Mass Readings for Wednesday March 10, 2010

Lenten Weekday (Total Consecration - Day 19)

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5 - 9

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1 "And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

6 Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

9 "Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children....

PSALM: Psalms 147: 12 - 13, 15 - 16, 19 - 20

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12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.

15 He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.

16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD! 

 

GOSPEL: Matthew 5: 17 - 19

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17 "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.

18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

19 Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mass Readings for Tuesday, March 9, 2010

 

Lenten Weekday (Total Consecration - Day 18)

FIRST READING: Daniel 3: 25, 34 - 43

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25 In the fire Azariah stood up and prayed aloud:

34 For your name's sake, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant.

35 Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

36 To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea.

37 For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.

38 We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

39 But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received;

40 As though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

41 And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you.

42 Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

43 Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord:

PSALM: Psalms 25: 4 - 9

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4 Make me to know thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long.

6 Be mindful of thy mercy, O LORD, and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness' sake, O LORD!

8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 

 

GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 21 - 35

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21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.

24 When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents;

25 and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, `Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

27 And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

28 But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, `Pay what you owe.'

29 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, `Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

30 He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt.

31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.

32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, `You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me;

33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'

34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt.

Mass Readings for Monday March 8, 2010

 Lenten Weekday (Total Consecration -  Day 17)

FIRST READING: 2 Kings 5: 1 - 5

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1 Na'aman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Na'aman's wife.

3 She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Sama'ria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

4 So Na'aman went in and told his lord, "Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel."

5 And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments. 
 

PSALM: Psalms 42: 2 - 3; 43: 3 - 4

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2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"

3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise thee with the lyre, O God, my God.

GOSPEL: Luke 4: 24 - 30

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24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;

26 and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian."

28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.

30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Mass Readings for Sunday March 7, 2010

Third Sunday of Lent (Total Consecration - Day 16)

FIRST READING: Exodus 3: 1 - 8, 13 - 15

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1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Mid'ian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."

4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I."

5 Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

6 And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the LORD said, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings,

8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Per'izzites, the Hivites, and the Jeb'usites.

13 Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' what shall I say to them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'"

15 God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, `The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. 
 

PSALM: Psalms 103: 1 - 4, 6 - 8, 11

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1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

6 The LORD works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 
 

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10: 1 - 6, 10 - 12

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1 I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

3 and all ate the same supernatural food

4 and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

5 Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did.

10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

11 Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

12 Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

GOSPEL: Luke 13: 1 - 9

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1 There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus?

3 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.

4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

6 And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

7 And he said to the vinedresser, `Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?'

8 And he answered him, `Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure.

9 And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"