Churches of the Day

Second Sunday in Lent Year C

The vision f Jesus' transfiguration in glory is given to the three apostles  who will later see his suffering if the Garden  and
recorded for us as an encouragement

First Reading

A reading from the Book of Genesis      15:5-12. 17-18
The Lord made a Covenant with Abram, the man of faith.

Taking Abram outside the Lord said,
'Look up to heaven and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants' he told him.
Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified.
'I am the Lord, he said to him 'who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to make you heir to this land.'
'My Lord the Lord,' Abram replied, how am I to know that I shall inherit it?'
He said to him,
'Get me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.'
He brought him all these, cut them in half and put half on one side and half facing it on the other; but the birds he did not cut in half. Birds of prey came down on the carcases but Abram drove them off.

Now as the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized him.
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, there appeared a smoking furnace and a firebrand that went between the halves.
That day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram in these terms:
'To your descendants I give this land,  from the wadi of Egypt to the Great River.

The Word of the Lord               Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm:           Ps 26
Response :                              The Lord is my light and my help.

1. The Lord is my light and my help; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; before whom shall I shrink?  Response

2. O Lord, hear my voice when I call; have mercy and answer.
Of you my heart has spoken: 'Seek his face.'                                           Response

3. It is your face, 0 Lord, that I seek; hide not your face.
Dismiss not your servant in anger; you have been my help.                Response

4. I am sure I shall see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord!                   Response

Second Reading

A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Philippians      3:17- 4:1
Christ will transfigure these bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body.

My brothers, be united in following my rule of life. Take as your models everybody who is already doing this and study them as you used to study us. I have told you often, and I repeat it today with tears, there are many who are behaving as the enemies of the cross of Christ. They are destined to be lost. They make foods into their god and they are proudest of something they ought to think shameful; the things they think important are earthly things.

For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.

So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown.

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

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Shorter form
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A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Philippians      3:17- 4:1
Christ will transfigure these bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body.

For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body.
He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.

So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord.
I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown.

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

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Gospel  Acclamation           Mt 17:5
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
From the bright cloud the Father's voice was heard 'This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.'
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke      9:28-36        Glory to you, O Lord
As Jesus prayed, the aspect of his face was changed.

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray. As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. Suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they kept awake and saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus,
'Master, it is wonderful for us to be here;
so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah'.
- He did not know what he was saying.

As he spoke, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid.
And a voice came from the cloud saying, 'This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.'

And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.
The disciples kept silence and, at that time, told no one what they had seen.

The Gospel of the Lord       Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/



Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.

Third Sunday of Lent Year C

For Jesus: A fruitless tree can be a reminder of a call to repentance, a second or third chance to change.

(The first Scrutiny of Catechumens is celebrated today)

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of  Exodus       3:1-18. 13-15
'I Am' has sent me to you.

Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up.
'I must go and look at this strange sight,' Moses said  'and see why the bush is not burnt.'
Now the Lord saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush.
'Moses, Moses!' he said.
'Here I am' he answered.
'Come no nearer' he said.
'Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your father,' he said 'the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.'
At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.

And the Lord said,
'I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers.
Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
After you have led the people out of Egypt, you are to offer worship to God on this mountain.'

Then Moses said to God,
'I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you."
But if they ask me what his name is, what am I to tell them?'
And God said to Moses,  'I Am who I Am.
'This' he added 'is what you must say to the sons of Israel: "I Am has sent me to you."
And God also said to Moses,
'You are to say to the sons 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 all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.

The Word of the Lord             Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 102
Response                                   The Lord is compassion and love.

1. My soul, give thanks to the Lord, all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings.                                          Response

2. It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals everyone of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion.            Response

3. The Lord does deeds of justice, gives judgement for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses and his deeds to Israel's sons.                                           Response

4. The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
For as the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him.  Response

Second Reading               
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians      10:1-6. 10-12
The life of the people was written down to be a lesson for us.

I want to remind you, brothers, how our fathers were all guided by a cloud above them and how they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in this cloud and in this sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and that rock was Christ. In spite of this, most of them failed to please God and their corpses littered the desert.

These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain: some of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.

All this happened to them as a warning, and it was written down to be a lesson for us who are living at the end of the age. The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.

The Word of the Lord                Thanks be to God.


Gospel  Acclamation           Mt 4:17
Glory and praise to you, O Christ , you are the Word of God!
Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ , you are the Word of God!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.                    And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke   13:1-9
Unless you repent you will all perish as they did.

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices At this he said to them,
'Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans?
They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.'

He told this parable:
'A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard,
"Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?"
"Sir," the man replied "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down."'

The Gospel of the Lord           Praise to you , Lord Jesus Christ




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.

For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/

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