Mass Readings for Friday, October 05, 2012

Optional Memorial Saint Faustina Kowalska

FIRST READING: Job 38: 1, 12 - 21; Job 40: 3 - 5

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1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.

15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

3 Then Job answered the LORD:

4 "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee? I lay my hand on my mouth.

5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further."

PSALM: Psalms 139: 1 - 3, 7 - 10, 13 - 14

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1 O LORD, thou hast searched me and known me!

2 Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up; thou discernest my thoughts from afar.

3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

13 For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well.

GOSPEL: Luke 10: 13 - 16

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13 "Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

15 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

Mass Readings for Thursday, October 04, 2012

"He Sent them out Two by Two" -- by James Tissot

Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, Religious

FIRST READING: Job 19: 21 - 27

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21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

22 Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh?

23 Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book?

24 With an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone.

25 For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.

26 And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.

27 Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.

PSALM: Psalms 27: 7 - 9, 13 - 14

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7 Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have mercy on me and hear me.

8 My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.

9 Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.

13 I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

14 Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord.

GOSPEL: Luke 10: 1 - 12

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1 And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two: and he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come.

2 And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send labourers into his harvest.

3 Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves.

4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way.

5 Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house.

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

7 And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house.

8 And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

10 But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, going forth into the streets thereof, say:

11 Even the very dust of your city that cleaveth to us, we wipe off against you. Yet know this, that the kingdom of God is at hand.

12 I say to you, it shall be more tolerable at that day for Sodom, than for that city.

Mass Readings for Wednesday, October 03, 2012

"The Man at the Plough" -- by James Tissot

FIRST READING: Job 9: 1 - 12, 14 - 16

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1 Then Job answered:

2 "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be just before God?

3 If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength -- who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? --

5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger;

6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

8 who alone stretched out the heavens, and trampled the waves of the sea;

9 who made the Bear and Orion, the Plei'ades and the chambers of the south;

10 who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

11 Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

12 Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, `What doest thou'?

14 How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

16 If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

PSALM: Psalms 88: 10 - 15

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10 Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee? [Selah]

11 Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon?

12 Are thy wonders known in the darkness, or thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But I, O LORD, cry to thee; in the morning my prayer comes before thee.

14 O LORD, why dost thou cast me off? Why dost thou hide thy face from me?

15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer thy terrors; I am helpless.

GOSPEL: Luke 9: 57 - 62

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57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

60 But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home."

62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Mass Readings for Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Memorial of the Guardian Angels

FIRST READING: Job 3: 1 - 3, 11 - 17, 20 - 23

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1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2 And Job said:

3 "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which said, 'A man-child is conceived.'

11 "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?

12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

13 For then I should have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then I should have been at rest,

14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,

15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never see the light?

17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

20 "Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?

23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?

PSALM: Psalms 88: 2 - 8

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2 Let my prayer come before thee, incline thy ear to my cry!

3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.

4 I am reckoned among those who go down to the Pit; I am a man who has no strength,

5 like one forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom thou dost remember no more, for they are cut off from thy hand.

6 Thou hast put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.

7 Thy wrath lies heavy upon me, and thou dost overwhelm me with all thy waves. [Selah]

8 Thou hast caused my companions to shun me; thou hast made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape.

GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 1 - 5, 10

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1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them,

3 and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

4 Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me;

10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.