Catholic Mass Readings For Friday, February 28, 2014

FIRST READING: James 5: 9 - 12

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9 Grudge not, brethren, one against another, that you may not be judged. Behold the judge standeth before the door.

10 Take, my brethren, for an example of suffering evil, of labour and patience, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.

11 Behold, we account them blessed who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate.

12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath. But let your speech be, yea, yea: no, no: that you fall not under judgment.

PSALM: Psalms 103: 1 - 4, 8 - 12

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1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee.

3 Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.

4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful: longsuffering and plenteous in mercy.

9 He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.

10 He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11 For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us.

GOSPEL: Mark 10: 1 - 12

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1 And rising up from thence, he cometh into the coasts of Judea beyond the Jordan: and the multitudes flock to him again. And as he was accustomed, he taught them again.

2 And the Pharisees coming to him asked him: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

3 But he answering, saith to them: What did Moses command you?

4 Who said: Moses permitted to write a bill of divorce, and to put her away.

5 To whom Jesus answering, said: Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you that precept.

6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.

7 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother; and shall cleave to his wife.

8 And they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh.

9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

10 And in the house again his disciples asked him concerning the same thing.

11 And he saith to them: Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

12 And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

Catholic Mass Readings For Thursday, February 27, 2014

Memorial Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Confessor

FIRST READING: James 5: 1 - 6

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1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days.

4 Behold the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth: and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

5 You have feasted upon earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned and put to death the Just One, and he resisted you not.

PSALM: Psalms 49: 14 - 20

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14 This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards they shall delight in their mouth.

15 They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory.

16 But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me.

17 Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased.

18 For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him.

19 For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him.

20 He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 41 - 50

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41 For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

42 And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me; it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

43 And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire:

44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.

45 And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than having two feet, to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire:

46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.

47 And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire:

48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.

49 For every one shall be salted with fire: and every victim shall be salted with salt.

50 Salt is good. But if the salt became unsavoury; wherewith will you season it? Have salt in you, and have peace among you.

Catholic Mass Readings For Wednesday, February 26, 2014

FIRST READING: James 4: 13 - 17

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13 But who art thou that judgest thy neighbour? Behold, now you that say: Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and there we will spend a year, and will traffic, and make our gain.

14 Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow.

15 For what is your life? It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall vanish away. For that you should say: If the Lord will, and if we shall live, we will do this or that.

16 But now you rejoice in your arrogancies. All such rejoicing is wicked.

17 To him therefore who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin.

PSALM: Psalms 49: 2 - 3, 6 - 11

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2 Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.

3 All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and poor together.

6 Why shall I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall encompass me.

7 They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude of their riches,

8 No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to God his ransom,

9 Nor the price of the redemption of his soul: and shall labour for ever,

10 And shall still live unto the end.

11 He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers.

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 38 - 40

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38 John answered him, saying: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him.

39 But Jesus said: Do not forbid him. For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, and can soon speak ill of me.

40 For he that is not against you, is for you.

Catholic Mass Readings For Tuesday, February 25, 2014

"The First Shall Be Last" -- by James Tissot

FIRST READING: James 4: 1 - 10

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1 From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not hence, from your concupiscences, which war in your members?

2 You covet, and have not: you kill, and envy, and can not obtain. You contend and war, and you have not, because you ask not.

3 You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences.

4 Adulterers, know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the scripture saith in vain: To envy doth the spirit covet which dwelleth in you?

6 But he giveth greater grace. Wherefore he saith: God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

7 Be subject therefore to God, but resist the devil, and he will fly from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners: and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow.

10 Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

PSALM: Psalms 55: 7 - 11, 23

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7 And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?

8 Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.

9 I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

10 Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

11 Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

23 Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.

GOSPEL: Mark 9: 30 - 37

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30 And he taught his disciples, and said to them: The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise again the third day.

31 But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask him.

32 And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them: What did you treat of in the way?

33 But they held their peace, for in the way they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest.

34 And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all.

35 And taking a child, he set him in the midst of them. Whom when he had embraced, he saith to them:

36 Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

37 John answered him, saying: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him.