Mass Readings for Sunday, September 5, 2010

FIRST READING: Wisdom 9: 13 - 18

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13 For what man can learn the counsel of God? Or who can discern what the Lord wills?

14 For the reasoning of mortals is worthless, and our designs are likely to fail,

15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind.

16 We can hardly guess at what is on earth, and what is at hand we find with labor; but who has traced out what is in the heavens?

17 Who has learned thy counsel, unless thou hast given wisdom and sent thy holy Spirit from on high?

18 And thus the paths of those on earth were set right, and men were taught what pleases thee, and were saved by wisdom."

PSALM: Psalms 90: 3 - 6, 12 - 13, 14 - 17

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3 Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, "Turn back, O children of men!"

4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

5 Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning:

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on thy servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad as many days as thou hast afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let thy work be manifest to thy servants, and thy glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

SECOND READING: Philemon 1: 9 - 10, 12 - 17

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9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you -- I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus --

10 I appeal to you for my child, Ones'imus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment.

12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel;

14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will.

15 Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever,

16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.

GOSPEL: Luke 14: 25 - 33

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25 Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them,

26 "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

30 saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'

31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace.

33 So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Mass Readings for Saturday, September 4, 2010

FIRST READING: 1 Corinthians 4: 6 - 15

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6 I have applied all this to myself and Apol'los for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

7 For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

8 Already you are filled! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!

9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.

10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.

11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless,

12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

13 when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.

14 I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

PSALM: Psalms 145: 17 - 21

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17 The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.

18 The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

19 He fulfils the desire of all who fear him, he also hears their cry, and saves them.

20 The LORD preserves all who love him; but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

GOSPEL: Luke 6: 1 - 5

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1 On a sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

2 But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath?"

3 And Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?"

5 And he said to them, "The Son of man is lord of the sabbath."

Mass Readings for Friday, September 3, 2010

Memorial of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church

FIRST READING: 1 Corinthians 4: 1 - 5

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1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

2 Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.

4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God.

PSALM: Psalms 37: 3 - 6, 27 - 28, 39 - 40

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3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.

4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday.

27 Depart from evil, and do good; so shall you abide for ever.

28 For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. The righteous shall be preserved for ever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

39 The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

40 The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

GOSPEL: Luke 5: 33 - 39

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33 And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."

34 And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

35 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."

36 He told them a parable also: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, `The old is good.'"

Mass Readings for Thursday, September 2, 2010

FIRST READING: 1 Corinthians 3: 18 - 23

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18 Let no man deceive himself: if any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: I will catch the wise in their own craftiness.

20 And again: The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

21 Let no man therefore glory in men.

22 For all things are yours, whether it be Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; for all are yours;

23 And you are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

PSALM: Psalms 24: 1 - 6

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1 On the first day of the week, a psalm for David. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein.

2 For he hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers.

3 Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place?

4 The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.

5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour.

6 This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.

GOSPEL: Luke 5: 1 - 11

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1 And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth,

2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

3 And going into one of the ships that was Simon's, he desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting he taught the multitudes out of the ship.

4 Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

5 And Simon answering said to him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net.

6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke.

7 And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking.

8 Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

9 For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken.

10 And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus saith to Simon: Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

11 And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him.