Catholic Mass Readings For Thursday, July 24, 2014

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 2: 1 - 3, 7 - 8, 12 - 13

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1 A word of Yahweh came to me,

2 "Go and shout this in the hearing of Jerusalem. This is Yahweh's word: I remember your kindness as a youth, the love of your bridal days, when you followed me in the wilderness, through a land not sown.

3 Israel was holy to Yahweh, the first-fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it had to pay and misfortune fell on them - it is Yahweh who speaks.

7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat of the choicest fruit. As soon as you came you defiled my land and dishonored my heritage!

8 The priests did not ask, 'Where is Yahweh?' The masters of my teaching did not know me; the pastors of my people betrayed me; the prophets followed worthless idols and spoke in the name of Baal.

12 Be aghast at that, O heavens! Shudder, be utterly appalled - it is Yahweh who speaks -

13 for my people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, to dig for themselves leaking cisterns that hold no water!

PSALM: Psalms 36: 6 - 11

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6 Your love, O God, reaches the heavens; your faithfulness, to the clouds.

7 Your justice is like the mighty mountains; your judgment like the unfathomable deep. You preserve, O Lord, humans and beasts.

8 How precious, O God, is your constant love! Mortals take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

9 In your house they find rich food and they drink from your spring of delight,

10 for with you is the fountain of life. In your light we see light.

11 Bestow on your faithful your love and give salvation to the upright of heart.

GOSPEL: Matthew 13: 10 - 17

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10 Then his disciples came to him with the question, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"

11 Jesus answered, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people.

12 For the one who has, will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has.

13 That is why I speak to them in parables, because they look and do not see; they hear, but they do not listen or understand.

14 In them the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled: Much as you hear, you do not understand; much as you see, you do not perceive.

15 For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back and I would heal them.

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear.

17 For I tell you that many prophets and upright people would have longed to see the things you see, but they did not, and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear it.

Catholic Mass Readings For Wednesday, July 23, 2014

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 1: 1, 4 - 10

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1 These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

4 A word of Yahweh came to me,

5 "Even before I formed you in the womb I have known you; even before you were born I had set you apart, and appointed you a prophet to the nations!"

6 I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! I do not know how to speak; I am still young!"

7 But Yahweh replied, "Do not say; 'I am still young', for now you will go whatever be the mission I am entrusting to you, and you will speak of whatever I command you to say.

8 Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you - it is Yahweh who speaks!"

9 Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.

10 See! Today I give you authority over nations and over kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

PSALM: Psalms 71: 1 - 6, 15, 17

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1 In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; let me not be disgraced.

2 In your justice help me and deliver me, turn your ear to me and save me!

3 Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of cruel and violent people.

5 For you, O Lord, have been my hope, my trust, O God, from my youth.

6 I have relied on you from birth: from my mother's womb you brought me forth. My praise is of you continually.

15 My lips will proclaim your intervention and tell of your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand.

17 You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim your marvels.

GOSPEL: Matthew 13: 1 - 9

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1 That same day Jesus left the house and sat down by the lakeside.

2 As many people gathered around him, he got in a boat. There he sat while the whole crowd stood on the shore,

3 and he spoke to them in parables about many things.

4 Jesus said, "The sower went out to sow and, as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and ate them up.

5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there was little soil, and the seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was not deep.

6 But as soon the sun rose the plants were scorched and withered because they had no roots.

7 Again other seeds fell among thistles; and the thistles grew and choked the plants.

8 Still other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop; some produced a hundredfold, others sixty and others thirty.

9 If you have ears, then hear!"

Catholic Mass Readings For Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene

FIRST READING: Micah 7: 14 - 15, 18 - 20

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14 Shepherd your people with your staff, shepherd the flock of your inheritance that dwells alone in the scrub, in the midst of a fertile land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead

15 as in the days of old, in the days when you went out of Egypt.

Show us your wonders.

18 Who is a god like you, who takes away guilt and pardons crime for the remnant of his inheritance?

Who is like you whose anger does not last? For you delight in merciful forgiveness.

19 Once again you will show us your loving kindness and trample on our wrongs, casting all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20 Show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

PSALM: Psalms 85: 2 - 8

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2 You have favored your land, O Lord; you have brought back the exiles of Jacob.

3 You have forgiven the sin of your people; you have pardoned their offenses.

4 You have withdrawn your wrath and turned from your burning rage.

5 But restore us, God our savior; put away altogether your indignation.

6 Will your anger be ever with us, carried over to all generations?

7 Will you not give us life anew, that your people may rejoice in you?

8 Show us, O Lord, your unfailing love and grant us your saving help.

GOSPEL: John 20: 1 - 2, 11 - 18

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1 Now, on the first day after the sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away.

2 She ran to Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And she said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have laid him."

11 Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she bent down to look inside;

12 she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet.

13 They said, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She answered, "Because they have taken my Lord and I don't know where they have put him."

14 As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him.

15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and answered him, "Lord, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him."

16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him, "Rabboni" - which means, Master.

17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me; you see I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God."

18 So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me."

Catholic Mass Readings For Monday, July 21, 2014

Feast of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church

FIRST READING: Micah 6: 1 - 4, 6 - 8

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1 Listen to what Yahweh said to me, "Stand up, let the mountains hear your claim, and the hills listen to your plea."

2 Hear, O mountains, Yahweh's complaint! Foundations of the earth, pay attention! For Yahweh has a case against his people, and will argue it with Israel.

3 "O my people, what have I done to you? In what way have I been a burden to you? Answer me.

4 I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from the land of bondage; I sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead you.

6 "What shall I bring when I come to Yahweh and bow down before God the most high? Shall I come with burnt offerings, with sacrifices of yearling calves?

7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, with an overabundance of oil libations? Should I offer my firstborn for my sins, the fruit of my body for my wrongdoing?"

8 "You have been told, O man, what is good and what Yahweh requires of you: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

PSALM: Psalms 50: 5 - 6, 8 - 9, 16 - 17, 21, 23

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5 "Gather before me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

6 The heavens will proclaim his sentence, for God himself is the judge.

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.

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.

21 Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you.

23 Those who give with thanks offerings honor me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God."

GOSPEL: Matthew 12: 38 - 42

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38 Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."

39 Jesus answered them, "An evil and unfaithful people want a sign, but no sign will be given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

40 In the same way that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the monster fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.

41 At the judgment, the people of Niniveh will rise with this generation and condemn it, because they reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah, and here there is greater than Jonah.

42 At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here there is greater than Solomon.