Mass Readings for Thursday, February 17, 2011

FIRST READING: Genesis 9: 1 - 13

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1 And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand.

3 And every thing that moveth and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you:

4 Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.

5 For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man.

6 Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God.

7 But increase you and multiply, and go upon the earth, and fill it.

8 Thus also said God to Noe, and to his sons with him,

9 Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you:

10 And with every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the ark, and in all the beasts of the earth.

11 I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth.

12 And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations.

13 I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me, and between the earth.

PSALM: Psalms 102: 16 - 21, 29, 22 - 23

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16 And the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

17 For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory.

18 He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition.

19 Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:

20 Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.

21 That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain.

29 The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.

22 That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem;

23 When the people assemble together, and kings, to serve the Lord.

GOSPEL: Mark 8: 27 - 33

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27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And in the way, he asked his disciples, saying to them: Whom do men say that I am?

28 Who answered him, saying: John the Baptist; but some Elias, and others as one of the prophets.

29 Then he saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Peter answering said to him: Thou art the Christ.

30 And he strictly charged them that they should not tell any man of him.

31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and by the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again.

32 And he spoke the word openly. And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him.

33 Who turning about and seeing his disciples, threatened Peter, saying: Go behind me, Satan, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but that are of men.

Mass Readings for Wednesday, February 16, 2011

FIRST READING: Genesis 8: 6 - 13, 20 - 22

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6 And after that forty days were passed, Noe, opening the window of the ark which he had made, sent forth a raven:

7 Which went forth and did not return, till the waters were dried up upon the earth.

8 He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth.

9 But she, not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark: for the waters were upon the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and caught her, and brought her into the ark.

10 And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark.

11 And she came to him in the evening, carrying a bough of an olive tree, with green leaves, in her mouth. Noe therefore understood that the waters were ceased upon the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days: and he sent forth the dove, which returned not any more unto him.

13 Therefore in the six hundredth and first year, the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were lessened upon the earth, and Noe opening the covering of the ark, looked, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.

20 And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar.

21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man: for the imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth: therefore I will no more destroy every living soul as I have done.

22 All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.

PSALM: Psalms 116: 12 - 15, 18 - 19

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12 What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things he hath rendered unto me?

13 I will take the chalice of salvation; and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

14 I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people:

15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people:

19 In the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.

GOSPEL: Mark 8: 22 - 26

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22 And they came to Bethsaida; and they bring to him a blind man, and they besought him that he would touch him.

23 And taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town; and spitting upon his eyes, laying his hands on him, he asked him if he saw any thing.

24 And looking up, he said: I see men as it were trees, walking.

25 After that again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly.

26 And he sent him into his house, saying: Go into thy house, and if thou enter into the town, tell nobody. 

Mass Readings for Tuesday, February 15, 2011

FIRST READING: Genesis 6: 5 - 8; 7: 1 - 5, 10

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5 And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

6 It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,

7 He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noe found grace before the Lord.

1 And the Lord said to him: Go in thou and all thy house into the ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation.

2 Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female.

3 But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.

4 For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth.

5 And Noe did all things which the Lord had commanded him.

10 And after the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

PSALM: Psalms 29: 1 - 4, 3, 9 - 10

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1 Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.

2 Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to his name: adore ye the Lord in his holy court.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in magnificence.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters.

9 The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover the thick woods: and in his temple all shall speak his glory.

10 The Lord maketh the flood to dwell: and the Lord shall sit king for ever. The Lord will give strength to his people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.

GOSPEL: Mark 8: 14 - 21

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14 And they forgot to take bread; and they had but one loaf with them in the ship.

15 And he charged them, saying: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying: Because we have no bread.

17 Which Jesus knowing, saith to them: Why do you reason, because you have no bread? do you not yet know nor understand? have you still your heart blinded?

18 Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? neither do you remember.

19 When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say to him, Twelve.

20 When also the seven loaves among four thousand, how many baskets of fragments took you up? And they say to him, Seven.

21 And he said to them: How do you not yet understand? 

Mass Readings for Monday, February 14, 2011

Memorial of Saint Cyril, Monk, and Saint Methodius, Bishop

FIRST READING: Genesis 4: 1 - 15, 25

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1 And Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God.

2 And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman.

3 And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord.

4 Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings.

5 But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell.

6 And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it.

8 And Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him.

9 And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered, I know not: am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth.

11 Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand.

12 When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth.

13 And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.

14 Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me.

15 And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him.

25 Adam also knew his wife again: and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: God hath given me another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew.

PSALM: Psalms 50: 1, 8, 16 - 17, 20 - 21

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1 A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof.

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight.

16 But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.

20 Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother's son:

21 These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.

GOSPEL: Mark 8: 11 - 13

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11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, asking him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

12 And sighing deeply in spirit, he saith: Why doth this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, a sign shall not be given to this generation.

13 And leaving them, he went up again into the ship, and passed to the other side of the water.