Mass Readings for Monday, June 28, 2010

 Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr

FIRST READING: Amos 2: 6 - 10, 13 - 16

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6 Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes --

7 they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned;

8 they lay themselves down beside every altar upon garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

9 "Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath.

10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

13 "Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down.

14 Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life;

15 he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life;

16 and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day," says the LORD.

PSALM: Psalms 50: 16 - 23

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16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?

17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

18 If you see a thief, you are a friend of his; and you keep company with adulterers.

19 "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.

20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son.

21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I rend, and there be none to deliver!

23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"

GOSPEL: Matthew 8: 18 - 22

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18 Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

19 And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

21 Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Mass Readings for Sunday, June 27, 2010

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 19: 16, 19 - 21

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16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel; and Eli'sha the son of Shaphat of A'bel-meho'lah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.

19 So he departed from there, and found Eli'sha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Eli'jah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him.

20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Eli'jah, and said, "Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again; for what have I done to you?"

21 And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Eli'jah, and ministered to him.

PSALM: Psalms 16: 1 - 2, 5, 7 - 11

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1 Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge.

2 I say to the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee."

5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.

7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.

10 For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.

11 Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.

SECOND READING: Galatians 5: 1, 13 - 18

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1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

15 But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.

GOSPEL: Luke 9: 51 - 62

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51 When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him;

53 but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"

55 But he turned and rebuked them.

56 And they went on to another village.

57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

60 But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home."

62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Mass Readings for Saturday, June 26, 2010

 Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (Optional Memorial)

FIRST READING: Lamentations 2: 2, 10 - 14, 18 - 19

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2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the maidens of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.

13 What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can restore you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles false and misleading.

18 Cry aloud to the Lord! O daughter of Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!

19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

PSALM: Psalms 74: 1 - 7, 20 - 21

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1 O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.

3 Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

4 Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place; they set up their own signs for signs.

5 At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.

6 And then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

7 They set thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name.

20 Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21 Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise thy name.

GOSPEL: Matthew 8: 5 - 17

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5 As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him

6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress."

7 And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."

8 But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes, and to another, `Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,' and he does it."

10 When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.

11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth."

13 And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.

14 And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever;

15 he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served him.

16 That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.

17 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases."

Mass Readings for Friday, June 25, 2010

FIRST READING: 2 Kings 25: 1 - 12

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1 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; and they built siegeworks against it round about.

2 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedeki'ah.

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chalde'ans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah.

5 But the army of the Chalde'ans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

6 Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence upon him.

7 They slew the sons of Zedeki'ah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedeki'ah, and bound him in fetters, and took him to Babylon.

8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month -- which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnez'zar, king of Babylon -- Nebu'zarad'an, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9 And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.

10 And all the army of the Chalde'ans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard carried into exile.

12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

PSALM: Psalms 137: 1 - 6

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1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres.

3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!

6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!

GOSPEL: Matthew 8: 1 - 4

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1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him;

2 and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."

3 And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to the people."