Mass Readings Friday March 23, 2007

Reading 1

Wis 2:1a, 12-22

The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright:"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;he sets himself against our doings,Reproaches us for transgressions of the lawand charges us with violations of our training.He professes to have knowledge of Godand styles himself a child of the LORD.To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,Because his life is not like that of others,and different are his ways.He judges us debased;he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.He calls blest the destiny of the justand boasts that God is his Father.Let us see whether his words be true;let us find out what will happen to him.For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend himand deliver him from the hand of his foes.With revilement and torture let us put him to the testthat we may have proof of his gentlenessand try his patience.Let us condemn him to a shameful death;for according to his own words, God will take care of him."These were their thoughts, but they erred;for their wickedness blinded them,and they knew not the hidden counsels of God;neither did they count on a recompense of holinessnor discern the innocent souls’ reward.

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Responsorial Psalm

Ps 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23

R. (19a) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

The LORD confronts the evildoers,

to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.

When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,

and from all their distress he rescues them.

R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

Many are the troubles of the just man,

but out of them all the LORD delivers him.

R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

He watches over all his bones;

not one of them shall be broken.

The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;

no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.

R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

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Gospel

Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Jesus moved about within Galilee;he did not wish to travel in Judea,because the Jews were trying to kill him.But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,"Is he not the one they are trying to kill?And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?But we know where he is from.When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,"You know me and also know where I am from.Yet I did not come on my own,but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."So they tried to arrest him,but no one laid a hand upon him,because his hour had not yet come.

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Mass Readings Thursday March 22, 2007

Reading 1

Ex 32:7-14

The LORD said to Moses,"Go down at once to your peoplewhom you brought out of the land of Egypt,for they have become depraved.They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,sacrificing to it and crying out,‘This is your God, O Israel,who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’"The LORD said to Moses,"I see how stiff-necked this people is.Let me alone, then,that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.Then I will make of you a great nation."

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,"Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,whom you brought out of the land of Egyptwith such great power and with so strong a hand?Why should the Egyptians say,‘With evil intent he brought them out,that he might kill them in the mountainsand exterminate them from the face of the earth’?Let your blazing wrath die down;relent in punishing your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,and how you swore to them by your own self, saying,‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky;and all this land that I promised,I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’"So the LORD relented in the punishmenthe had threatened to inflict on his people.

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Responsorial Psalm

Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23

R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Our fathers made a calf in Horeb

and adored a molten image;

They exchanged their glory

for the image of a grass-eating bullock.

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They forgot the God who had saved them,

who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,

terrible things at the Red Sea.

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

but Moses, his chosen one,

Withstood him in the breach

to turn back his destructive wrath.

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

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Gospel

Jn 5:31-47

Jesus said to the Jews: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.But there is another who testifies on my behalf,and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.I do not accept human testimony,but I say this so that you may be saved.He was a burning and shining lamp,and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.But I have testimony greater than John’s.The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,these works that I perform testify on my behalfthat the Father has sent me.Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,and you do not have his word remaining in you,because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.You search the Scriptures,because you think you have eternal life through them;even they testify on my behalf.But you do not want to come to me to have life.

"I do not accept human praise;moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father,but you do not accept me;yet if another comes in his own name,you will accept him.How can you believe, when you accept praise from one anotherand do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:the one who will accuse you is Moses,in whom you have placed your hope.For if you had believed Moses,you would have believed me,because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings,how will you believe my words?"

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