Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Roman Catholic Daily Readings For Wednesday, 26 January

From USCCB, CNA, and Catholic Online:





Daily Readings:


Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated:  Memorial of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops

St. Timothy


Feastday: January 26
Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined St. Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. Timothy was probably with Paul when the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed. According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison awaiting execution. His feast day is January 26



St. Paula


Feastday: January 26

Patron of widows

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Born in Rome of a noble family on May 5, 347. Paula married Toxotius, and the couple had five children - Toxotius, Blesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Rufina. They were regarded as an ideal married couple, and on his deathin 379, she renounced the world, lived in the greatest austerity, and devoted herself to helping the poor. She met St. Jerome in 382 through St. Epiphanius and Paulinus of Antioch and was closely associated with Jerome in his work while he was in Rome. The death of her daughter Blesilla in 384 left her heartbroken, and in 385 she left Rome with Eustochium, traveled to the Holy Land with Jerome, and a year later settled in Bethlehem under his spiritual direction. She and Eustochium built a hospice, a monastery, and a convent, which Paula governed. She became Jerome's closest confidante and assistant, taking care of him and helping him in his biblical work, build numerous churches, which were to cause her financial difficulties in her old age, and died at Bethlehem on January 26. She is the patroness of widows. Her feast day is January 26.


St. Margaret of Hungary


Feastday: January 26
St. Margaret of Hungary Daughterof King Bela IV, she became a Dominican novice at twelve in a royal convent built on an island in the Danube. Although she was a princess among nuns who were of noble descent, she objected to any special treatment and went out of her way to perform the most menial tasks and the most exacting labors on behalf of the squalid poor and most advanced hospital cases. The extend of her labors and fasting and hours of prayer brought on the fatigue of which she died on January 18. her feast day is January 26th.


St. Alberic


Feastday: January 26

1109
Hermit and co-founder of the great Cistercian Order with Stephen Harding and a monk named Robert. Alberic was a monk near Chatillon-sur-Seine until he joined a group to form a new monastery at Molesmes. Robert served there as abbot, and Alberic was prior. The monks of Molesmes rebelled against the harsh rule instituted there and imprisoned Alberic and forced Robert to leave the monastery. Released, Alberic tried a second time to reform the members, but he was unsuccessful. In 1098, he and twenty-one other monks left Molesmes and established another religious house at Citeaux. Robert was again abbot, and Alberic prior. They were joined this time by Stephen Harding as subprior. Thus was founded the Cistercian Order, one of the most distinguished religious houses in the Church. Robert returned to Molesmes within a few years, restoring the primitive Benedictine rule there. The additional austerities that he introduced into Molesmes gave it a true Cistercian character; however, Stephen Harding is credited with providing the overall Cistercian attributes. Alberic remained at Citeaux, where he died on January 26.


St. Ansurius


Feastday: January 26

925
Bishop and Benedictine monk, also called Isauri. In 915, Ansurius was elected the bishop of Orense, Spanish Galicia, Spain, and founded the abbey of Ribas de Sil. After seven years, he retired his see and entered Ribas de Sil.


St. Athanasius


Feastday: January 26

unknown
Bishop honored in Sorrento in southern Italy.


St. Theofrid


Feastday: January 26

690
Abbot of Corbie, in France, and bishop. Theofrid was a Benedictine trained at Luxcuil Abbey


St. Thordgith


Feastday: January 26

700
Benedictine nun at the abbey of Barking, England, also called Theoregitha. She served as the novice-mistress in the community under St. Ethelburga.


St. Titus


Feastday: January 26

96
A disciple and companion of St. Paul to whom the great saint addressed one of his letters. Paul referred to Titus as "my true child in our common faith". Not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, he was noted in Galatians where Paul writes of journeying to Jerusalem with Barnabas, accompanied by Titus. He was then dispatched to Corinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church, although he soon went to Dalmatia, Croatia. According to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical Histor y, he served as the first bishop of Crete. He was buried in Cortyna (Gortyna), Crete; his head was later translated to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens in 832 and was enshrined in St. Mark’s, Venice, Italy.


St. Conan


Feastday: January 26

648
A bishop of Ireland, possibly from Scotland. It is believed that Conan taught St. Fiacre before going to the Isle of Man, where he served as a missionary and was consecrated bishop.


St. Robert of Newmister


Feastday: January 26

1000-1159
Cistercian abbot. Born in Yorkshire, England, he entered the Benedictines at Whitby and soon joined the monks at Fountains Abbey who were adopting the harder rule which was gaining prominence at the time. This community embraced the Cistercian rule, and the monastery became one of the spearhead communities for the Cistercians in England. In 1137, Robert helped to found Newminster Abbey, in Northumberland, serving as its first abbot.




Scriptural Readings:

January 26, 2011


Memorial of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops



Reading 1



2 Tm 1:1-8



Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God

for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,

to Timothy, my dear child:

grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father

and Christ Jesus our Lord.



I am grateful to God,

whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,

as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.

I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,

so that I may be filled with joy,

as I recall your sincere faith

that first lived in your grandmother Lois

and in your mother Eunice

and that I am confident lives also in you.



For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame

the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice

but rather of power and love and self-control.

So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,

nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;

but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel

with the strength that comes from God.



Or



Ti 1:1-5



Paul, a slave of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ

for the sake of the faith of God’s chosen ones

and the recognition of religious truth,

in the hope of eternal life

that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,

who indeed at the proper time revealed his word

in the proclamation with which I was entrusted

by the command of God our savior,

to Titus, my true child in our common faith:

grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.



For this reason I left you in Crete

so that you might set right what remains to be done

and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you.



Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10Responsorial PsalmR. (3) Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all you lands.

Sing to the Lord; bless his name.

R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Announce his salvation, day after day.

Tell his glory among the nations;

among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.

R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Give to the Lord, you families of nations,

give to the Lord glory and praise;

give to the Lord the glory due his name!

R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Say among the nations: The Lord is king.

He has made the world firm, not to be moved;

he governs the peoples with equity.

R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.



Mk 4:1-20GospelOn another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.

A very large crowd gathered around him

so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.

And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.

And he taught them at length in parables,

and in the course of his instruction he said to them,

“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,

and the birds came and ate it up.

Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.

It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.

And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.

Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it

and it produced no grain.

And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.

It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”



And when he was alone,

those present along with the Twelve

questioned him about the parables.

He answered them,

“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.

But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that



they may look and see but not perceive,

and hear and listen but not understand,

in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”



Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?

Then how will you understand any of the parables?

The sower sows the word.

These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.

As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once

and takes away the word sown in them.

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,

when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.

But they have no roots; they last only for a time.

Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,

they quickly fall away.

Those sown among thorns are another sort.

They are the people who hear the word,

but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,

and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,

and it bears no fruit.

But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it

and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”



Next Day



Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner

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