Daily Mass Readings For Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 :
Hebrews 12:1-4
Alleluia :
Matthew 8:17
Gospel :
Mark 5:21-43
Liturgical vestments: Green
Tuesday, February 4, 2025: Readings & Responsorial Psalm & Gospel
Each day, the Mass readings invite us into a deeper encounter with God. Through Scripture, we hear His voice speaking to our hearts, guiding us, comforting us, and calling us to a life of holiness. The Word of God is not just a story from the past; it is alive, relevant, and transformative.
Every reading is an opportunity for grace. Some days, the words challenge us to grow; other days, they console us in our struggles. But always, they nourish our souls, strengthening our faith and drawing us closer to Christ.
Let us open our hearts to the Word of God daily. May we not just hear it but live it, allowing it to shape our actions and deepen our love for Him. Lord, speak to us today, and help us to follow You more faithfully. Amen.
Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.
For the sake of the joy that lay before him
Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,
in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ took away our infirmities
and bore our diseases.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
He went off with him
and a large crowd followed him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”
But his disciples said to him,
“You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, Who touched me?”
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said,
“Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
“Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep.”
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child’s father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.
Reflection
“Today’s reading has conferred everything conductive to hope, and excluded anything connected with despair.” (Saint Peter Chrysologus)
“We ask God to heal so many problems, our practical needs, and this is right, but what we must ask him for insistently is an ever firmer faith, so that the Lord may renew our life.” (Benedict XVI)
“Jesus hears the prayer of faith, expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief) or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful woman). Healing infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in faith (...)” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 2616)
Let us learn this: in the face of bodily and spiritual suffering, of the wounds in our souls, of situations that crush us, and even in the face of sin, God does not keep us at a distance. God is not ashamed of us; God does not judge us. On the contrary, he draws near to let himself be touched and to touch us, and he always raises us from death. He always takes us by the hand to say: daughter, son, arise! (cf. Mk 5:41). Walk forward; stride ahead! “Lord, I am a sinner” — “Stride ahead; I became sin for you, to save you” — “But you, O Lord, are not a sinner” — “No, but I have endured all the consequences of sin to save you”. This is beautiful! Let us fix in our hearts this image that Jesus gives us: God takes you by the hand and raises you up again. He lets himself be touched by your pain and touches you to heal you and give you life again. (Angelus, 30 June 2024)
Saint of the Day
Born in 1556, he went to Constantinople where he helped Christians who had been captured by the Turks. He tried to preach the Gospel to the Sultan, for which he was arrested, tortured and driven out. He travelled around Italy on foot, preaching the Good News to the poor, the sick, and prisoners.
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