Saturday, February 18, 2012 (Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits.
-- St. Philip Neri

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: James 3:1-10
(The Power of the Tongue)
1 Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.
2 For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.
3 Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.

4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.
5 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
6 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
7 For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.
8 But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.
10 Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Psalms: Psalm 12:2-5, 7-8
2 Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
3 May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that boasts,
4 Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”
5 “Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
7 You will keep them, Yahweh, You will preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked walk on every side, When what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.
Gospel: Mark 9:2-13
(The Transfiguration)
2 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them.
3 His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
4 Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter answered Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
6 For he didn’t know what to say, for they were very afraid.
7 A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
8 Suddenly looking around, they saw no one with them any more, except Jesus only.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no one what things they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
10 They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant.
11 They asked him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
12 He said to them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised?
13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.”