Tuesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
1st book of Samuel 16:1-13.
The LORD said to Samuel: «How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.»
But Samuel replied: “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.” To this the LORD answered: “Take a heifer along and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do; you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you.”
Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired, “Is your visit peaceful, O seer?”
He replied: “Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet.” He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves and invited them to the sacrifice.
As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is here before him.”
But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, “The Lord has not chosen him.”
Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any one of these.”
Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.”
Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, “There-anoint him, for this is he!”
Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.

Psalms 89:20.21-22.27-28.
Once you spoke in vision; to your faithful ones you said: “I have set a leader over the warriors; I have raised up a hero from the army.
I have chosen David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him.
My hand will be with him; my arm will make him strong.
He shall cry to me,’You are my father, my God, the Rock that brings me victory!’
I myself make him firstborn, Most High over the kings of the earth.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:23-28.
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him,
At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
Commentary of the day : Baldwin of Ford
“The Sabbath was made for man”

Monday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
1st book of Samuel 15:16-23.
Samuel said to Saul: «Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.» Saul replied, «Speak!»
Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king of Israel
and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’
Why then have you disobeyed the LORD? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”
Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the LORD and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel said: “Does the LORD so delight in holocausts and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

Psalms 50(49):8-9.16-17.21.23.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, nor for your holocausts, set before me daily.
I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold.
But to the wicked God says: “Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips?
You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you!
When you do these things should I be silent? Or do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay the charge before you.
Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; to the obedient I will show the salvation of God.”

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:18-22.
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, «Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?»
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
Commentary of the day : Rupert of Deutz
“The Bridegroom is with them”

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Book of Isaiah 62:1-5.
For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.
Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.
You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem held by your God.
No more shall men call you “Forsaken,” or your land “Desolate,” But you shall be called “My Delight,” and your land “Espoused.” For the LORD delights in you, and makes your land his spouse.
As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.

Psalms 96(95):1-3.7-8.9-10.
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name; announce his salvation day after day.
Tell God’s glory among the nations; among all peoples, God’s marvelous deeds.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and might;
give to the LORD the glory due his name! Bring gifts and enter his courts;
bow down to the LORD, splendid in holiness. Tremble before God, all the earth;
say among the nations: The LORD is king. The world will surely stand fast, never to be moved. God rules the peoples with fairness.

First Letter to the Corinthians 12:4-11.
Brothers and sisters: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.
To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit;
to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 2:1-11.
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
(And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom
and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.
Commentary of the day : Saint Romanos Melodios
“You have kept the good wine until now”