Daily Mass Readings for Friday, September 30, 2011

Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest, Doctor of the Church and Father of the Church

FIRST READING: Baruch 1: 15 - 22

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15 "And you shall say: `Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but confusion of face, as at this day, to us, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

16 and to our kings and our princes and our priests and our prophets and our fathers,

17 because we have sinned before the Lord,

18 and have disobeyed him, and have not heeded the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which he set before us.

19 From the day when the Lord brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have been negligent, in not heeding his voice.

20 So to this day there have clung to us the calamities and the curse which the Lord declared through Moses his servant at the time when he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey.

21 We did not heed the voice of the Lord our God in all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us,

22 but we each followed the intent of his own wicked heart by serving other gods and doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

PSALM: Psalms 79: 1 - 5, 8 - 9

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1 O God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance; they have defiled thy holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

2 They have given the bodies of thy servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.

4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those round about us.

5 How long, O LORD? Wilt thou be angry for ever? Will thy jealous wrath burn like fire?

8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers; let thy compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake!

GOSPEL: Luke 10: 13 - 16

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13 "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, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

15 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

Daily Mass Readings for Thursday, September 29, 2011

Feast of Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael, Archangels

FIRST READING: Daniel 7: 9 - 10, 13 - 14 Or Revelation 12: 7 - 12

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9 As I watched, Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was snow bright, and the hair on his head as white as wool; His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.

10 A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.

13 As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him,

14 He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.

Or

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,

8 but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

12 Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

PSALM: Psalms 138: 1 - 5

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1 I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing thy praise;

2 I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy word.

3 On the day I called, thou didst answer me, my strength of soul thou didst increase.

4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, for they have heard the words of thy mouth;

5 and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.

GOSPEL: John 1: 47 - 51

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47 Jesus saw Nathan'a-el coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"

48 Nathan'a-el said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

49 Nathan'a-el answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these."

51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

Daily Mass Readings for Wednesday, September 28, 2011

"The Man At The Plough" - James Tissot

FIRST READING: Nehemiah 2: 1 - 8

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1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Ar-ta-xerx'es, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

2 And the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing else but sadness of the heart." Then I was very much afraid.

3 I said to the king, "Let the king live for ever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"

4 Then the king said to me, "For what do you make request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may rebuild it."

6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), "How long will you be gone, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7 And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;

8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house which I shall occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

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: Luke 9: 57 - 62

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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."

Daily Mass Readings for Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest

FIRST READING: Zechariah 8: 20 - 23

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20 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities;

21 the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, `Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I am going.'

22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the LORD.

23 Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, `Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"

PSALM: Psalms 87: 1 - 7

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1 On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

2 the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. [Selah]

4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia -- "This one was born there," they say.

5 And of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will establish her.

6 The LORD records as he registers the peoples, "This one was born there." [Selah]

7 Singers and dancers alike say, "All my springs are in you."

GOSPEL: Luke 9: 51 - 56

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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.