Daily Mass Readings for Tuesday, March 06, 2012

FIRST READING: Isaiah 1: 10, 16 - 20

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10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomor'rah!

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,

17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

PSALM: Psalms 50: 8 - 9, 16 - 17, 21, 23

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8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9 I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds.

16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?

17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"

GOSPEL: Matthew 23: 1 - 12

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1 Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,

2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;

3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.

4 They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.

5 They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues,

7 and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men.

8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.

9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

10 Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ.

11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant;

12 whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Daily Mass Readings for Monday, March 05, 2012

FIRST READING: Daniel 9: 4 - 10

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4 I prayed to the LORD, my God, and confessed, "Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!

5 We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.

6 We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

7 Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.

8 O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.

9 But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you

10 and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.

PSALM: Psalms 79: 8 - 9, 11, 13

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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!

11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before thee; according to thy great power preserve those doomed to die!

13 Then we thy people, the flock of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever; from generation to generation we will recount thy praise.

GOSPEL: Luke 6: 36 - 38

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36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

38 give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

Sunday Mass Readings For March 04, 2012

Second Sunday of Lent

FIRST READING: Genesis 22: 1 - 2, 9 - 13, 15 - 18

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1 After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."

2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

10 Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."

12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies,

18 and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."

PSALM: Psalms 116: 10, 15 - 19

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10 I kept my faith, even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted";

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

16 O LORD, I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.

18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

SECOND READING: Romans 8: 31 - 34

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31 What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies;

34 who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 2 - 10

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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.

Daily Mass Readings for Saturday, March 03, 2012

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 26: 16 - 19

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16 "This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

17 You have declared this day concerning the LORD that he is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances, and will obey his voice;

18 and the LORD has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments,

19 that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he has spoken."

PSALM: Psalms 119: 1 - 2, 4 - 5, 7 - 8

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1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!

2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,

4 Thou hast commanded thy precepts to be kept diligently.

5 O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping thy statutes!

7 I will praise thee with an upright heart, when I learn thy righteous ordinances.

8 I will observe thy statutes; O forsake me not utterly!

GOSPEL: Matthew 5: 43 - 48

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43 "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

47 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.