs that she be given something to eat. The evangelist is showing us that the power of Jesus is stronger than the power of death. This became very evident to the early church in the light of the resurrection of Jesus.
As believers in a risen Lord, we continue to grieve when a loved one dies. Yet, there is hope in our grief because we are convinced that the Lord is stronger than death. If we open ourselves in faith to the Lord, like Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood in the gospel reading, we will experience his life-giving power just as they did. Jesus remains the life-giver for all who turn to him in faith, both in the course of this earthly life and, especially, at the hour of our death.
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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 : Feb 3rd: St Blaise, bishop, martyr
Blaise was a fourth century bishop at Sebaste (now the city of Sivas in central Turkey, in what was then the Roman province of Armenia-Cappadocia). During a persecution – probably ordered by Constantine’s ally and co-emperor Licinius – he was martyred in 316 AD. This much at least seems to be historical fact, according to the New Roman Martyrology 2004.
Patrick Duffy asks who Blaise was and why he became famous for blessing sore throats. He then outlines some of the practices associated with his cult and evaluates them in the light of the Vatican’s Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy .
In many places on the 3rd February – Blaise’s feast day – people gather in churches for the blessing of throats. The blessing is a sign of the people’s faith in God’s protection and love for the sick.
Using two crossed and unlighted candles, the priest (or other minister) touches the throat of each person, saying:
‘Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from all ailments of the throat and from every other evil: + in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’
Usually the blessing takes place during Mass. It follows the homily and the prayer of the faithful. If done outside of Mass, a brief celebration of the word of God with the scripture readings suggested in the Lectionary is recommended before the blessing is given.
Stories about him in the martyrology accounts
In the Middle Ages Blaise became one of the most widely venerated saints in the Western Church even though he was from the East. Different accounts of his life and stories about him appear in the 9th century martyrologies and these give us a clue to the source of his popularity.
How has he become so famous for the blessing of throats? The most significant detail tells that when Blaise had been captured and was on his way to prison, a boy was brought to him in danger of choking from a fishbone stuck in his throat. Blaise prayed over him and he was cured. (Perhaps to fill out his healing credentials, it is also reported that before he was chosen as bishop, Blaise had practised as a physician!)
Another detail recounts that when the persecution began, Blaise withdrew from the city of Sebaste and lived in a cave in the wilderness where he befriended the birds and wild animals. He cared for them and they watched out for him. So we needn’t be surprised that he becomes a forerunner of St Francis as patron of all kinds of animals.
It is also reported that when he was arrested on orders of the local governor Agricolaus and again on his way to prison, a woman whose pig had been carried off by a wolf begged him to help her. Shortly afterwards the wolf appeared at the woman’s door depositing the pig at her feet.
And finally about the manner of his death – it is told that he was first beaten, then put on the stone table used for combing out wool and flayed with the prickly metal combs that remove tiny stones from the wool. Finally he was put to death and beheaded.
The wonder about St Blaise is how veneration of a martyred bishop in eastern Turkey spread so widely in the western world. His fame as a healer of sore throats is documented in the East from the 6th century and in the West by the 9th. But he also becomes a protector of cities, a protector against wild animals, a patron of veterinarians, wool-combers and of the woollen industry in general, as well a general benefactor or even a mascot of many rural and urban activities.
Dubrovnik
The maritime kingdom of Ragusa (present day Dubrovnik)was under threat of attack from the Venetians in the year 971. Blaise, we’re told, appeared in a vision to alert the inhabitants to the danger of the impending attack. Ever since Dubrovnik has honoured him as its city patron (Croatian Sveti Vlaho) and a statue of him holding a model of the city in his hand stands over the city’s entrance gate. And although the city’s cathedral is dedicated not to Sveti Vlaho but to Mary’s Assumption, the cathedral reliquary today has an almost unbelievable array of Blaise’s relics – his head, his right hand, his left hand, his throat and his right foot – all cased in gold and set on display. His own titular church stands a few yards across the square with his statue with a gold mitre atop the pediment.
