Daily Mass Readings for Tuesday, February 21, 2012

FIRST READING: James 4: 1 - 10

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1 What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members?

2 You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

4 Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you suppose it is in vain that the scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us"?

6 But he gives more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.

9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

PSALM: Psalms 55: 7 - 11, 23

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7 yea, I would wander afar, I would lodge in the wilderness, [Selah]

8 I would haste to find me a shelter from the raging wind and tempest."

9 Destroy their plans, O Lord, confuse their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it on its walls; and mischief and trouble are within it,

11 ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its market place.

23 But thou, O God, wilt cast them down into the lowest pit; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in thee.

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 30 - 37

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30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it;

31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise."

32 But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him.

33 And they came to Caper'na-um; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?"

34 But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest.

35 And he sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

36 And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them,

37 "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me."

Daily Mass Readings for Monday, February 20, 2012

FIRST READING: James 3: 13 - 18

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13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

15 This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.

18 And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

PSALM: Psalms 19: 8 - 10, 15

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8 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

9 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;

10 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

15 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 14 - 29

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14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd about them, and scribes arguing with them.

15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and ran up to him and greeted him.

16 And he asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"

17 And one of the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit;

18 and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able."

19 And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me."

20 And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

21 And Jesus asked his father, "How long has he had this?" And he said, "From childhood.

22 And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us."

23 And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes."

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again."

26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, "He is dead."

27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"

29 And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer."

Sunday Mass Readings For February 19, 2012

FIRST READING: Isaiah 43: 18 - 19, 21 - 22, 24 - 25

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18 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

22 "Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

24 You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.

25 "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

PSALM: Psalms 41: 2 - 5, 13 - 14

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2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.

3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.

4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against thee!"

5 My enemies say of me in malice: "When will he die, and his name perish?"

13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

SECOND READING: 2 Corinthians 1: 18 - 22

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18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.

19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silva'nus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes.

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.

21 But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us;

22 he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

GOSPEL: Mark 2: 1 - 12

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1 And when he returned to Caper'na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.

3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.

5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

7 "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts?

9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk'?

10 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic --

11 "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home."

12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

Daily Mass Readings for Saturday, February 18, 2012

FIRST READING: James 3: 1 - 10

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1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.

2 For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.

3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies.

4 Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

5 So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!

6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind,

8 but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.

10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

PSALM: Psalms 12: 2 - 5, 7 - 8

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2 Every one utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts,

4 those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is our master?"

5 "Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the LORD; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."

7 Do thou, O LORD, protect us, guard us ever from this generation.

8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 2 - 13

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2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them,

3 and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

4 And there appeared to them Eli'jah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus.

5 And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli'jah."

6 For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid.

7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him."

8 And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of man should have risen from the dead.

10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.

11 And they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that first Eli'jah must come?"

12 And he said to them, "Eli'jah does come first to restore all things; and how is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

13 But I tell you that Eli'jah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him."