Churches of the Day

 - Tuesday, Third  Week in Lent -

Azariah prayed that God forgive the blunders of His chosen people because of his generosity and love and because of their humble requests. Jesus reminds us of the need to forgive each other, always.

FIRST READING

A reading from the prophet Daniel                               3:25.34-43
May the contrite soul, the humbled spirit be as acceptable to you.

Azariah stood in the heart of the fire, and he began to pray:
Oh! Do not abandon us for ever, for the sake of your name; do not repudiate your covenant,
do not withdraw your favour from us, for the sake of Abraham, your friend, of Isaac your servant,
and of Israel your holy one, to whom you promised descendants as countless as the stars of heaven and as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Lord, now we are the least of all the nations, now we are despised throughout the world, because of our sins.
We have at this time no leader, no prophet, no prince, no holocaust, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense,
no place where we can offer you the first-fruits and win your favour.

But may the contrite soul, the humbled spirit be as acceptable to you as holocausts of rams and bullocks, as thousands of fattened lambs: such let our sacrifice be to you today,
and may it be your will that we follow you wholeheartedly,
since those who put their trust in you will not be disappointed.

And now we put our whole heart into following you, into fearing you and seeking your face once more.
Do not disappoint us; treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle and very merciful.
Grant us deliverance worthy of your wonderful deeds, let your name win glory, Lord.

The Word of the Lord             Thanks be to God


Responsorial Psalm          Ps 24:4-9. R/v 6
Response                              Remember your mercy, Lord.

1. Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me: for you are God my saviour.           Response

2. Remember your mercy, Lord, and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth because of your goodness, Lord.           Response

3. The Lord is good and upright. He shows the path to those who stray.
He guides the humble in the right path; he teaches his way to the poor.            Response

Gospel  Acclamation                         Lk 8:15
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
Blessed are those who, with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves and yield a harvest
through their perseverance.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

Or                                                                Joel 2: 12-13
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
Now, now -it is the Lord who speaks - came back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew            18:21-35          Glory to you, O Lord
Father will not forgive you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.

Peter went up to Jesus and said,
'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?'
Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.'

'And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet. "Give me time" he said "and I will pay the whole sum." And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt.
'Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. "Pay what you owe me" he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, "Give me time and I will pay you."
But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him.
Then the master sent for him. "You wicked servant," he said "I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?" And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt.

'And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.'

The Gospel of the Lord            Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection         Tuesday,       Third Week of Lent       Matthew 18:21-35

When the servant who owed the king a staggering amount of money discovered that he and all his family and possessions were to be sold into slavery to pay the debt, he asked the king for time to pay the debt, ‘Give me time and I will pay the whole sum’. The king agreed to his servant’s request. When the servant subsequently met a fellow servant who owed him a very small amount of money, his fellow servant made the same request of him that he had made of the king, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. However the servant was not prepared to grant his fellow servant the precious gift of time, the time he needed to pay off the debt. For him, time was money. Time can symbolize money but it can symbolize so much else as well. It can also symbolize forgiveness. Giving time to someone can be saying, ‘I withhold judgement for now’. One of the greatest gifts we can give to another is the gift of time.

One of the messages of today’s parable may be that the Lord is much more generous with the gift of time that we are. The Lord gives us time to put things right, to return to him with all our heart, to give him the place in our lives that he deserves. As one of the letters of the New Testament puts it, ‘with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years’ (2 Peter 3:8). The parable calls on us to give this gift of time to others with the same generosity that the Lord gives this gift to us.

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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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Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare, (Rejoicing Sunday)
(- Rose or Violet Sunday-)

The healing of the blind man by Jesus is a sign of our baptism, we begin to see things differently. Like never before you begin to see the light of Jesus, his vision for us and our mission to follow him.

This is the day of the Second Scrutiny of the adult baptism candidates.

First Reading                 1Samuel 16:1. 6-7, 10-13
David is anointed king of Israel.

The lord said to Samuel,
‘Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,
for I have chosen myself a king among his sons.'
When Samuel arrived, he caught sight of Eliab and thought,
'Surely the Lord’s anointed one stands there before him',
but the Lord said to Samuel, 'Take no notice of his appearance or his height for I have rejected him; God does not see as man sees; man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart.'
Jesse presented his seven sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these.'
He then asked Jesse, 'Are these all the sons you have?'
He answered, 'There is still one left, the youngest; he is out looking after the sheep.'

