Churches of the Day

Friday of the Twenty -Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2

FIRST READING     

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians         9:16-19, 22-27
I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost.

I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.

So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. For the weak I made myself weak. I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings.

All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win. All the fighters at the games go into strict training; they do this just to win a wreath that will wither away, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither. That is how I run, intent on winning; that is how I fight, not beating the air. I treat my body hard and make it obey me, for, having been an announcer myself, I should not want to be disqualified

The Word of the Lord          Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 83: 3-6. 12. R/v. 2
Response                               How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, God of hosts.

1. My soul is longing and yearning, is yearning for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my soul ring out their joy to God, the living God.                                        Response

2. The sparrow herself finds a home and the swallow a nest for her brood;
she lays her young by your altars, Lord of hosts, my king and my God.                           Response

3. They are happy, who dwell in your house, for ever singing your praise.
They are happy, whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the roads to Zion.         Response

4.  For the Lord God is a rampart, a shield; he will give us his favour and glory.
The Lord will not refuse any good to those who walk without blame.                              Response

Gospel Acclamation        Ps 147: 12. 15
Alleluia, alleluia!
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem! He sends out his word to the earth.
Alleluia !

Or                                             Jn 17: 17
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O Lord, consecrate us in the truth .
Alleluia !

GOSPEL 

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke         6:39-42
'Can one blind man guide another?

Jesus told a parable to the disciples,
'Can one blind man guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit?
The disciple is not superior to his teacher;
the fully trained disciple will always be like his teacher.
Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own?
How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye", when you cannot see the plank in your own?
Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first,
and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother's eye.

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

******************
Gospel Reflection          Friday,                   Twenty Third Week in Ordinary Time         Luke 6:39-42


We often use the expression ‘the blind leading the blind’, which is inspired by today’s gospel reading. Jesus uses the humorous image of someone with a plank in their eye trying to take out a splinter from someone else’s eye. We all know the difference between a plank and a splinter; one is large and heavy and the other is tiny and light. Jesus is suggesting that someone with a significant failing can end up trying to correct someone with a very small failing. It is a case of a completely blind person trying to heal or lead someone who is only partially blind. We are all flawed in some way and, as a result, we do not see clearly. We don’t see others clearly, and we don’t even see ourselves clearly.

Given our blindness, Jesus declares that we should be slow to start trying to put others right. Rather, he says, we need to attend to putting ourselves right first. ‘Take the plank out of your own eye first’. He is suggesting that we have enough to be getting on with there. We are all a work in progress. The Lord has begun a good work in all our lives, but he has yet to bring that work to completion. Putting ourselves right is really about allowing the Lord to work on us, giving him the space to complete his good work in our lives. It is only the Lord who can make us the person God is calling us to become. As the gospel reading suggests, we can be blind to our failings, but we can also be blind to the good work that the Lord is doing within us and through us. Our daily calling is to allow the Lord to get on with his good work in our lives.

 ________________________________

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/

________________

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of  Sirach (Ecclesiasticus )        27:30-28:7
Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.

Resentment and anger, these are foul things, and both are found with the sinner. He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord, who keeps strict account of sin. Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.

If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord? Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins? Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?

Remember the last things, and stop hating,
remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments.
Remember the commandments, and do not bear your neighbour ill-will;
remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook the offence.

The Word of the Lord             Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 102: 1-4. 9-12. R/ v 8
Response                               The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.

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. His wrath will come to an end; he will not be angry for ever.
He does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults.                   Response

4. For as the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our sins.                                           Response

SECOND READING

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans           14:7-9
Alive or dead we belong to the Lord.

The life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord;
and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord.
This explains why Christ both died and came to life, it was so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation          1 Sam 3:9
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!

Or                                             Jn 13: 34
Alleluia, alleluia!
I give you a new commandment: love one another,
just as I have loved you, says the Lord.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew      18:21-35
I tell you, not seven, but seventy-seven times.

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          Glory to you, O Lord

*********************************

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.