Gospel and Saint of the day: 21 January 2020
FIRST READING
I have come to sacrifice to the Lord
From the first book of Samuel 1 Sam 16, 1-13
In those days, the Lord said to Samuel: "How long will you weep over Saul, while I have repudiated him because you do not reign over Israel?" Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you the Bethlehemite from Jesse, because I have chosen a king among his children. » Samuèle replied, "How can I go? Saul will find out and kill me. ' The Lord added, "You will take a heifer with you and say," I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. " You will then invite Jesse to the sacrifice. Then I will let you know what you have to do and you will anoint the one I will tell you for me ». Samuèle did what the Lord had commanded him and came to Bethlehem; the elders of the city met him eagerly and asked him, "Is your coming peaceful?" He replied, "It is peaceful. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, then come with me to the sacrifice ». He also sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to sacrifice. When they entered, he saw Eliàb and said: "Of course, his consecrated one is before the Lord!" The Lord replied to Samuèle: «Do not look at his appearance or at his tall stature. I have discarded it, because what man sees does not count: in fact man sees appearance, but the Lord sees the heart ». Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, but Samuele said: "Not even this has the Lord chosen." Jesse passed Sammà over and said: "Not even the Lord has chosen". Jesse made his seven children pass in front of Samuèle and Samuèle repeated to Jesse: «The Lord has not chosen any of these». Samuèle asked Jesse: "Are all the young men here?" Jesse replied: "He is still the youngest, who is now grazing the flock." Samuèle said to Jesse: "Send him to get it, because we won't be at the table before he comes here." He sent for him and sent him to come. He was fawn, with beautiful eyes and handsome in appearance. The Lord said: "Get up and anoint him: it is he!" Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed it among his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord burst upon David from that day forward.
God's word.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (From Psalm 88)
R. I have found David, my servant.
Once you spoke in vision to your faithful, saying:
"I brought help to a brave man,
I have exalted an elect among my people. R.
I found David, my servant,
with my holy oil I have consecrated it;
my hand is his support,
my arm is his strength. R.
He will invoke me: "You are my father,
my God and rock of my salvation ”.
I will make him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth. " R.
Saturday was made for man, not man for Saturday.
+ From the Gospel according to Mark 2,23-28
At that time, on Saturday Jesus passed between wheat fields and his disciples, while walking, began to pick the ears. The Pharisees said to him: «Look! Why do they do on the Sabbath day what is not lawful? ». And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? Under the high priest Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the loaves of the offering, which it is not lawful to eat except to the priests, and he also gave them to his companions! ». And he said to them: "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath! Therefore the Son of man is also lord of the Sabbath ».
21 JANUARY
SANT'AGNESE
Rome, late sec. III, or early IV
Agnese was born in Rome to Christian parents of an illustrious patrician family in the third century. When he was still twelve, a persecution broke out and many of the faithful abandoned themselves to defection. Agnese, who had decided to offer her virginity to the Lord, was denounced as a Christian by the son of the prefect of Rome, who fell in love with her but rejected her. It was exposed naked at the Agonal Circus, near the current Piazza Navona. A man who tried to approach her fell dead before he could touch her and just as miraculously resources through the intercession of the saint. Thrown into the fire, this was extinguished by its prayers, it was then pierced with a sword blow to the throat, in the way in which the lambs were killed. For this reason, in the iconography it is often represented with a sheep or a lamb, symbols of candor and sacrifice. The date of death is not certain, someone places it between 249 and 251 during the persecution wanted by the emperor Decius, others in 304 during the persecution of Diocletian. (Avvenire)
PRAYERS TO SANT'AGNESE
O admirable Sant'Agnese, what great exultation did you feel when at the tender age of thirteen, condemned by Aspasio to be burned alive, you saw the flames divide around you, leaving you unharmed and rushing instead against those who wanted your death! For the great spiritual joy with which you received the extreme blow, exhorting the executioner yourself to stick the sword that was to make your sacrifice in your chest, you obtain the grace of all of us to sustain with edifying serenity all the persecutions and crosses with which the Lord would try and grow ever more in love of God to seal with the death of the righteous a life of mortification and sacrifice. Amen.