Daily Reading
First Reading
2 Timothy 3:10-17
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Psalm
Psalm 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168
Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
yet I do not swerve from your decrees.
The sum of your word is truth;
and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.
Princes persecute me without cause,
but my heart stands in awe of your words.
Great peace have those who love your law;
nothing can make them stumble.
I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
and I fulfill your commandments.
I keep your precepts and decrees,
for all my ways are before you.
Gospel Reading
Mark 12:35-37
While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
Reflection
Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus quotes a psalm where David calls him Lord. It calls to mind a question: Do you also recognize Jesus as Lord?
Is Christ commanding your life in every detail? Is he the Lord of your family life? Of your recreational life? Of your professional life? Is he the Lord of every room in your house, including the bedroom? Does your sexuality belong to him? Do your friendships serve his purpose? Are you totally given over to him, under his lordship?
When we surrender to the path of love that he has laid out for us, our lives become infinitely lighter, easier, and more joyful, for we are moving with the divine purpose. We will have moved out of what Paul calls the way of “the flesh” and into the way of “the Spirit.”
Flesh refers here not to the body as such but to sin. When you are caught up in patterns of self-regard and self-protection, life becomes a burden, and you find yourself taking up the weapons of war all the time. But when you recognize Jesus as Lord, you can let all of that go.