Churches of the Day

Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2

Saint of the Day: Sep 4; – St Oengus Mac Nissi, bishop 
C/f A short look at this saint’s life can be found below today's Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians       4:1-5
The Lord will reveal the secret intentions of men's hearts.

People must think of us as Christ's servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not.
I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge.

There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men's hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 36:3-6, 27-28, 39-40 R/v 39
Response                                The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

1. If you trust in the Lord and do good, then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord; he will grant your heart's desire.                              Response

2. Commit your life to the Lord, trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light, your cause like the noon-day sun.          Response

3 Then turn away from evil and do good and you shall have a home for ever;
for the Lord loves justice and will never forsake his friends.                                               Response

4. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord, their stronghold in time of distress.
The Lord helps them and delivers them and saves them: for their refuge is in him.      Response

Gospel Acclamation        Ps 18: 9
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words gladden the heart, O Lord, they give light to the eyes.
Alleluia !

Or                                             Jn 8: 12
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 holy Gospel according to Luke 5:33-39       Glory to you O Lord
 When the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.

 The Pharisees and the Scribes said to Jesus,
'John's disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking'.
Jesus replied,
'Surely you cannot make the bridegroom's attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.'

He also told them this parable, 'No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. "The old is good" he says.'

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

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Gospel Reflection        Friday          Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time        Luke 5:33-39

There is a wisdom in what Paul says in today’s first reading, ‘There must be no passing of premature judgement’. He made that statement in response to people who were judging his ministry as not powerful enough. He goes on to say that judgement should be left until the Lord comes. He alone can reveal the secret intentions of people’s hearts. Interestingly, Paul says, ‘I will not even pass judgement on myself’. We know ourselves better than we know others, and, yet, Paul is saying that we don’t know ourselves well enough to make a judgement about ourselves. It is only the Lord who can light up what is hidden in the dark, whether in ourselves or in others. We can obviously make a judgement that certain ways of behaving are better than others, but Paul is saying that we cannot really judge what is in another’s heart because we don’t have access to it.

In the gospel reading, we find the Pharisees judging the behaviour of Jesus’ disciples and getting it wrong. They judged that the behaviour of Jesus’ disciples fell short of what God wanted because they didn’t pray in the way other religious people prayed, and they didn’t fast in ways other religious people did, such as the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees. Jesus went on to say that he came to bring new wine that needed new wineskins, new ways of expressing faith in God, new forms of prayer, new ways of understanding fasting. Jesus acknowledges that the response he often got from people to the new wine he was offering was ‘the old is good’. Jesus would have acknowledged that there was much good in the past, but he also knew that we cannot remain there. The risen Lord is always doing something new, in our own lives, in our parishes, in the wider church. Our calling is to be ready with the new wineskins that can better contain, better express, the new initiative the Lord is always taking.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published by Darton, Longman and 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/

Saint of the Day: Sep 4; – St Oengus Mac Nissi, bishop 

Oengus Mac Nissi took his name from his mother Cnes or Ness. It is claimed that St Patrick baptised him and taught him the psalms. He seems to be one of the early converts. He chose the district of Connor for his hermitage, but later became bishop of his clan. He died early in the sixth century.

Along with St Patrick, St MacNissi is the co-patron of the diocese of Down and Connor. (The image right shows St McNissi's College, Garron Tower, Co Antrim on a cold winter's night)

Patrick Duffy tells what is known about St Aengus MacNissi.

Associated with Kells and Connor in Dal Riada
Aengus MacNissi is reputed to have been baptised by St Patrick. He is associated with Kells and later with the district of Connor in Dal Riada. He seems to have become the leader of the Church there, possibly a bishop.

Friend of St Colman of Dromore
He was a friend of St Colman, whom he advised to set up a monastery in Dromore. There is a legend that he had such a veneration for Scripture that he would not carry his Gospel book in a leather satchel, but always carried it on his shoulders.

Patron of Down and Connor
Along with St Malachy, St MacNissi is patron of the Catholic diocese of Down and Connor. St MacNissi's College was opened as a residential college at Garron Tower (see image) on the north-east Antrim coast in the 1950s and remained a prominent second level college in the diocese until 2010, when it amalgamated with two other Antrim schools to become St Killian's College.

Window art; St MacNissi's Church 'The Risen Christ'

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Memorable Proverb for Today

“Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator 
as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.

                                                                               ~ Charles Spurgeon ~

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The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

The three readings today deal with the same theme - neighbourly correction. This is a difficult art and can only be exercised through genuine love, the purest of motives and diplomatic skill. We have to learn to help and to heal each other. In this we have to avoid attitudes of prying, denunciation, jealousy and informing. The spirit of the Gospel lays down a procedure that must be our guide- The Jesus way

FIRST READING

A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel         33:7-9
If you do not speak to warn the wicked man I will hold you responsible for his death.

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows:
'Son of man, I have appointed you as sentry to the House of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, warn them in my name.
If I say to a wicked man:
Wicked wretch, you are to die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked man to renounce his ways, then he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death.
If, however, you do warn a wicked man to renounce his ways and repent, and he does not repent, then he shall die for his sin, but you yourself will have saved your life.'

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm         Ps 94: 1-2. 6-9. R: v8
Response                               O that today you would listen to his voice!
Harden not your hearts.

1. Come, ring out our joy to the Lord; hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come before him, giving thanks, with songs let us hail the Lord.                      Response

2. Come in; let us bow and bend low; let us kneel before the God who made us
for he is our God and we the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.                                                                                            Response

3. O that today you would listen to his voice! 'Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work.'                                                               Response

SECOND READING     

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans  13:8-10
Love is the answer to every one of the commandments.


Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love.
If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations.
All the commandments:
You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself.

Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God


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

Or                                            2 Cor 5:19
Alleluia, alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew       18:15-20
If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.

Jesus said to his disciples:

'If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.

If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you:
the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.

'I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

'I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.'

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 copyrighted 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.