Mass Readings Thursday March 22, 2007

Reading 1

Ex 32:7-14

The LORD said to Moses,"Go down at once to your peoplewhom you brought out of the land of Egypt,for they have become depraved.They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,sacrificing to it and crying out,‘This is your God, O Israel,who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’"The LORD said to Moses,"I see how stiff-necked this people is.Let me alone, then,that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.Then I will make of you a great nation."

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,"Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,whom you brought out of the land of Egyptwith such great power and with so strong a hand?Why should the Egyptians say,‘With evil intent he brought them out,that he might kill them in the mountainsand exterminate them from the face of the earth’?Let your blazing wrath die down;relent in punishing your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,and how you swore to them by your own self, saying,‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky;and all this land that I promised,I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’"So the LORD relented in the punishmenthe had threatened to inflict on his people.

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Responsorial Psalm

Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23

R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Our fathers made a calf in Horeb

and adored a molten image;

They exchanged their glory

for the image of a grass-eating bullock.

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They forgot the God who had saved them,

who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,

terrible things at the Red Sea.

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

but Moses, his chosen one,

Withstood him in the breach

to turn back his destructive wrath.

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

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Gospel

Jn 5:31-47

Jesus said to the Jews: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.But there is another who testifies on my behalf,and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.I do not accept human testimony,but I say this so that you may be saved.He was a burning and shining lamp,and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.But I have testimony greater than John’s.The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,these works that I perform testify on my behalfthat the Father has sent me.Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,and you do not have his word remaining in you,because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.You search the Scriptures,because you think you have eternal life through them;even they testify on my behalf.But you do not want to come to me to have life.

"I do not accept human praise;moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father,but you do not accept me;yet if another comes in his own name,you will accept him.How can you believe, when you accept praise from one anotherand do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:the one who will accuse you is Moses,in whom you have placed your hope.For if you had believed Moses,you would have believed me,because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings,how will you believe my words?"

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Mass Readings Wednesday March 21, 2007

Reading 1

Is 49:8-15

Thus says the LORD:In a time of favor I answer you,on the day of salvation I help you;and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,To restore the landand allot the desolate heritages,Saying to the prisoners: Come out!To those in darkness: Show yourselves!Along the ways they shall find pasture,on every bare height shall their pastures be.They shall not hunger or thirst,nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;For he who pities them leads themand guides them beside springs of water.I will cut a road through all my mountains,and make my highways level.See, some shall come from afar,others from the north and the west,and some from the land of Syene.Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,break forth into song, you mountains.For the LORD comforts his peopleand shows mercy to his afflicted.

But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me;my Lord has forgotten me."Can a mother forget her infant,be without tenderness for the child of her womb?Even should she forget,I will never forget you.

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Responsorial Psalm

Ps 145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18

R. (8a) The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and of great kindness.

The LORD is good to all

and compassionate toward all his works.

R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is faithful in all his words

and holy in all his works.

The LORD lifts up all who are falling

and raises up all who are bowed down.

R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is just in all his ways

and holy in all his works.

The LORD is near to all who call upon him,

to all who call upon him in truth.

R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

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Gospel

Jn 5:17-30

Jesus answered the Jews: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work."For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,because he not only broke the sabbathbut he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,"Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,but only what he sees the Father doing;for what he does, the Son will do also.For the Father loves the Sonand shows him everything that he himself does,and he will show him greater works than these,so that you may be amazed.For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.Nor does the Father judge anyone,but he has given all judgment to the Son,so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.Whoever does not honor the Sondoes not honor the Father who sent him.Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my wordand believes in the one who sent mehas eternal life and will not come to condemnation,but has passed from death to life.Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now herewhen the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,and those who hear will live.For just as the Father has life in himself,so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.And he gave him power to exercise judgment,because he is the Son of Man.Do not be amazed at this,because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombswill hear his voice and will come out,those who have done good deedsto the resurrection of life,but those who have done wicked deedsto the resurrection of condemnation.

