Sunday Catholic Mass Readings for August 27, 2017

FIRST READING: Isaiah 22: 19 - 23

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19 And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,

21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.

22 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.

23 And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father.

PSALM: Psalms 138: 1 - 3, 6, 8

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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.

6 For the Lord is high, and looketh on the low: and the high he knoweth afar off.

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

SECOND READING: Romans 11: 33 - 36

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33 O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!

34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?

35 Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him?

36 For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.

GOSPEL: Matthew 16: 13 - 20

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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.

20 Then he commanded his disciples, that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.

Daily Catholic Mass Readings for Saturday, August 26, 2017

"The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat"
-- by Alexandre Bida

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Optional Memorial)

FIRST READING: Ruth 2: 1 - 3, 8 - 11; 4: 13 - 17

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1 Now her husband Elimelech had a kinsman, a powerful man, and very rich, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother in law: If thou wilt, I will go into the field, and glean the ears of corn that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall find grace with a householder that will be favourable to me. And she answered her: Go, my daughter.

3 She went therefore and gleaned the ears of corn after the reapers. And it happened that the owner of that field was Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

8 And Boaz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place: but keep with my maids,

9 And follow where they reap. For I have charged my young men, not to molest thee: and if thou art thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of the waters whereof the servants drink.

10 She fell on her face and worshipping upon the ground, said to him: Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace before thy eyes, and that thou shouldst vouchsafe to take notice of me a woman of another country?

11 And he answered her: All hath been told me, that thou hast done to thy mother in law after the death of thy husband: and how thou hast left thy parents, and the land wherein thou wast born, and art come to a people which thou knewest not heretofore.

13 Boaz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive and to bear a son.

14 And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor, that his name should be preserved in Israel.

15 And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if thou hadst seven sons.

16 And Noemi taking the child laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it.

17 And the women her neighbours, congratulating with her and saying: There is a son born to Noemi: called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David.

PSALM: Psalms 128: 1 - 5

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1 Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.

2 For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee.

3 Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house.

4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.

5 May the Lord bless thee out of Sion: and mayest thou see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

GOSPEL: Matthew 23: 1 - 12

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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.

Daily Catholic Mass Readings for Friday, August 25, 2017

"The Pharisees Question Jesus"
-- by James Tissot

Memorial Saint Louis IX of France, King, Patron of the Third Order

FIRST READING: Ruth 1: 1, 3 - 6, 14 - 16, 22

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1 In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled, there came a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Juda, went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

3 And Elimelech the husband of Noemi died: and she remained with her sons.

4 And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten years.

5 And they both died, to wit, Mahalon and Chelion: and the woman was left alone, having lost both her sons and her husband.

6 And she arose to go from the land of Moab to her own country with both her daughters in law: for she had heard that the Lord had looked upon his people, and had given them food.

14 And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep again: Orpha kissed her mother in law and returned: Ruth stuck close to her mother in law.

15 And Noemi said to her: Behold thy kinswoman is returned to her people, and to her gods, go thou with her.

16 She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

22 So Noemi came with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter in law, from the land of her sojournment: and returned into Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest.

PSALM: Psalms 146: 5 - 10

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5 Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.

7 Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered:

8 The Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.

9 The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.

10 The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.

GOSPEL: Matthew 22: 34 - 40

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34 But the Pharisees hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together:

35 And one of them, a doctor of the law, asking him, tempting him:

36 Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.

38 This is the greatest and the first commandment.

39 And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.

Daily Catholic Mass Readings for Thursday, August 24, 2017

"Nathaniel Under the Fig Tree"
-- by James Tissot

Saint Bartholomew the Apostle (Feast)

FIRST READING: Revelation 21: 9 - 14

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9 And there came one of the seven angels, who had the vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying: Come, and I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

10 And he took me up in spirit to a great and high mountain: and he shewed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,

11 Having the glory of God, and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal.

12 And it had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and in the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

13 On the east, three gates: and on the north, three gates: and on the south, three gates: and on the west, three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them, the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

PSALM: Psalms 145: 10 - 13, 17 - 18

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10 Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee: and let thy saints bless thee.

11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of thy power:

12 To make thy might known to the sons of men: and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom.

13 Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words: and holy in all his works.

17 The Lord is just in all his ways: and holy in all his works.

18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth.

GOSPEL: John 1: 45 - 51

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45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.

46 And Nathanael said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see.

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him: and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.

48 Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered, and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

49 Nathanael answered him, and said: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.

50 Jesus answered, and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.

51 And he saith to him: Amen, amen I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.