First Reading is from the letter of Saint Paul to the Hebrews 10: 19-25

Brothers and sisters: 
Since through the Blood of Jesus 
we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary 
by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, 
that is, his flesh,
and since we have “a great priest over the house of God,” 
let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, 
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience 
and our bodies washed in pure water.
Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, 
for he who made the promise is trustworthy.
We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.
We should not stay away from our assembly, 
as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, 
and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 24

R.  Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
    the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
    and established it upon the rivers.
R.    Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
    or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
    who desires not what is vain.
R.    Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
    a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
    that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R.    Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A lamp to my feet is your word,
a light to my path.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 4: 21-25

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; 
nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”
He also told them, “Take care what you hear.
The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, 
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; 
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas, (born: 1226 death: 1274) learn more about his writings on angels at https://aquinasonline.com/angels/ Thomas Aquinas was known as the angelic doctor because of his theological studies of angels. He wrote in Summa Theologica: Consequently, since all angels are not bodies, nor have they bodies naturally united with them, as is clear from what has been said (from Sacred Scripture), it follows that angels sometimes assume bodies.

Hence Angels propose the intelligible truth to men under the likeness of sensible things and strengthen the human mind by an intellectual operation. In this twofold action consists angelic illumination of men. By adding to the human understanding to pierce the mysteries of being, the pure intelligences enable it to derive greater truth from the species abstracted from sensible things. Thus men rise with angelic assistance to a more perfect knowledge of God drawn from a knowledge of his creation. (Taken from The Thomistic Philosophy of the Angels, a Dissertation, (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1947 by James Collins)
 

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