Daily Mass Readings for Wednesday, March 14, 2012

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5 - 9

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1 "And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

6 Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

9 "Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children.

PSALM: Psalms 147: 12 - 13, 15 - 16, 19 - 20

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12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.

15 He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.

16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

GOSPEL: Matthew 5: 17 - 19

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17 "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.

18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

19 Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Daily Mass Readings for Tuesday, March 13, 2012

FIRST READING: Daniel 3: 25, 34 - 43

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25 In the fire Azariah stood up and prayed aloud:

34 For your name's sake, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant.

35 Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

36 To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea.

37 For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.

38 We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

39 But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received;

40 As though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

41 And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you.

42 Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

43 Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord.

PSALM: Psalms 25: 4 - 9

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4 Make me to know thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long.

6 Be mindful of thy mercy, O LORD, and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness' sake, O LORD!

8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 21 - 35

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21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.

24 When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents;

25 and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, `Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

27 And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

28 But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, `Pay what you owe.'

29 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, `Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

30 He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt.

31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.

32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, `You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me;

33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'

34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt.

35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

Daily Mass Readings for Monday, March 12, 2012

FIRST READING: 2 Kings 5: 1 - 15

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1 Na'aman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Na'aman's wife.

3 She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Sama'ria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

4 So Na'aman went in and told his lord, "Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel."

5 And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments.

6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Na'aman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy."

7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me."

8 But when Eli'sha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel."

9 So Na'aman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Eli'sha's house.

10 And Eli'sha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean."

11 But Na'aman was angry, and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.

12 Are not Aba'na and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, `Wash, and be clean'?"

14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him; and he said, "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant."

PSALM: Psalms 42: 2 - 3 ; Psalms 43: 3 - 4

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2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"

3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise thee with the lyre, O God, my God.

GOSPEL: Luke 4: 24 - 30

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24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;

26 and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian."

28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.

30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Sunday Mass Readings For March 11, 2012

Third Sunday In Lent

FIRST READING: Exodus 20: 1 - 17 Or Exodus 20: 1 - 3, 7 - 8, 12 - 17

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1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work;

10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates;

11 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

13 "You shall not kill.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Or

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

13 "You shall not kill.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."

PSALM: Psalms 19: 8 - 11

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

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

10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 1: 22 - 25

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22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

GOSPEL: John 2: 13 - 25

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13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business.

15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.

16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade."

17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me."

18 The Jews then said to him, "What sign have you to show us for doing this?"

19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

20 The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"

21 But he spoke of the temple of his body.

22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did;

24 but Jesus did not trust himself to them,

25 because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man.