Daily Mass Readings for Thursday, October 20, 2011

Optional Memorial of Saint Paul of the Cross, Priest

FIRST READING: Romans 6: 19 - 23

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19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.

20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

21 But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.

22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

PSALM: Psalms 1: 1 - 4, 6

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1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.

6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

GOSPEL: Luke 12: 49 - 53

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49 "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!

50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!

51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division;

52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three;

53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

Daily Mass Readings for Wednesday, October 19, 2011

FIRST READING: Romans 6: 12 - 18

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12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.

13 Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

16 Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

PSALM: Psalms 124: 1 - 8

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1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say --

2 if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us,

3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;

4 then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;

5 then over us would have gone the raging waters.

6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!

7 We have escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!

8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

GOSPEL: Luke 12: 39 - 48

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39 But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

40 You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour."

41 Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?"

42 And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?

43 Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.

44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

45 But if that servant says to himself, `My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful.

47 And that servant who knew his master's will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating.

48 But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.

Mass Readings for Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist

FIRST READING: 2 Timothy 4: 10 - 17

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10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessaloni'ca; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me.

12 Tych'icus I have sent to Ephesus.

13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Tro'as, also the books, and above all the parchments.

14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will requite him for his deeds.

15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.

16 At my first defense no one took my part; all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!

17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

PSALM: Psalms 145: 10 - 13, 17 - 18

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10 All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O LORD, and all thy saints shall bless thee!

11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power,

12 to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of thy kingdom.

13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds.

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.

GOSPEL: Luke 10: 1 - 9

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1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come.

2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road.

5 Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace be to this house!'

6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you.

7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house to house.

8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you;

9 heal the sick in it and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

Mass Readings for Monday, October 17, 2011

"The Man Who Hordes" - James Tissot

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

FIRST READING: Romans 4: 20 - 25

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20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

22 That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness."

23 But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone,

24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

25 who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

PSALM: Luke 1: 68 - 75

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68 "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people,

69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

71 that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;

72 to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant,

73 the oath which he swore to our father Abraham,

74 to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,

75 in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

GOSPEL: Luke 12: 13 - 21

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13 One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me."

14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?"

15 And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully;

17 and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?'

18 And he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.'

20 But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'

21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."