Daily Mass Readings For Friday, February 7, 2025
Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 :
Hebrews 13:1-8
Alleluia :
Luke 8:15
Gospel :
Mark 6:14-29
Liturgical vestments: Green
Friday, February 7, 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.
Let brotherly love continue.
Do not neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,
and of the ill-treated as of yourselves,
for you also are in the body.
Let marriage be honored among all
and the marriage bed be kept undefiled,
for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.
Let your life be free from love of money
but be content with what you have,
for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.
Thus we may say with confidence:
The Lord is my helper,
and I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?
Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.
Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart,
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread,
and people were saying,
"John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;
That is why mighty powers are at work in him."
Others were saying, "He is Elijah";
still others, "He is a prophet like any of the prophets."
But when Herod learned of it, he said,
"It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up."
Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison
on account of Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.
John had said to Herod,
"It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.
Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,
gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers,
and the leading men of Galilee.
His own daughter came in and performed a dance
that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
"Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you."
He even swore many things to her,
"I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom."
She went out and said to her mother,
"What shall I ask for?"
Her mother replied, "The head of John the Baptist."
The girl hurried back to the king's presence and made her request,
"I want you to give me at once on a platter
the head of John the Baptist."
The king was deeply distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests
he did not wish to break his word to her.
So he promptly dispatched an executioner
with orders to bring back his head.
He went off and beheaded him in the prison.
He brought in the head on a platter
and gave it to the girl.
The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Reflection
“St John gave his life for Christ who is the Truth. Precisely for love of the truth he did not stoop to compromises and did not fear to address strong words to anyone who had strayed from God’s path.” (Saint Bede the Venerable)
“John does not fear human judgments, persecution, slander or death, because he has a clear conscience of his mission. The life of the Baptist is summarized on the need to obey God rather than men.” (Benedict XVI)
“Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgement of the Last Day in his preaching. Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light. Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God's grace as nothing be condemned.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 678)
And thus John’s life is ended “under the authority of a mediocre, drunken and corrupt king, because of a dancer’s whim and because of the vindictive hatred of an adulterous woman”. Thus “the great one meets his end, the greatest man born of woman”. “When I read this passage, I am moved”. “I think about two things: first, I think about our martyrs, today’s martyrs, those men, women, children who are persecuted, hated, driven from of their homes, tortured, massacred”. And this, he underlined, “is not a thing of the past: this is happening today. Our martyrs meet their end under the authority of corrupt people who hate Jesus Christ”. For this reason, “it will do us good to think about our martyrs. (…) “I too will meet my end. We all will. No one can ‘buy’ life. We too, willingly or unwillingly, are travelling the road of life’s existential annihilation”. And this, he said, impels us “to pray that this annihilation may resemble as much as possible that of Jesus Christ, his annihilation”. (Santa Marta, 6 February 2015)
Saint of the Day
An English nobleman who lived in the 8th century, he was the father of three saints who preached the Gospel in Germany. He had a special veneration for the Holy Family. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome and died on his way back to Lucca, where he is buried in the Basilica of San Frediano.
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