Catholic Mass Readings For Friday, July 04, 2014

FIRST READING: Amos 8: 4 - 6, 9 - 12

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4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy to do away with the weak of the land.

5 You who say, "When will the new moon or the sabbath feast be over that we may open the store and sell our grain? Let us lower the measure and raise the price; let us cheat and tamper with the scales,

6 and even sell the refuse with the whole grain. We will buy up the poor for money and the needy for a pair of sandals."

9 Yahweh says, "On that day I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your singing into wailing. Everyone will mourn, covered with sackcloth and every head will be shaved. I will make them mourn as for an only son and bring their day to a bitter end."

11 Yahweh says, "Days are coming when I will send famine upon the land, not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of Yahweh.

12 Men will stagger from sea to sea, wander to and fro, from north to east, searching for the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it.

PSALM: Psalms 119: 2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131

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2 Blessed are they who treasure his word and seek him with all their heart.

10 I seek you with my whole heart; let me not stray from your commands.

20 My soul is consumed with desire for your ordinances at all times.

30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart upon your laws.

40 Oh, how I long for your precepts! Renew my life in your righteousness.

131 I gasp in ardent yearning for your commandments that I love.

GOSPEL: Matthew 9: 9 - 13

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9 As Jesus moved on from there, he saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom-house, and he said to him, "Follow me." And Matthew got up and followed him.

10 Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew's house, many tax collectors and other sinners joined Jesus and his disciples.

11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, "Why is it that your master eats with those sinners and tax collectors?"

12 When Jesus heard this he said, "Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do.

13 Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

Catholic Mass Readings For Thursday, July 03, 2014

Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle

FIRST READING: Ephesians 2: 19 - 22

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19 Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God. You are the house

20 whose foundations are the apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus.

21 In him the whole structure is joined together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord.

22 In him you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.

PSALM: Psalms 117: 1 - 2

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1 Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise him.

2 How great is his love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

GOSPEL: John 20: 24 - 29

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24 Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he replied, "Until I have seen in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

26 Eight days later, the disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Resist no longer and be a believer."

28 Thomas then said, "You are my Lord and my God."

29 Jesus replied, "You believe because you see me, don't you? Happy are those who have not seen and believe."

Catholic Mass Readings For Wednesday, July 02, 2014

FIRST READING: Amos 5: 14 - 15, 21 - 24

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14 Seek good and shun evil, that you may live. Then Yahweh, the God of hosts, as you have claimed, will be with you.

15 Hate wickedness and love virtue, and let justice prevail in the courts; perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will take pity on the remnant of Joseph.

21 "I hate, I reject your feasts, I take no pleasure when you assemble

22 to offer me your burnt offerings. Your cereal offerings, I will not accept! Your offerings of fattened beasts, I will not look upon!

23 Away with the noise of your chanting, away with your strumming on harps.

24 But let justice run its course like water, and righteousness be like an ever-flowing river.

PSALM: Psalms 50: 7 - 13, 16 - 17

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7 "Hear, O my people, for I am speaking. I will accuse you, O Israel, I am God, your God!

8 Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before me.

9 I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

10 For I own all the beasts of the forest and the animals of my thousand hills.

11 All the birds of the air I know; all that move in the fields are mine.

12 I need not tell you if I were hungry, for mine is the world and all that it contains.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

16 But God says this to the wicked: "What right have you to mouth my laws, or to talk about my covenant?

17 You hate my commands and cast my words behind you.

GOSPEL: Matthew 8: 28 - 34

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28 When Jesus reached Gadara on the other side, he was met by two demoniacs who came out from the tombs. They were so fierce that no one dared to pass that way.

29 Suddenly they shouted, "What do you want with us, you, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time?"

30 At some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding.

31 So the demons begged him, "If you drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs."

32 Jesus ordered them, "Go." So they left and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned.

33 The men in charge of them ran off to the town, where they told the whole story, also what had happened to the men possessed with the demons.

34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their area.

Catholic Mass Readings For Tuesday, July 01, 2014

FIRST READING: Amos 3: 1 - 8; 4: 11 - 12

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1 Hear this word which Yahweh speaks against you, people of Israel, against the whole family which he brought up from the land of Egypt.

2 "Only you have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will call you to account for all your wrongdoings."

3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed?

4 Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion growl in its den unless it has seized something?

5 Does a bird get caught in a snare if the snare has not been baited? Does a tiger spring up from the ground unless it has caught something?

6 If a trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be frightened? If disaster strikes a city, has not Yahweh caused it?

7 Yet Yahweh does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets.

8 If the lion roars, who will not be afraid? If Yahweh speaks, who will not prophesy?

11 "I overthrew you, a divine punishment, as happened to Sodom and Gomorrah; you were like a brand snatched from the blaze, yet you never returned to me," says Yahweh.

12 "Therefore I will deal with you in my own way, Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare, Israel, to meet your God!"

PSALM: Psalms 5: 4 - 8

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4 From daybreak you hear my voice, from dawn I am in your presence watching for you.

5 You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil has no place in you.

6 The arrogant cannot stand before you. You hate all who do evil;

7 you destroy all who speak falsehood, who thirst for blood and live on lies; all of them the Lord detests.

8 But I, by your love and grace, may come into your house. In reverence I bow down and worship at your holy temple.

GOSPEL: Matthew 8: 23 - 27

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23 Jesus got into the boat and his disciples followed him.

24 Without warning a fierce storm hit the lake, with waves sweeping the boat. But Jesus was asleep.

25 They woke him and cried, "Lord save us! We are lost!"

26 But Jesus answered, "Why are you so afraid, you of little faith?" Then he stood up and ordered the wind and sea; and it became completely calm.

27 The people were astonished. They said, "What kind of man is he? Even the winds and the sea obey him."