
We are called to love, all that is created good by the Lord and to will the good in one another. To be holy as our Heavenly Father is Holy. To reject satan and all that is evil in world!
Even in an uncertain, ever changing world we must remain constant in our faith and love for our Lord Jesus Christ. That is to say we may adapt, find new ways of renewing our faith and deepening our love and relationship with Him for He alone makes all things new with and in Him. But we must never try to justify our words and actions of going against His commandments or His will for us. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word shall never pass away.
So with contrite hearts let us turn to Him for the forgiveness of our many sins. So that we may live free in obedience to the way, the truth and the life, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
First reading
1 Samuel 15:16-23 ·
Saul disobeys the Lord and the Lord rejects him
Samuel said to Saul, ‘Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said, ‘Tell me.’ Samuel continued, ‘Small as you may be in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king over Israel. The Lord sent you on a mission and said to you, “Go, put these sinners, the Amalekites, under the ban and make war on them until they are exterminated.” Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you fall on the booty and do what is displeasing to the Lord?’ Saul replied to Samuel, ‘But I did obey the voice of the Lord. I went on the mission which the Lord gave me; I brought back Agag king of the Amalekites; I put the Amalekites under the ban. From the booty the people took the best sheep and oxen of what was under the ban to sacrifice them to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ But Samuel replied:
‘Is the pleasure of the Lord in holocausts and sacrifices
or in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice,
submissiveness better than the fat of rams.
Rebellion is a sin of sorcery,
presumption a crime of teraphim.
‘Since you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.’
Gospel
Mark 2:18-22
‘Why do your disciples not fast?’
One day when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of fasting while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they could not think of fasting. But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; if he does, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine, fresh skins!’