Churches of the Day

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1

Because Joseph, at no charge, received plenty  from God's hand.
now he too can afford to be generous and forgiving of his brothers.

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of Genesis      44:18-21. 23-29; 45:1-5
God sent me before you to preserve your lives.

Judah went up to Joseph and said, 'May it please my lord, let your servant have a word privately with my lord.
Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.
My lord questioned his servants, "Have you father or brother?"
And we said to my lord,
"We have an old father, and a younger brother born of his old age.
His brother is dead, so he is the only one left of his mother, and his father loves him."
Then you said to your servants, "Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him".
But you said to your servants,
"If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not be admitted to my presence again."
When we went back to your servant my father, we repeated to him what my lord had said. So when our father said, "Go back and buy us a little food",
We said, "We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down, for we cannot be admitted to the man's presence unless our youngest brother is with us."
So your servant our father said to us, "You know that my wife bore me two children. When one left me, I said that he must have been torn to pieces. And I have not seen him to this day. If you take this one from me too and any harm comes to him, you will send me down to Sheol with my white head bowed in misery."'

Then Joseph could not control his feelings in front of all his retainers, and he exclaimed,
'Let everyone leave me.'
No one therefore was present with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers, but he wept so loudly that all the Egyptians heard, and the news reached Pharaoh's palace.
Joseph said to his brothers,
'I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?'
His brothers could not answer him, they were so dismayed at the sight of him.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come closer to me'.
When they had come closer to him he said,
'I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives.

The Word of the Lord.        Thanks be to God.


Responsorial Psalm     Ps 104
Response                         Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
Or                                       Alleluia

1. The Lord called down a famine on the land; he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave.                             Response

2. His feet were put in chains, his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass and the Lord's word proved him true.   Response

3. Then the king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free,
making him master of his house and ruler of all he possessed.                  Response

Gospel  Acclamation    Ps 94: 8
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today' but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!

Or                                       Mk 1: 15
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The kingdom of God is close at hand, repent and believe the Good News.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL


The Lord be with you                       And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew      10:7-15           Glory to you, O Lord.
You received without charge, give without charge.

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows:
'And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.

Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses, with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep.

'Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house, salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it;
if it does not, let your peace come back to you.

And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet.
I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgement it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town.'

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




 Gospel Reflection                 Thursday,               Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time                   Matthew 10:7-15

There is a very emotional scene in today’s first reading. Joseph learns from his brothers that his father Jacob, whom he had presumed to be dead, was in fact alive. When Joseph then revealed his true identity to his brothers, they were speechless when they discovered that the brother whom they had presumed dead, because they had thrown him into a pit, was alive and standing before them. Reality is often much more mysterious than we realize. Joseph’s brothers had good reason to think that he would now turn against them, as they had turned against him. However, Joseph realized that God had kept him alive for this very purpose, to preserve the lives of his brothers who were facing famine in Israel, ‘God sent me before you to preserve your lives’. Joseph recognized the purpose of God in all that had happened to him, including the terrifying experience of being left for dead by his brothers some years earlier. In retrospect he came to see that the Lord had been working through him all along.

In the gospel reading, Jesus sends out the twelve on mission so that he can work through them for the benefit of others. They are to proclaim the same message Jesus proclaimed, ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand’, and he empowered them to do the same life-giving work he had been doing. The Lord wants to work through all of our lives. Sometimes, as in the case of Joseph, it is only looking back that we can see how the Lord was present in our lives, how he was working through our lives, even in those moments when, at the time, we thought he had abandoned us. The Lord is with us always, working for our good, even in those times when he seems to be absent. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’.

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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 Reflections on the Weekday Readings : Your word is a lamp for my feet and light for my path by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

The Good Samaritan Sunday Gospel reminds us, appeals to us calls to us, urges us, shouts to us
to be a good Samaritan to others and ourselves for God's sake and our own, like Jesus was and is.

FIRST READING           

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy           30: 10-14
The Word is very near to you for your observance.

Moses said to the people:
 'Obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping those commandments and laws of his that are written in the Book of this Law, and you shall return to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

'For this Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you need to wonder, "Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?"
Nor is it beyond the seas, so that you need to wonder, "Who will cross the seas for us and bring it back to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?"
No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance.'

The word of the Lord                Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm            Ps 68
Response                                 Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.


1. This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never fails:
Lord, answer, for your love is kind; in your compassion, turn towards me.                 Response

2. As for me in my poverty and pain let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God's name with a song; I will glorify him with thanksgiving.                   Response

3. The poor when they see it will be glad and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy and does not spurn his servants in their chains.       Response

4. For God will bring help to Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah.
The sons of his servants shall inherit it; those who love his name shall dwell there.    Response

SECOND READING              

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians        1: 15-20
All things were created through Christ and for him.

Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation,
for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers –
all things were created through him and for him.
Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity.


Now the Church is his body, he is its head.
As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way; because God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when he made peace by his death on the cross.

The Word of the Lord             Thanks be to God.

Gospel  Acclamation         Jn 15: 15
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!

Or                                             Jn : 63.68
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit and they are life: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke       10: 25-37        Glory to you, O Lord
Who is my neighbour?


There was a lawyer who, to disconcert Jesus, stood up and said to him, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
He said to him,'What is written in the Law? What do you read there?'
He replied,
'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself'.
'You have answered right,' said Jesus 'do this and life is yours.'

But the man was anxious to justify himself and said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?'
Jesus replied,
  'A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of brigands; they took all he had, beat him and then made off, leaving him half dead. Now a priest happened to be travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite who came to the place saw him, and passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan traveller who came upon him was moved with compassion when he saw him. He went up and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted him on to his own mount, carried him to the inn and looked after him. Next day, he took out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper.
"Look after him," he said "and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have."


Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigands` hands?'  'The one who took pity on him' he replied.
Jesus said to him, 'Go, and do the same yourself.'

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.