You Have Given Your Son Rule Over The Works Of Your Hands.

Tuesday of the First Week In Ordinary Time
Reading I
Hebrews 2:5-12
It was not to angels
that God subjected the world to come,
of which we are speaking.
Instead, someone has testified somewhere:

What is man that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man that you care for him?
You made him for a little while
lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor,
subjecting all things under his feet.

In “subjecting” all things to him,
he left nothing not “subject to him.”
Yet at present we do not see
“all things subject to him,”
but we do see Jesus
“crowned with glory and honor”
because he suffered death,
he who “for a little while”
was made “lower than the angels,”
that by the grace of God
he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation
perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates
and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin.
Therefore, he is not ashamed
to call them “brothers” saying:

I will proclaim your name to my brethren,
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.
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Responsorial
Psalm 8
R. You have given your Son rule
over the works of your hands.
O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. You have given your Son rule
over the works of your hands.
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule
over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. You have given your Son rule
over the works of your hands.
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. You have given your Son rule
over the works of your hands.
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Gospel
Mark 1:21-28
Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers,
and on the sabbath
he entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority
and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man
with an unclean spirit;
he cried out,
“What have you to do with us,
Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are –
the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said,
“Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him
and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits
and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere
throughout the whole region of Galilee.
==========================
Blessed William Carter
(d. 1584)

Born in London, William Carter entered the printing business at an early age. For many years he served as apprentice to well-known Catholic printers, one of whom served a prison sentence for persisting in the Catholic faith. William himself served time in prison following his arrest for "printing lewd [i.e., Catholic] pamphlets" as well as possessing books upholding Catholicism. 

But even more, he offended public officials by publishing works that aimed to keep Catholics firm in their faith. Officials who searched his house found various vestments and suspect books, and even managed to extract information from William's distraught wife. Over the next 18 months William remained in prison, suffering torture and learning of his wife's death.

He was eventually charged with printing and publishing the Treatise of Schisme, which allegedly incited violence by Catholics and which was said to have been written by a traitor and addressed to traitors. While William calmly placed his trust in God, the jury met for only 15 minutes before reaching a verdict of "guilty." William, who made his final confession to a priest who was being tried alongside him, was hanged, drawn and quartered the following day: January 11, 1584.

He was beatified in 1987.

Comment: 
It didn’t pay to be Catholic in Elizabeth I’s realm. In an age when religious diversity did not yet seem possible, it was high treason, and practicing the faith was dangerous. William gave his life for his efforts to encourage his brothers and sisters to keep up the struggle. These days, our brothers and sisters also need encouragement—not because their lives are at risk, but because many other factors besiege their faith. They look to us.

Saint of the Day
American Catholic.org