Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 6th February, 2026Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
Friday of Week Four in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Listening deeply to our conscience and speaking out.
Saints of the Day; Feb 6: Paul Miki priest, martyr and Companions
C/f A short life of these saints can be found below todays’ Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus 47:2-11
David put all his heart into his songs out of his love for his maker.
As the fast is set apart from the communion sacrifice, so David was chosen out of all the sons of Israel.
He played with lions as though with kids, and with bears as though with lambs of the flock.
While still a boy, did he not slay the giant,
which brought down the arrogance of Goliath?
For he called on the Lord Most High, who gave strength to his right arm to put a mighty warrior to death, and lift up the horn of his people.
Hence they gave him credit for ten thousand, and praised him while they blessed the Lord, by offering him a crown of glory; for he massacred enemies on every side, he annihilated his foes the Philistines, and crushed their horn to this very day. In all his activities he gave thanks to the Holy One, the Most High, in words of glory;
he put all his heart into his songs out of love for his Maker.
He placed harps before the altar to make the singing sweeter with their music;
he gave the feasts their splendour, the festivals their solemn pomp, causing the Lord’s holy name to be praised and the sanctuary to resound from dawn.
The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his horn for ever; he gave him a royal covenant, and a glorious throne in Israel.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 17: 31, 47, 50-51
Response Praised be the God who saves me.
1. The ways of God are perfect; the word of the Lord, purest gold.
He indeed is the shield of all who make him their refuge. Response
2. Long life to the Lord, my rock! Praised be the God who saves me.
I will praise you, Lord, among the nations: I will sing a psalm to your name. Response
3. He has given great victories to his king and shown his love for his anointed,
for David and his sons for ever. Response
Gospel Acclamation Lk 8: 15
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who; with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according Mark 6: 14-29 Glory to you, O Lord
It is John whose head I cut off; he has risen from the dead.
King Herod had heard about Jesus, since by now his name was well-known. Some were saying,
‘John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him’. Others said, ‘He is Elijah’; others again, ‘He is a prophet, like the prophets we used to have’.
But when Herod heard this he said, ‘It is John whose head I cut off; he has risen from the dead’.
Now it was this same Herod who had sent to have John arrested, and had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married. For John had told Herod,
‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife‘. As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to, because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.
An opportunity came on Herod’s birthday when he gave a banquet for the nobles of his court, for his army officers and for the leading figures in Galilee. When the daughter of this same Herodias came in and danced, she delighted Herod and his guests; so the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me anything you like and I will give it you’. And he swore her an oath, ‘I will give you anything you ask, even half my kingdom’.
She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the Baptist’ The girl hurried straight back to the king and made her request, ‘I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head, here and now, on a dish’. The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her. So the king at once sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John’s head. The man went off and beheaded him in prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
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Gospel Reflection Friday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 6:14-29
We often hear the expression nowadays, ‘speaking truth to power’. It could certainly be said of John the Baptist that he spoke truth to power. He told Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, that it was against the law of God for him to have married his brother’s wife, Herodias. In certain parts of the world today, speaking truth to power is a very dangerous business. Many people have ended up in prison or even been killed for doing so. John the Baptist’s speaking truth to power initially landed him in prison. Herodias considered prison too good for John and wanted him killed immediately. However, Herod had a certain respect for John, considering him a good and holy man.
The gospel reading suggests that there were good instincts in Herod which he initially listened to, against the wishes of his wife. However, he abandoned those good instincts at his birthday banquet when he made a rash promise to Herodias’ daughter to give her anything she wanted. When, at the prompting of her mother, she said she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter, Herod acted against his better instincts to save face and ordered John to be beheaded. John the Baptist ended up paying the ultimate price for speaking truth to power. In the end Herod listened to the voice of Herodias rather than the voice of his better self.
We can all find ourselves caught between conflicting voices. The voice of our better self, the voice of the Holy Spirit, that prompts us to take the Lord’s way can be opposed by a very different voice that prompts us to take a very contrary way. Jesus was aware that his followers would all find themselves facing this fundamental conflict, which is why he taught us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. He encourages us to turn to God for strength when we are tempted to take a path that is not in keeping with God’s will for our lives, that does not correspond to the voice of the Holy Spirit within us.
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The scripture readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Gospel reflection is available with our thanks from Reflections on the Weekday Readings: My Words Will Not Pass Away by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Saints of the Day; Feb 6: Paul Miki priest, martyr and Companions
John Miki was born in 1655 in Japan, entered the Society of Jesus and was a successful preacher of the Gospel. With 26 companions, (63 Jesuits, 6 Fanciscans and 17 Franciscan Tertiaries,) he was tortured and crucified in Nagasaki on 5 Feb. 1597.
