Daily Mass Readings for Thursday, November 24, 2011 (Daily Reading)

FIRST READING: Daniel 6: 12 - 28

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12 So these men rushed in and found Daniel praying and pleading before his God.

13 Then they went to remind the king about the prohibition: "Did you not decree, O king, that no one is to address a petition to god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king; otherwise he shall be cast into a den of lions?" The king answered them, "The decree is absolute, irrevocable under the Mede and Persian law."

14 To this they replied, "Daniel, the Jewish exile, has paid no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you issued; three times a day he offers his prayer."

15 The king was deeply grieved at this news and he made up his mind to save Daniel; he worked till sunset to rescue him.

16 But these men insisted. "Keep in mind, O king," they said, "that under the Mede and Persian law every royal prohibition or decree is irrevocable."

17 So the king ordered Daniel to be brought and cast into the lions' den. To Daniel he said, "May your God, whom you serve so constantly, save you."

18 To forestall any tampering, the king sealed with his own ring and the rings of the lords the stone that had been brought to block the opening of the den.

19 Then the king returned to his palace for the night; he refused to eat and he dismissed the entertainers. Since sleep was impossible for him,

20 the king rose very early the next morning and hastened to the lions' den.

21 As he drew near, he cried out to Daniel sorrowfully, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has the God whom you serve so constantly been able to save you from the lions?"

22 Daniel answered the king: "O king, live forever!

23 My God has sent his angel and closed the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me. For I have been found innocent before him; neither to you have I done any harm, O king!"

24 This gave the king great joy. At his order Daniel was removed from the den, unhurt because he trusted in his God.

25 The king then ordered the men who had accused Daniel, along with their children and their wives, to be cast into the lions' den. Before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

26 Then King Darius wrote to the nations and peoples of every language, wherever they dwell on the earth: "All peace to you!

27 I decree that throughout my royal domain the God of Daniel is to be reverenced and feared: "For he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be without end.

28 He is a deliverer and savior, working signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, and he delivered Daniel from the lions' power."

PSALM: Daniel 3: 68 - 74

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68 Dew and rain, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.]

69 Frost and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

70 Ice and snow, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

71 Nights and days, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

72 Light and darkness, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

73 Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

74 Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

GOSPEL: Luke 21: 20 - 28

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20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.

21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it;

22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfil all that is written.

23 Alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people;

24 they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

25 "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,

26 men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

28 Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Daily Mass Readings for Wednesday, November 23, 2011

FIRST READING: Daniel 5: 1 - 6, 13 - 14, 16 - 17, 23 - 28

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1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords, with whom he drank.

2 Under the influence of the wine, he ordered the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, to be brought in so that the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.

3 When the gold and silver vessels taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in, and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers were drinking

4 wine from them, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly, opposite the lampstand, the fingers of a human hand appeared, writing on the plaster of the wall in the king's palace. When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote,

6 his face blanched; his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook, and his knees knocked.

13 Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king. The king asked him, "Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile, whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?

14 I have heard that the spirit of God is in you, that you possess brilliant knowledge and extraordinary wisdom.

16 But I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties; if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means, you shall be clothed in purple, wear a gold collar about your neck, and be third in the government of the kingdom."

17 Daniel answered the king: "You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else; but the writing I will read for you, O king, and tell you what it means.

23 you have rebelled against the Lord of heaven. You had the vessels of his temple brought before you, so that you and your nobles, your wives and your entertainers, might drink wine from them; and you praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence. But the God in whose hand is your life breath and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.

24 By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.

25 "This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, TEKEL, and PERES. These words mean:

26 MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;

27 TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;

28 PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

PSALM: Daniel 3: 62 - 67

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62 Sun and moon, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

63 Stars of heaven, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

64 Every shower and dew, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

65 All you winds, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

66 Fire and heat, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

67 Cold and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

GOSPEL: Luke 21: 12 - 19

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12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

13 This will be a time for you to bear testimony.

14 Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer;

15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death;

17 you will be hated by all for my name's sake.

18 But not a hair of your head will perish.

19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Daily Mass Readings for Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

FIRST READING: Daniel 2: 31 - 45

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31 "In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.

32 The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronze,

33 the legs iron, its feet partly iron and partly tile.

34 While you looked at the statue, a stone which was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.

35 The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 "This was the dream; the interpretation we shall also give in the king's presence.

37 You, O king, are the king of kings; to you the God of heaven has given dominion and strength, power and glory;

38 men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell, he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all; you are the head of gold.

39 Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours, then a third kingdom, of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth.

40 There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others, just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.

41 The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter's tile and partly of iron, mean that it shall be a divided kingdom, but yet have some of the hardness of iron. As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile,

42 and the toes partly iron and partly tile, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

43 The iron mixed with clay tile means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage, but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

44 In the lifetime of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.

45 That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain without a hand being put to it, which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold. The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future; this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure."

PSALM: Daniel 3: 57 - 61

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57 Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

58 Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

59 You heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

60 All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

61 All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

GOSPEL: Luke 21: 5 - 11

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5 And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said,

6 "As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

7 And they asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?"

8 And he said, "Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, `I am he!' and, `The time is at hand!' Do not go after them.

9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once."

10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;

11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Daily Mass Readings for Monday, November 21, 2011

Memorial of The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

FIRST READING: Daniel 1: 1 - 6, 8 - 20

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1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and laid siege to Jerusalem.

2 The Lord handed over to him Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and some of the vessels of the temple of God, which he carried off to the land of Shinar, and placed in the temple treasury of his god.

3 The king told Ashpenaz, his chief chamberlain, to bring in some of the Israelites of royal blood and of the nobility,

4 young men without any defect, handsome, intelligent and wise, quick to learn, and prudent in judgment, such as could take their place in the king's palace; they were to be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans;

5 after three years' training they were to enter the king's service. The king allotted them a daily portion of food and wine from the royal table.

6 Among these were men of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

8 But Daniel was resolved not to defile himself with the king's food or wine; so he begged the chief chamberlain to spare him this defilement.

9 Though God had given Daniel the favor and sympathy of the chief chamberlain,

10 he nevertheless said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king; it is he who allotted your food and drink. If he sees that you look wretched by comparison with the other young men of your age, you will endanger my life with the king."

11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief chamberlain had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

12 "Please test your servants for ten days. Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

13 Then see how we look in comparison with the other young men who eat from the royal table, and treat your servants according to what you see."

14 He acceded to this request, and tested them for ten days;

15 after ten days they looked healthier and better fed than any of the young men who ate from the royal table.

16 So the steward continued to take away the food and wine they were to receive, and gave them vegetables.

17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and proficiency in all literature and science, and to Daniel the understanding of all visions and dreams.

18 At the end of the time the king had specified for their preparation, the chief chamberlain brought them before Nebuchadnezzar.

19 When the king had spoken with all of them, none was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; and so they entered the king's service.

20 In any question of wisdom or prudence which the king put to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom.

PSALM: Daniel 3: 52 - 56

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52 "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; And blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.

53 Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.

54 Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

55 Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

56 Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, praiseworthy and glorious forever.

GOSPEL: Luke 21: 1 - 4

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1 He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury;

2 and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins.

3 And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them;

4 for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."