Churches of the Day

Thursday of the Eight Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2

FIRST READING

A reading from the first letter of St Peter 2:2-5. 9-12
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart to sing the praises of  him who called you.

You are new born, and, like babies, you should be hungry for nothing but milk - the spiritual honesty which will help you to grow up to salvation - now that you have tasted the goodness of the Lord. He is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all and now you are the People of God; once you were outside the mercy and now you have been given mercy.

I urge you, my dear people, while you are visitors and pilgrims to keep yourselves free from the selfish passions that attack the soul. Always behave honourably among pagans so that they can see your good works for themselves and, when the day of reckoning comes, give thanks to God for the things which now make them denounce you as criminals.

The Word of the Lord         Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm:    Ps 99: 2-5. R/v 2
Response:                        Come before the Lord, singing for joy.

1. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for ,joy.               Response

2. Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.   Response

3. Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his courts with songs of praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.    Response

4. Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.                    Response

Gospel  Acclamation           1 Jn 2: 5
Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting for the Lord, I count on his word.
Alleluia!

or                                               Mk 10: 45
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord,
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL 

The Lord be with you              And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark 10: 46-52          Glory to you, O Lord
Master, let me see again
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, 'Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.'
And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder,
''Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.''
Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him here.'
So they called the blind man. 'Courage,' they said 'get up; he is calling you.'
So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus.
Then Jesus spoke,  'What do you want me to do for you?'
'Rabbuni,' the blind man said to him 'Master, let me see again.'
Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has saved you.'
And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road.

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

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Reflection     Thursday,           Eighth Week in Ordinary Time             Mark 10:46-52

I have always admired the tenacity of the blind man of Jericho in today’s gospel reading. Hearing that Jesus was passing by, he cried out, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me’. When some of the crowd around Jesus gave out to him and told him to be quiet, he only shouted out his prayer all the louder. He was determined to make contact with Jesus and would not succumb to the pressure of others to hold his tongue. He strikes me as a good model for us today.

It is not always easy to bear witness to our faith in Jesus in today’s world. Like the blind man by the roadside in today’s gospel reading, we can feel a certain pressure to keep quiet, to become invisible with regard to our faith in the Lord. Yet, this tenacious man encourages us to keep the Lord in view, regardless of the pressure to do otherwise. In the gospel reading, Jesus’ response to the man was very different to the crowd’s response to him. They wanted to silence him. In contrast, Jesus asked the very people who were trying to silence the man to call him over. In the midst of the hostility towards him, the Lord called him. In a similar way, the Lord keeps calling out to us even in those contexts that are not supportive of our relationship with him. If we try to respond to the Lord’s call as generously as Bartimaeus did, the Lord will be as generous with us as he was with him.



The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings:  The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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The Most Holy Trinity

‘In the Church one God is preached, who is “above all things and through all things and in all things”. Yes, certainly, “above all things” as the Father, the first principle and origin; and truly “through all things”, that is through the Word, and finally “in all things” in the Holy Spirit' (St Athanasius )

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of Exodus             34:4-6. 8-9
Our Lord is a God of tenderness and compassion.

  With the two tablets of stone in his hands, he went up the mountain of Sinai in the early morning as the Lord had commanded him. And the Lord descended in the form of a cloud, and Moses stood with him there.

He called on the name of the Lord.  The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; And Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped.

'If I have indeed won your favour, Lord,' he said 'let my Lord come with us, I beg. True, they are a headstrong people, but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt us as your heritage.'

The Word of the Lord.             Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm          Dan 3:52-56
Response                                To you glory and praise for evermore.


1. You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.            Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.
Blest your glorious holy name.                               Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.

2. You are blest in the temple of your glory.       Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.    Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.

3. You are blest who gaze into the depths.          Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest in the firmament of heaven.          Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.

 

SECOND READING
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Corinthians       13:11-13
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Brothers, we wish you happiness; try to grow perfect; help one another.
Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with the holy kiss. All the saints send you greetings.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God

Gospel Acclamation          Apoc 1:8
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
the God who is, who was, and who is to come
Alleluia!

GOSPEL
The Lord be with you             And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to John 3:16-18Glory to you, O Lord
For God sent his Son into the world so that through him the world might be saved.

Jesus said to Nicodemus,
'God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.

No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son.'

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.