Catholic

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First readingAmos 6:1,4-7 ©

Woe to those who live in luxury

The almighty Lord says this:Woe to those ensconced so snugly in Zionand to those who feel so safe on the mountain of Samaria,those famous men of this first of nationsto whom the House of Israel goes as client.Lying on ivory bedsand sprawling on their divans,they dine on lambs from the flock,and stall-fattened veal;they bawl to the sound of the harp,they invent new instruments of music like David,they drink wine by the bowlful,and use the finest oil for anointing themselves,but about the ruin of Joseph they do not care at all.That is why they will be the first to be exiled;the sprawlers’ revelry is over.

Responsorial PsalmPsalm 145(146):7-10 ©

My soul, give praise to the Lord.orAlleluia!It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,  who is just to those who are oppressed.It is he who gives bread to the hungry,  the Lord, who sets prisoners free.My soul, give praise to the Lord.orAlleluia!It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,  who raises up those who are bowed down.It is the Lord who loves the just,  the Lord, who protects the stranger.My soul, give praise to the Lord.orAlleluia!The Lord upholds the widow and orphan  but thwarts the path of the wicked.The Lord will reign for ever,  Zion’s God, from age to age.My soul, give praise to the Lord.orAlleluia!

Second reading1 Timothy 6:11-16 ©

Do all that you have been told, until the Appearing of the Lord

As a man dedicated to God, you must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses. Now, before God the source of all life and before Christ, who spoke up as a witness for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,who at the due time will be revealedby God, the blessed and only Ruler of all,the King of kings and the Lord of lords,who alone is immortal,whose home is in inaccessible light,whom no man has seen and no man is able to see:to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.

Gospel AcclamationJn10:27

Alleluia, alleluia!The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,says the Lord,I know them and they follow me.Alleluia!

GospelLuke 16:19-31 ©

Dives and Lazarus

Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.  ‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”  ‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, fath[...]

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First readingWisdom 9:13-18 ©

Who can divine the will of God?

What man indeed can know the intentions of God?

Who can divine the will of the Lord?

The reasonings of mortals are unsure

and our intentions unstable;

for a perishable body presses down the soul,

and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind.

It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth,

laborious to know what lies within our reach;

who, then, can discover what is in the heavens?

As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom

and sent your holy spirit from above?

Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened

and men been taught what pleases you,

and saved, by Wisdom.

Responsorial PsalmPsalm 89(90):3-6,12-14,17 ©

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You turn men back to dust

  and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’

To your eyes a thousand years

  are like yesterday, come and gone,

  no more than a watch in the night.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You sweep men away like a dream,

  like the grass which springs up in the morning.

In the morning it springs up and flowers:

  by evening it withers and fades.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Make us know the shortness of our life

  that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?

  Show pity to your servants.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

In the morning, fill us with your love;

  we shall exult and rejoice all our days.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:

  give success to the work of our hands.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Second readingPhilemon 9-10,12-17 ©

He is a slave no longer, but a dear brother in the Lord

This

is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a prisoner of

Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I

became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him

back to you, and with him – I could say – a part of my own self. I

should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute

for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has

brought me. However, I did not want to do anything without your consent;

it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be

spontaneous. I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but

it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any

more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother;

especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as

well as a brother in the Lord. So if all that we have in common means

anything to you, welcome him as you would me.

Gospel AcclamationJn15:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Or:Ps118:135

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let your face shine on your servant;

and teach me your decrees.

Alleluia!

GospelLuke 14:25-33 ©Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my discipleGreat

crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them.

‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife,

children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my

disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot

be my disciple.

  ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a

tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had

enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then

found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start

making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and

was un[...]

Readings at Mass

First readingJeremiah 38:4-6,8-10

‘Do not let the prophet die’

The

king’s leading men spoke to the king. ‘Let Jeremiah be put to death: he

is unquestionably disheartening the remaining soldiers in the city, and

all the people too, by talking like this. The fellow does not have the

welfare of this people at heart so much as its ruin.’ ‘He is in your

hands as you know,’ King Zedekiah answered ‘for the king is powerless

against you.’ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the well of

Prince Malchiah in the Court of the Guard, letting him down with ropes.

There was no water in the well, only mud, and into the mud Jeremiah

sank.

  Ebed-melech came out from the palace and spoke to the

king. ‘My lord king,’ he said ‘these men have done a wicked thing by

treating the prophet Jeremiah like this: they have thrown him into the

well, where he will die.’ At this the king gave Ebed-melech the Cushite

the following order: ‘Take three men with you from here and pull the

prophet Jeremiah out of the well before he dies.’

Responsorial PsalmPsalm 39(40):2-4,18

Lord, come to my aid!

I waited, I waited for the Lord

  and he stooped down to me;

  he heard my cry.

Lord, come to my aid!

He drew me from the deadly pit,

  from the miry clay.

He set my feet upon a rock

  and made my footsteps firm.

Lord, come to my aid!

He put a new song into my mouth,

  praise of our God.

Many shall see and fear

  and shall trust in the Lord.

Lord, come to my aid!

As for me, wretched and poor,

  the Lord thinks of me.

You are my rescuer, my help,

  O God, do not delay.

Lord, come to my aid!

Second readingHebrews 12:1-4

We should keep running steadily in the race we have started

With

so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then,

should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that

clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started.

Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it

to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future,

he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right

of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners

and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against

sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.

GospelLuke 12:49-53

How I wish it were blazing already!

Jesus

said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how

I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still

receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!

  ‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on

earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household

of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the

father divided against the son, son against father, mother against

daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against

daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

Source: https://universalis.com/