“The blood of martyrs becomes the seed of the church“.
Fr John Murray PP reflects on this phrase and looks at some martyrs from Japan and the fruit they gave to the Church. In the past, the Irish Church was always keen to remember the ‘bad old days‘, when it was difficult, if not impossible, to practise one’s faith in an open way. The centuries of persecution were indeed extremely difficult, and the list of those who paid for their faith with their lives is legion: Oliver Plunkett, Dermot O’Hurley, Patrick O’Healy, Conor O’Devany and many others. Indeed, between 1572 and 1713, we know of many scores of bishops, priests and lay faithful who met a martyr’s death.
The Church in its calendar also reminds us that there were other countries which suffered similar fates. Indeed, there has hardly been a single country where the faith is lived and celebrated that has not seen some period of persecution and suffering. This month, the Church reminds us of Paul Miki and his companions, whose feast is on 6th February.
Nagasaki 1945
It was here, in August 1945, that an atomic bomb fell, killing as many as forty thousand people. A similar bomb had fallen on Hiroshima a few days before. Within forty-eight hours, Japan surrendered, and the Second World War came to an end.
The destruction of Nagasaki was ironic in many ways, for it was here that one of the main groups of Christians remained. In one fell swoop, it was almost obliterated. Yet, three and a half centuries before, another attempt had been made to do the same.
When St Francis Xavier arrived in Japan in 1549, he was moderately successful in planting the seeds of faith. Other missionaries followed, and a small Christian community began to grow. Initially, the Japanese rulers were open to the new faith, seeing it as useful to establish contacts with Europe and its rich merchants. But by 1596 things had changed, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of the country, outlawed Christianity, ordering the arrest of all believers who refused to deny their faith.
Torture and Martyrdom
The Japanese Catholic writer, Shusaku Endo, in his novel Silence, gives an account of the Shogun methods of getting Christians to deny their faith. A missionary might be captured and imprisoned. Rather than torture him to the point of denial, however, the jailers would torture the prisoner in the cell next to his, and tell him that the screaming would stop only if he denied Christ. What a terrible dilemma! Once the missionary had decided to spare his brother his suffering, he himself could no longer go back to the Christian community as a bona fide priest. He had become an apostate.
In 1597, twenty-six men were arrested, brought to Nagasaki, and crucified on a hill near the city. Then they were pierced with lances. All of them remained joyful to the end. One of them, the Jesuit Paul Miki, even preached to the crowds gathered beneath the crosses.
These are some of his words:
“The sentence of judgement says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ.
I thank God it is for this that I die. I believe that I am telling the truth before I die. I know you believe me, and I want to say to you all again: ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.“
Old City of Faith
The great early Church apologist, Tertullian, wrote in the second century that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church“. How true his words have been in so many ages! Many believed that, with the death of Paul Miki and his friends, Christianity would be finished in Japan.
Not so! The centuries passed, and a more favourable climate returned to the country. Missionaries returned in the 1850s. Some French priests established a mission in the old city of faith, Nagasaki.
At first, they did not see any signs of Christianity.
Then, one day, they were visited by an old man, who asked them three questions. Did they venerate Mary, the Mother of God? Were they married? And did they follow the Pope in Rome? When they answered to their satisfaction, the “hidden Christians” of Nagasaki emerged into the open.
Somehow, the Catholics of Nagasaki had lived their faith without priests, as best they could. They had not dared to keep any written materials but, like the early Church, had passed on their faith by word of mouth. The blood of Paul Miki and his friends had indeed fallen on fruitful ground.
Fidelity
The story of a martyr is a story of God’s fidelity. God, who is faithful, will never abandon anyone. The martyr knows this, and is prepared to let go of his life, trusting he will regain it eternally. God, who is faithful, will not allow the faith to die, but will raise it up in a new generation of believers.
The people of Ireland knew this in the centuries of our persecution. The martyrs of Uganda and Vietnam knew it in the nineteenth century, and the people of Mexico knew it in the twentieth century. The lives and deaths of Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin of Rome and countless other early Church martyrs witnessed to Christ by their blood.
Today, thank God, in Ireland, persecution no longer leads to the shedding of blood. Sometimes persecution is more subtle than that. May our faith shine through, just like that of the Christians of Nagasaki, for God is always faithful.
This article first appeared in The Messenger (February 2006), a publication of the Irish Jesuits. c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Memorable Wisdom for today
Our faith becomes stronger as we express it:
A growing faith is a sharing faith
~ Rev Billy Graham ~
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