"I cannot do anything on my own;I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,because I do not seek my own willbut the will of the one who sent me."

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Mass Readings Tuesday March 20, 2007

Reading 1

Ez 47:1-9, 12

The angel brought me, Ezekiel,back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,and I saw water flowing outfrom beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,for the façade of the temple was toward the east;the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,south of the altar.He led me outside by the north gate,and around to the outer gate facing the east,where I saw water trickling from the right side.Then when he had walked off to the eastwith a measuring cord in his hand,he measured off a thousand cubitsand had me wade through the water, which was ankle-deep.He measured off another thousandand once more had me wade through the water,which was now knee-deep.Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade;the water was up to my waist.Once more he measured off a thousand,but there was now a river through which I could not wade;for the water had risen so high it had become a riverthat could not be crossed except by swimming.He asked me, "Have you seen this, son of man?"Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.He said to me,"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows,every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,and there shall be abundant fish,for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."

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Responsorial Psalm

Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R. (8) The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

God is our refuge and our strength,

an ever-present help in distress.

Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken

and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,

the holy dwelling of the Most High.

God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;

God will help it at the break of dawn.

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,

the astounding things he has wrought on earth.

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob

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Gospel

Jn 5:1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gatea pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.When Jesus saw him lying thereand knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,"Do you want to be well?"The sick man answered him,"Sir, I have no one to put me into the poolwhen the water is stirred up;while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.So the Jews said to the man who was cured,"It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."He answered them, "The man who made me well told me,‘Take up your mat and walk.’"They asked him,"Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?"The man who was healed did not know who it was,for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,so that nothing worse may happen to you."The man went and told the Jewsthat Jesus was the one who had made him well.Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesusbecause he did this on a sabbath.

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Mass Readings Sunday, March 18, 2007

Reading 1

Jos 5:9a, 10-12

The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you."While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passoveron the evening of the fourteenth of the month.On the day after the Passover,they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain.On that same day after the Passover, on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased.No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.

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Responsorial Psalm

Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

I will bless the LORD at all times;

his praise shall be ever in my mouth.

Let my soul glory in the LORD;

the lowly will hear me and be glad.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Glorify the LORD with me,

let us together extol his name.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,

and your faces may not blush with shame.

When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,

and from all his distress he saved him.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

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Reading II

2 Cor 5:17-21

Brothers and sisters:Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:the old things have passed away;behold, new things have come.And all this is from God,who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.So we are ambassadors for Christ,as if God were appealing through us.We implore you on behalf of Christ,be reconciled to God.For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

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Gospel

Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,"This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."So to them Jesus addressed this parable:"A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father,‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’So the father divided the property between them.After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongingsand set off to a distant countrywhere he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.When he had freely spent everything,a severe famine struck that country,and he found himself in dire need.So he hired himself out to one of the local citizenswho sent him to his farm to tend the swine.And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,but nobody gave him any.Coming to his senses he thought,‘How many of my father’s hired workershave more than enough food to eat,but here am I, dying from hunger.I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,"Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.I no longer deserve to be called your son;treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers."’So he got up and went back to his father.While he was still a long way off,his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.His son said to him,‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;I no longer deserve to be called your son.’But his father ordered his servants,‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.Then let us celebrate with a feast,because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;he was lost, and has been found.’Then the celebration began.Now the older son had been out in the fieldand, on his way back, as he neared the house,he heard the sound of music and dancing.He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.The servant said to him,‘Your brother has returnedand your father has slaughtered the fattened calfbecause he has him back safe and sound.’He became angry,and when he refused to enter the house,his father came out and pleaded with him.He said to his father in reply,‘Look, all these years I served youand not once did I disobey your orders;yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.But when your son returnswho swallowed up your property with prostitutes,for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’He said to him,‘My son, you are here with me always;everything I have is yours.But now we must celebrate and rejoice,because your brother was dead and has come to life again;he was lost and has been found.’"

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