Daily Catholic Mass Readings For Monday, March 9, 2015

"The Brow of the Hill near Nazareth"
-- by James Tissot

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

FIRST READING: 2 Kings 5:1-15

---

1 Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper.

2 Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman's wife.

3 And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the prophet, that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he hath.

4 Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and thus said tile girl from the land of Israel.

5 And the king of Syria said to him: Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and tell changes of raiment,

6 And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman my servant, that thou mayest heal him of his leprosy.

7 And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man hath sent to me, to heal a man of his leprosy? mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me.

8 And when Elisha the man of God had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.

9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha:

10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thee shalt be clean.

11 Naaman was angry and went away, saying: I thought he would hare come out to me, and standing would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me.

12 Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation,

13 His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt he clean?

14 Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean.

15 And returning to the man of God with all his train, be came, and stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel.

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

---

2 As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God.

3 My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?

3 Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.

4 And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL: SEE Psalms 130:5, 7

---

My soul hath hoped in the Lord, I trust in his word;

with him there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption.

GOSPEL: Luke 4:24-30

---

24 And he said: Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country.

25 In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elijah in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the earth.

26 And to none of them was Elijah sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.

28 And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger.

29 And they rose up and thrust him out of the city; and they brought him to the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

30 But he passing through the midst of them, went his way.

Due to my unplanned job change, I am still struggling to get by. Your help and assistance will be greatly appreciated! Donate securely with PayPal. Thank you, and God bless you!

Sunday Catholic Mass Readings For March 8, 2015

"The Merchants Chased from the Temple"
-- by James Tissot

Third Sunday of Lent

FIRST READING: Exodus 20:1-17 OR

Exodus 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17

---

1 And the Lord spoke all these words:

2 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.

8 Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.

10 But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

OR

1 And the Lord spoke all these words:

2 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.

8 Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

PSALM: Psalms 19:8-11

---

8 The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.

9 The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes.

10 The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves.

11 More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

---

22 For both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness:

24 But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Verse Before The Gospel: John 3:16

---

God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.

GOSPEL: John 2:13-25

---

13 And the pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 And he found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting.

15 And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew.

16 And to them that sold doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic.

17 And his disciples remembered, that it was written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up.

18 The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to him: What sign dost thou shew unto us, seeing thou dost these things?

19 Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

20 The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days?

21 But he spoke of the temple of his body.

22 When therefore he was risen again from the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they believed the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said.

23 Now when he was at Jerusalem, at the pasch, upon the festival day, many believed in his name, seeing his signs which he did.

24 But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men,

25 And because he needed not that any should give testimony of man: for he knew what was in man.

Daily Catholic Mass Readings For Saturday, March 7, 2015

"The Prodigal Son Begging" -- by James Tissot (left)  and
"The Return of the Prodigal Son' -- by James Tissot (right)

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

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

---

14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in Basan and Galaad according to the days of old.

15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt I will shew him wonders.

18 Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in no more, because he delighteth in mercy.

19 He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea.

20 Thou wilt perform the truth of Jacob, the mercy to Abraham: which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

PSALM: Psalms 103: 1-4, 9-12

---

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee.

3 Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.

4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion.

9 He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.

10 He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11 For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL: Luke 15: 18

---

I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him:

Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee:.

GOSPEL: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

---

1 Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying:

11 And he said: A certain man had two sons:

12 And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance.

13 And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously.

14 And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want.

15 And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.

16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him.

17 And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger?

18 I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee:

19 I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

20 And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him.

21 And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son.

22 And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry:

24 Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again: was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

25 Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing:

26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

27 And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe.

28 And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him.

29 And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends:

30 But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

31 But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine.

32 But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.