Mass Readings for Sunday, January 31, 2010

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 1: 4 - 5, 17 - 19

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4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

17 But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.

18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.

19 They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you."

PSALM: Psalms 71: 1 - 6, 15 - 17

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1 In thee, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!

2 In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline thy ear to me, and save me!

3 Be thou to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

5 For thou, O Lord, art my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

6 Upon thee I have leaned from my birth; thou art he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of thee.

15 My mouth will tell of thy righteous acts, of thy deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.

16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come, I will praise thy righteousness, thine alone.

17 O God, from my youth thou hast taught me, and I still proclaim ty wondrous deeds.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 12: 31 - 13: 1 - 13 or 1 Corinthians 13: 4 - 13

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31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;

5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;

10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Or

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;

5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;

10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

GOSPEL: Luke 4: 21 - 30

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21 And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

22 And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, `Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Caper'na-um, do here also in your own country.'"

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.

Mass Readings for Saturday, January 30, 2010

Saint Hyacinth Marescotti, Virgin (Memorial) 

FIRST READING: 2 Samuel 12: 1 - 7, 10 - 17

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1 And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds;

3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his morsel, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.

4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;

6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man. Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, `I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul;

10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite to be your wife.'

11 Thus says the LORD, `Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

12 For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.'"

13 David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die."

15 Then Nathan went to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uri'ah's wife bore to David, and it became sick.

16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the ground.

17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 
 

PSALM: Psalms 51: 12 - 17

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12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

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

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

GOSPEL: Mark 4: 35 - 41

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35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."

36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.

37 And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?"

39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?"

41 And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"

Mass Readings for Friday, January 29, 2010

FIRST READING: 2 Samuel 11: 1 - 10, 13 - 17

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1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Jo'ab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathshe'ba, the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite?"

4 So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.

5 And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am with child."

6 So David sent word to Jo'ab, "Send me Uri'ah the Hittite." And Jo'ab sent Uri'ah to David.

7 When Uri'ah came to him, David asked how Jo'ab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.

8 Then David said to Uri'ah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uri'ah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.

9 But Uri'ah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

10 When they told David, "Uri'ah did not go down to his house," David said to Uri'ah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"

13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent it by the hand of Uri'ah.

15 In the letter he wrote, "Set Uri'ah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die."

16 And as Jo'ab was besieging the city, he assigned Uri'ah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.

17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Jo'ab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uri'ah the Hittite was slain also. 

 

PSALM: Psalms 51: 3 - 7, 10 - 11

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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.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. 

 

GOSPEL: Mark 4: 26 - 34

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26 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground,

27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how.

28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

34 he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Mass Readings for Thursday, January 28, 2010

St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Doctor of the Church (Memorial)

FIRST READING: 2 Samuel 7: 18 – 19, 24 - 29

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18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?

19 And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O Lord GOD; thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O Lord GOD!

24 And thou didst establish for thyself thy people Israel to be thy people for ever; and thou, O LORD, didst become their God.

25 And now, O LORD God, confirm for ever the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, and do as thou hast spoken;

26 and thy name will be magnified for ever, saying, `The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,' and the house of thy servant David will be established before thee.

27 For thou, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, hast made this revelation to thy servant, saying, `I will build you a house'; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray this prayer to thee.

28 And now, O Lord GOD, thou art God, and thy words are true, and thou hast promised this good thing to thy servant;

29 now therefore may it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken, and with thy blessing shall the house of thy servant be blessed for ever."

PSALM: Psalms 132: 1 – 5, 11 - 14

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1 Remember, O LORD, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured;

2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,

3 "I will not enter my house or get into my bed;

4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,

5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."

11 The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.

12 If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies which I shall teach them, their sons also for ever shall sit upon your throne."

13For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation:

14 "This is my resting place for ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

GOSPEL: Mark 4: 21 - 25

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21 And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?

22 For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

23 If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."

24 And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.

25 For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."