Mass Readings For Sunday, March 26, 2011

"The Samaritan Woman At The Well" - James Tissot

FIRST READING: Exodus 17: 3 - 7

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3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

4 So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."

5 And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Mer'ibah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the LORD to the proof by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

PSALM: Psalms 95: 1 - 2, 6 - 9

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1 Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.

6 Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.

7 For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

8 Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:

9 As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.

SECOND READING: Romans 5: 1 - 2, 5 - 8

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1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man -- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die.

8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

GOSPEL: John 4: 5 - 42  Or  4: 5 - 15, 19 - 26, 39 - 42

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5 So he came to a city of Samar'ia, called Sy'char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 There came a woman of Samar'ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar'ia?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"

13 Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again,

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."

17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, `I have no husband';

18 for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly."

19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things."

26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

27 Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"

28 So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people,

29 "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"

30 They went out of the city and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."

32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."

33 So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?"

34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

35 Do you not say, `There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.

36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

37 For here the saying holds true, `One sows and another reaps.'

38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."

40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

41 And many more believed because of his word.

42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

Or

5 So he came to a city of Samar'ia, called Sy'char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 There came a woman of Samar'ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar'ia?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"

13 Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again,

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things."

26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."

40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

41 And many more believed because of his word.

42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

Mass Readings For Saturday, March 26, 2011

FIRST READING: Micah 7: 14 - 15, 18 - 20

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14 Shepherd thy people with thy staff, the flock of thy inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.

15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt I will show them marvelous things.

18 Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever because he delights in steadfast love.

19 He will again have compassion upon us, he will tread our iniquities under foot. Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20 Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

PSALM: Psalms 103: 1 - 4, 9 - 12

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1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger for ever.

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

GOSPEL: Luke 15: 1 - 3, 11 - 32

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1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

3 So he told them this parable:

11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons;

12 and the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them.

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living.

14 And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want.

15 So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16 And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything.

17 But when he came to himself he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants."'

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

21 And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

22 But the father said to his servants, `Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet;

23 and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry;

24 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry.

25 "Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant.

27 And he said to him, `Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.'

28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

29 but he answered his father, `Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.

30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!'

31 And he said to him, `Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

32 It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" 

Mass Readings For Friday, March 25, 2011

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

FIRST READING: Isaiah 7: 10 - 14; 8: 10

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10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,

11 "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven."

12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."

13 And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nought; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

PSALM: Psalms 40: 7 - 11

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7 Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require:

8 Then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me

9 That I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.

10 I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.

11 I have not hid thy justice within my heart: I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.

SECOND READING: Hebrews 10: 4 - 10

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4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me;

6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.

7 Then I said, `Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God, 'as it is written of me in the roll of the book."

8 When he said above, "Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),

9 then he added, "Lo, I have come to do thy will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.

10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

GOSPEL: Luke 1: 26 - 38

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26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"

29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.

30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,

33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."

34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"

35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing will be impossible."

38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

Mass Readings For Thursday, March 24, 2011

"The Bad Man In Hell" - James Tissot

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 17: 5 - 10

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5 Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

6 For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited.

7 Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence.

8 And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit.

9 The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it?

10 I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices.

PSALM: Psalms 1: 1 - 4, 6

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1 Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.

2 But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.

4 Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

GOSPEL: Luke 16: 19 - 31

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19 There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously every day.

20 And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores,

21 Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one did give him; moreover the dogs came, and licked his sores.

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell.

23 And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom:

24 And he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame.

25 And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazareth evil things, but now he is comforted; and thou art tormented.

26 And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot, nor from thence come hither.

27 And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren,

28 That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.

29 And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

30 But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance.

31 And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.