England
Blaise’s popularity in England is linked with his patronage of the guild of wool-combers and it seems likely also that this factor is the reason for the naming of the village and parish of St Blazey in Cornwall. There is even a tradition that Blaise landed in person at nearby Par Bay and taught the English the crafts of the woollen industry.
Every seventh year in Leeds and Bradford, the centres of the woollen industry in Yorkshire, and every year in Norwich, on 3rd February, “all those engaged in woollen manufacture celebrated the feast with great pomp and festivity” (Rev J Bartlett, Lecture on the history of the town of St Blazey, 1856).
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The highlight of the celebration at Leeds was the recitation of the following lines in honour of the patron saint of wool-combers:
Hail to the day, whose kind suspictous (sic!) rays,
Deigned first to smile on famous Bishop Blaize,
To the great author of our combing trade,
This day’s devoted, and true honour paid;
To him whose fame through Britain’s Isle resounds,
To him whose goodness to the poor abounds,
Long shall his name in British annals shine
And grateful ages offer at his shrine.
By this, our trade are thousands daily fed,
By it supplied with means to earn their bread.
In various forms our trade its work imparts,
In different methods, and by different arts,
Preserve from starving, – indigents distrest,
As combers, spinners, weavers, and the rest.
Bonfires were also lit as part of the celebration – probably inspired by the sound of the English word blaze.
Evaluation
Some writers, like Seán Ó Duinn OSB in The rites of Brigid: goddess and saint (Veritas Dublin) 2005:29-30, point out that, like St Brigid, St Agnes and St Valentine at springtime and St Nicholas at Christmas, Blaise is one of those saints who tend to accumulate around their name legends and lore from traditional deities and folk customs. We have already seen how the sound of the saint’s name in English (Blaise) led to bonfires on his feast and in German to his becoming patron saint of bands with wind instruments (German blasen =to blow). Similar examples from France and Italy are the French word for wheat (blé) and the Italian word for crops (biade) leading to some of the “mother-goddess” themes that characterise Blaise’s feast in those countries. So also, as this is the time of the Celtic spring festival Imbolc (= in the belly) or, as it is also called, Oimelc (= feast of lactating ewes), it need not surprise us that legends about fertility and animals or sheep, wool and wool-combing grew up around Blaise.
General Church principles about popular Piety
In 2001 the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy giving principles and guidelines for evaluating the popular piety that surrounds saints like Blaise. By popular piety it designates those devotional practices that are inspired not by the liturgy but by forms derived from a particular people, nation or culture.
In the section on saints, the Directory points out that the Church honours saints because “in their lives they have achieved the paschal mystery as Christ did in his” (209) and goes on to cite the words the priest says at Mass in the Preface for Holy Men and Women:
In their lives on earth you give us an example;
In our communion with them you give us their friendship;
In their prayer for the church you give us strength and protection.
It accepts (par 11) that saints can be
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patrons of local churches of which they were the founders or illustrious pastors (St Ambrose of Milan); or
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of which they were apostles of their conversion to the Christian faith (Ss Thomas and Bartholomew in India);
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patrons of nations or expressions of national identity (St Patrick in Ireland and St George in England);
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patrons of corporations and professions (St Blaise and the veterinarians or the wool-combers) and
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in particular circumstances such as childbirth (St Anne) and death (St Joseph) or
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to obtain specific graces (St Lucy for the recovery of eyesight).
It allows that legends of their thaumaturgic powers can accrue to saints, but primary place, it says, must be given to their effective Christian witness and the manner in which their charism has enriched the Church (231).
Applying this to the different manifestations of the cult of St Blaise, we can say the Church’s attitude is one of cautious affirmation of the themes of popular piety.
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Memorable Wise Words for today
God resists the proud whether they are covered with silk or with rags.
But he gives grace to the humble, whether or not they have possessions in this world.
God looks at what is within, It is there he assesses, there he examines
~St Augustine ~
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