Mass Readings For Tuesday, February 26, 2013

"Curses Against the Pharisees" --  by James Tissot

FIRST READING: Isaiah 1: 10, 16 - 20

---

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.

16 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely,

17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.

18 And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.

19 If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.

20 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

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

---

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight.

9 I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks.

16 But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.

21 These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.

23 The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.

GOSPEL: Matthew 23: 1 - 12

---

1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,

2 Saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses.

3 All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not.

4 For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them.

5 And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge their fringes.

6 And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues,

7 And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi.

8 But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master; and all you are brethren.

9 And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven.

10 Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, Christ.

11 He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant.

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Mass Readings For Monday, February 25, 2013

FIRST READING: Daniel 9: 4 - 10

---

4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

5 We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments.

6 We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel to them that are near, and to them that are far off in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities by which they have sinned against thee.

8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers that have sinned.

9 But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee:

10 And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

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

---

8 Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.

9 Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:

11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.

13 But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and generation.

GOSPEL: Luke 6: 36 - 38

---

36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

37 Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.

38 Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.

Mass Readings For Friday, February 22, 2013

"The Primacy of Saint Peter" -- by James Tissot

Feast of The Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle

FIRST READING: 1 Peter 5: 1 - 4

---

1 The ancients therefore that are among you, I beseech, who am myself also an ancient, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ: as also a partaker of that glory which is to be revealed in time to come:

2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God: not for filthy lucre's sake, but voluntarily:

3 Neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart.

4 And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory.

PSALM: Psalms 23: 1 - 6

---

1 The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.

2 He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:

3 He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name's sake.

4 For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.

5 Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!

6 And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.

GOSPEL: Matthew 16: 13 - 19

---

13 And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is?

14 But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

15 Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?

16 Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.

18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Mass Readings For Thursday, February 21, 2013

FIRST READING: Esther C: 12, 14-16, 23-25

---

Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish,

had recourse to the Lord.

She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids,

from morning until evening, and said:

"God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you.

Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand.

As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers that you, O Lord, always free those who are pleasing to you.

Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you, O Lord, my God.

"And now, come to help me, an orphan.

Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion

and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy,

so that he and those who are in league with him may perish.

Save us from the hand of our enemies;

turn our mourning into gladness

and our sorrows into wholeness.

PSALM: Psalms 138: 1 - 3, 7 - 8

---

1 I will praise thee, O lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of his angels:

2 I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all.

3 In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me: thou shall multiply strength in my soul.

7 If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies: and thy right hand hath saved me.

8 The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: O despise not the work of thy hands.

GOSPEL: Matthew 7: 7 - 12

---

7 Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.

8 For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone?

10 Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent?

11 If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?

12 All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.