Then Samuel said to Jesse, 'Send for him; we will not sit down to eat until he comes.'
Jesse had him sent for, a boy of fresh complexion, with fine eyes and pleasant bearing. The Lord said, 'Come, anoint him, for this is the one.' At this, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him where he stood with his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord seized on David and stayed with him from that day on.

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm  Ps 32: 1-3, 3-4, 5-6. R/v 1.
Response                       The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

1. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
    Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose.
    Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.                                Response

2. He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name.
    If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear.
    You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort.    Response

3. You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing.                                       Response                           

4. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.
    In the Lord's own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.                                          Response

Second Reading 

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Ephesians    5:8-14
Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; be like children of light, for the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and right living and truth. Try to discover what the Lord wants of you, having nothing to do with the futile works of darkness but exposing them by contrast. The things which are done in secret are things that people are ashamed even to speak of; but anything exposed by the light will be illuminated and anything illuminated turns into light. This is why it is said: 'Wake up from your sleep, rise from the dead, Christ will shine on you.'

The Word of the Lord           Thanks be to God.


Gospel  Acclamation        Jn 8:12
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have eternal life.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

Gospel                    

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John  9:1-41         Glory to you, O Lord
He went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him,
'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?'
'Neither he nor his parents sinned,' Jesus answered 'he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.' As long as the day lasts I must carry out the work of the one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.'

Having said this, he spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man. and said to him,
'Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (a name that means 'sent').
So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, 'Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?'
Some said, 'Yes, it is the same one'. Others said, 'No, he only looks like him'. The man himself said, 'I am the man'. So they said to him, 'Then how do your eyes come to be open?' 'The man called Jesus', he answered 'made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me,
"Go and wash at Siloam"; so I went, and when I washed I could see.'
They asked, 'Where is he?' 'I don't know' he answered.

They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said, 'He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see'. Then some of the Pharisees said, 'This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the sabbath'.
Others said, 'How could a sinner produce signs like this?' And there was disagreement among them.

So they spoke to the blind man again, 'What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?'
'He is a prophet' replied the man. However, the Jews would not believe that the man had been blind and had gained his sight, without first sending for his parents and asking them, 'Is this man really your son who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he is now able to see?'
His parents answered, 'We know he is our son and we know he was born blind, but we don't know how it is that he can see now, or who opened his eyes. He is old enough: let him speak for himself.'
His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to expel from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. This was why his parents said, 'He is old enough; ask him'.

So the Jews again sent for the man and said to him,
'Give glory to God! For our part, we know that this man is a sinner.'
The man answered, 'I don't know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see'.
They said to him, 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?'
He replied, 'I have told you once and you wouldn't listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become his disciples too?'
At this they hurled abuse at him: 'You can be his disciple,' they said 'we are disciples of Moses: we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he comes from'.
The man replied, 'Now here is an astonishing thing! He has opened my eyes, and you don't know where he comes from! We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will. Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind; if this man were not from God, he couldn't do a thing.'
'Are you trying to teach us,' they replied 'and you a sinner through and through, since you were born!' And they drove him away.

Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him,
'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'
'Sir,' the man replied 'tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.'
Jesus said, 'You are looking at him; he is speaking to you'.
The man said, 'Lord, I believe', and worshipped him.
Jesus said: 'It is for judgement that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see  and those with sight turn blind'.

Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, 'We are not blind, surely?'
Jesus replied: 'Blind? If you were, you would not be guilty,  but since you say, "We see",  your guilt remains.

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

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Shorter Form

Gospel 

The Lord be with you.                                     And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John  9:1. 6-9. 13-17..34-38        Glory to you, O Lord
He went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. He spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man. and said to him, 'Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (a name that means 'sent'). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, 'Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?' Some said, 'Yes, it is the same one'. Others said, 'No, he only looks like him'. The man himself said, 'I am the man'. 

 They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said, 'He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see'. Then some of the Pharisees said, 'This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the sabbath'. Others said, 'How could a sinner produce signs like this?' And there was disagreement among them. So they spoke to the blind man again, 'What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?'
'He is a prophet' replied the man.
'Are you trying to teach us,' they replied 'and you a sinner through and through, since you were born!' And they drove him away.

Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?' 'Sir,' the man replied 'tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.'
Jesus said, 'You are looking at him; he is speaking to you'. The man said, 'Lord, I believe', and worshipped him.
Jesus said: 'It is for judgement that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see  and those with sight turn blind'.

Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, 'We are not blind, surely?'
Jesus replied: 'Blind? If you were, you would not be guilty,  but since you say, "We see",  your guilt remains.




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.