Daily Mass Readings for Thursday, October 6, 2011

FIRST READING: Malachi 3: 13 - 20

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13 "Your words have been stout against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, `How have we spoken against thee?'

14 You have said, `It is vain to serve God. What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts?

15 Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape.'"

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another; the LORD heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and thought on his name.

17 "They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

18 Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

19 For the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts.

20 But for you who fear my name, the sun of justice will arise with healing in its wings.

PSALM: Psalms 1: 1 - 4, 6

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1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.

6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

GOSPEL: Luke 11: 5 - 13

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5 And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves;

6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';

7 and he will answer from within, `Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything'?

8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

9 And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

10 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;

12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Daily Mass Readings for Wednesday, October 5, 2011

FIRST READING: Jonah 4: 1 - 11

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1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, "I pray thee, LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love

3 Therefore now, O LORD, take my life from me, I beseech thee, for it is better for me to die than to live."

4 And the LORD said, "Do you do well to be angry?"

5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

6 And the LORD God appointed a plant, and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm which attacked the plant, so that it withered.

8 When the sun rose, God appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he was faint; and he asked that he might die, and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "I do well to be angry, angry enough to die."

10 And the LORD said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night, and perished in a night.

11 And should not I pity Nin'eveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"

PSALM: Psalms 86: 3 - 6, 9 - 10

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3 be gracious to me, O Lord, for to thee do I cry all the day.

4 Gladden the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For thou, O Lord, art good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on thee.

6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; hearken to my cry of supplication.

9 All the nations thou hast made shall come and bow down before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.

10 For thou art great and doest wondrous things, thou alone art God.

GOSPEL: Luke 11: 1 - 4

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1 He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

2 And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread;

4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation."