Third Week of Ordinary Time

2 Sam. 6:12-15, 17-19 & Mk. 3:31-35

David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. By doing this he made Jerusalem the centre of worship and helped to bring about national unity under his rule. Contained in the Ark were the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. It was therefore especially sacred, the symbol of God's presence among His people.

2 Sam. 5:1-7, & Mk. 3:22-30

During today's first reading were you struck by the similarities between David and Jesus? When He was a boy I am sure Jesus would have been steeped in the history of His people. He would have known all there was to know about His ancestor King David, perhaps even regarding him as His hero as one writer has claimed.

Mt. 4:12-23

How did Zebedee, the father of James and John, feel when Jesus invited his sons to leave their livelihood and follow Him. Was he disappointed? Had he built up his business for his sons, hoping that one day when he retired they would be ready to take it over? Did he think that his sons were making a big mistake and throwing their lives away?

Heb. 11:1-2, 8-19 & Mk. 4:35-41

Most little children have complete faith and trust in their parents. They turn to them for their every need believing they can do anything, from soothing a pain to mending a toy. They live life with joy and abandon, just knowing that their parents are powerful and loving.

Heb. 10:32-39 & Mk. 4:26-34

Looking back over our lives we can all remember difficult times when life was almost unbearable. Yet, years later it is hard to recall in detail how trying things were. If the results made it all worthwhile, then our memory draws a veil over the unpleasantness, the effort and the struggle. When times are easier, we forget what strength and determination we needed during those difficult days. Doing the will of God, according to the write of the first reading, requires endurance.

Heb. 10:19-25 & Mk. 4:21-25

We have our own soul to save, but in getting to Heaven we have others who help us and we too, please God, will help others to get there. In this way the Church is essentially a community and we have obligations to each other as the first reading explains.

Heb. 10:11-18 & Mk. 4:1-20

Jesus sacrificed Himself to death on the Cross to achieve the forgiveness of sin. He shed His Blood for everyone. But people must be ready to ask and to receive that forgiveness.

Offerings made by priests of the Old Testament law had no power to take away sins. This was because God is the one offended by sin, and only the God made Man, Jesus Christ, can bring about its forgiveness. He did it once and for all by His sacrifice on Calvary.

Heb. 10:1-10 & Mk. 3:31-35

We are called in every Mass to express our love for God through gift giving. We do not offer God flowers, however beautiful, nor gold however precious. We do not offer God merely bread and wine, but bread and wine which is transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus, the most beautiful and precious gift possible.

Jesus came as man because He wanted to offer the perfect sacrifice of Himself to take away our sins. His gift of Himself to His Father was so precious because it conveyed all the love He had.

Heb. 9:15, 24-28 & Mk. 3: 22-30

God is not limited by time. He has no past and no future. All is present for God. We cannot travel back in time, but God can make past events present to us today.

In the Mass God uses His almighty power to transcend time. He makes the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary present before us so that we may share in it. Jesus died only once and the Mass in no sense makes Jesus die again; rather this once-and-for-all sacrifice which He offered on the Cross is made present for us on the altar.

Neh. 8:2-6, 8-10; Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

How many of us know how to read the Bible, or even listen to the readings? Two of our Scripture passages today address this very issue.

The reading from Nehemiah tells of a time when Ezra, the priest, stood before the people and read aloud from the book of the law. In the Gospel we see Jesus visiting the synagogue in His hometown on the Sabbath when He read, and briefly explained, a passage from the prophet Isaiah.