Daily Mass Readings : March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Mass Readings For Saturday, April 2, 2011

FIRST READING: Hosea 6: 1 - 6

1 "Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up.

2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

3 Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.

6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

PSALM: Psalms 51: 3 - 4, 18 - 21

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.

18 For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.

19 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

20 Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,

21 then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

GOSPEL: Luke 18: 9 - 14

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others:

10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

12 I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.'

13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Steve Smith

I am a 68 year old single man from the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Mass Readings For Friday, April 1, 2011

FIRST READING: Hosea 14: 2 - 10

2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.

3 Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.

4 Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods, for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.

5 I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

6 I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.

7 His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus.

8 They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus.

9 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.

10 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

PSALM: Psalms 81: 6 - 11, 14, 17

6 He heard a tongue which he knew not.

7 He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in baskets.

8 Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.

9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me,

10 There shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.

11 For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

14 If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:

17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock

GOSPEL: Mark 12: 28 - 34

28 And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all.

29 And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

32 And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him.

33 And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one's neighbour as one's self, is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.

34 And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Steve Smith

I am a 68 year old single man from the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Mass Readings For Thursday, March 31, 2011

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 7: 23 - 28

23 But this command I gave them, `Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'

24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day;

26 yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

27 "So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

28 And you shall say to them, `This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

PSALM: Psalms 95: 1 - 2, 6 - 9

1 O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

6 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would hearken to his voice!

8 Harden not your hearts, as at Mer'ibah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

9 when your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

GOSPEL: Luke 11: 14 - 23

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was dumb; when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people marveled.

15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons";

16 while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven.

17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.

18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul.

19 And if I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace;

22 but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil.

23 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

Steve Smith

I am a 68 year old single man from the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Mass Readings For Wednesday, March 30, 2011

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5 - 9

1 "And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

6 Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

9 "Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children.

PSALM: Psalms 147: 12 - 13, 15 - 16, 19 - 20

12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.

15 He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.

16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

GOSPEL: Matthew 5: 17 - 19

17 "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.

18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

19 Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Steve Smith

I am a 68 year old single man from the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Mass Readings For Tuesday, March 29, 2011

FIRST READING: Daniel 3: 25, 34 - 43

25 In the fire Azariah stood up and prayed aloud:

34 For your name's sake, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant.

35 Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

36 To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea.

37 For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.

38 We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

39 But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received;

40 As though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

41 And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you.

42 Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

43 Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord.

PSALM: Psalms 25: 4 - 9

4 Make me to know thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long.

6 Be mindful of thy mercy, O LORD, and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness' sake, O LORD!

8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 21 - 35

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.

24 When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents;

25 and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, `Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

27 And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

28 But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, `Pay what you owe.'

29 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, `Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

30 He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt.

31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.

32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, `You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me;

33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'

34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt.

35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

Steve Smith

I am a 68 year old single man from the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Mass Readings For Monday, March 28, 2011

"The Brow of the Hill Near Nazareth" - James Tissot

FIRST READING: 2 Kings 5: 1 - 5

1 Na'aman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Na'aman's wife.

3 She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Sama'ria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

4 So Na'aman went in and told his lord, "Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel."

5 And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments.

PSALM: Psalms 42: 2 - 3; 43: 3 - 4

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"

3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise thee with the lyre, O God, my God.

GOSPEL: Luke 4: 24 - 30

24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;

26 and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian."

28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.

30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Steve Smith

I am a 68 year old single man from the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Mass Readings For Sunday, March 26, 2011

"The Samaritan Woman At The Well" - James Tissot

FIRST READING: Exodus 17: 3 - 7

3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

4 So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."

5 And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Mer'ibah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the LORD to the proof by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

PSALM: Psalms 95: 1 - 2, 6 - 9

1 Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.

6 Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.

7 For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

8 Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:

9 As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.

SECOND READING: Romans 5: 1 - 2, 5 - 8

1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man -- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die.

8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

GOSPEL: John 4: 5 - 42 Or 4: 5 - 15, 19 - 26, 39 - 42

5 So he came to a city of Samar'ia, called Sy'char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 There came a woman of Samar'ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar'ia?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"

13 Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again,

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."

17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, `I have no husband';

18 for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly."

19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things."

26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

27 Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"

28 So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people,

29 "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"

30 They went out of the city and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."

32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."

33 So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?"

34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

35 Do you not say, `There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.

36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

37 For here the saying holds true, `One sows and another reaps.'

38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."

40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

41 And many more believed because of his word.

42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."