Mass Readings for Friday, July 16, 2010

FIRST READING: Isaiah 38: 1 - 6, 21 - 22, 7 - 8

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1 In those days Hezeki'ah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover."

2 Then Hezeki'ah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD,

3 and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight." And Hezeki'ah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:

5 "Go and say to Hezeki'ah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and defend this city.

21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."

22 Hezeki'ah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"

7 "This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised:

8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps." So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

PSALM: Isaiah 38: 10 - 12, 16

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10 I said, In the noontide of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.

11 I said, I shall not see the LORD in the land of the living; I shall look upon man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night thou dost bring me to an end;

16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh, restore me to health and make me live!

GOSPEL: Matthew 12: 1 - 8

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1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath."

3 He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him:

4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

5 Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?

6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

7 And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."

Mass Readings for Thursday, July 15, 2010

 

 Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

FIRST READING: Isaiah 26: 7 - 9, 12, 16 - 19

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7 The path of the Upright One is honesty; you smooth the honest way of the upright.

8 Following the path of your judgements, O LORD, we set our hopes in you, your name, your memory are all our soul desires.

9 At night my soul longs for you and my spirit within me seeks you out; for when your judgements appear on earth the inhabitants of the world learn what saving justice is.

12 O LORD, you will grant us peace, having completed all our undertakings for us.

16 O LORD, in distress they had recourse to you, they expended themselves in prayer, since your punishment was on them.

17 As a pregnant woman near her time of delivery writhes and cries out in her pangs, so have we been, O LORD, in your eyes:

18 we have been pregnant, we have writhed, but we have given birth only to wind: we have not given salvation to the earth, no inhabitants for the world have been brought to birth.

19 Your dead will come back to life, your corpses will rise again. Wake up and sing, you dwellers in the dust, for your dew will be a radiant dew, but the earth will give birth to the shades.

PSALM: Psalms 102: 13 - 21

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13 But you, LORD, are enthroned forever; your renown is for all generations.

14 You will again show mercy to Zion; now is the time for pity;

15 Its stones are dear to your servants; its dust moves them to pity.

16 The nations shall revere your name, LORD, all the kings of the earth, your glory,

17 Once the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in glory,

18 Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.

19 Let this be written for the next generation, for a people not yet born, that they may praise the LORD:

20 "The LORD looked down from the holy heights, viewed the earth from heaven,

21 To attend to the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die."

GOSPEL: Matthew 11: 28 - 30

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28 Jesus said: 'Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy and my burden light.'

Mass Readings for Wednesday, July 14, 2010

FIRST READING: Isaiah 10: 5 - 7, 13 - 16

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5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff of my fury!

6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7 But he does not so intend, and his mind does not so think; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;

13 For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.

14 My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as men gather eggs that have been forsaken so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped."

15 Shall the axe vaunt itself over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

16 Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.

PSALM: Psalms 94: 5 - 10, 14 - 15

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5 They crush thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;

7 and they say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive."

8 Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise?

9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?

10 He who chastens the nations, does he not chastise? He who teaches men knowledge,

14 For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;

15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

GOSPEL: Matthew 11: 25 - 27

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25 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes;

26 yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.

27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Mass Readings for Tuesday, July 13, 2010

FIRST READING: Isaiah 7: 1 - 9

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1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzzi'ah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remali'ah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it.

2 When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with E'phraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and She'ar-jash'ub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field,

4 and say to him, `Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remali'ah.

5 Because Syria, with E'phraim and the son of Remali'ah, has devised evil against you, saying,

6 "Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Ta'be-el as king in the midst of it,"

7 thus says the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years E'phraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.)

9 And the head of E'phraim is Sama'ria, and the head of Sama'ria is the son of Remali'ah. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.'"

PSALM: Psalms 48: 2 - 8

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2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.

3 Within her citadels God has shown himself a sure defense.

4 For lo, the kings assembled, they came on together.

5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded, they were in panic, they took to flight;

6 trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in travail.

7 By the east wind thou didst shatter the ships of Tarshish.

8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God, which God establishes for ever. [Selah]

GOSPEL: Matthew 11: 20 - 24

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20 Then he began to upbraid the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

21 "Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

23 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24 But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."