Churches of the Day

Saturday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2

FIRST READING

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians        4:6-15
We go without food and drink and clothes.



Take Apollos and myself as an example remember the maxim: 'Keep to what is written'; it is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another.
In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not? Is it that you have everything you want - that you are rich already, in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside?

Indeed I wish you were really kings, and we could be kings with you!
But instead, it seems to me, God has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death;
it is true - we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are celebrities, we are nobodies.
To this day, we go without food and drink and clothes; we are beaten and have no homes; we work for our living with our own hands. When we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we put up with it; we are insulted and we answer politely. We are treated as the offal of the world, still to this day, the scum of the earth.

I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, as my dearest children, to your senses. You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News.

The Word of the Lord            Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm        Ps 144
Response                             The Lord is close to all who call him.

1. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts.                  Response

2. He grants the desires of those who fear him, he hears their cry and he saves them.
The Lord protects all who love him; but the wicked he will utterly destroy.  Response

3. Let me speak the praise of the Lord, let all mankind bless his holy name for ever,
for ages unending.                                                                                                       Response

Gospel  Acclamation         Ps 26: 11
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Instruct me, in your way; on an even path lead me .
Alleluia !

or                                      Jn 14: 6
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
no one can come to the Father except through me .
Alleluia !

GOSPEL 

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke        6:1-5
Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day.

One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said,
'Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?'
Jesus answered them,
'So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?'

And he said to them, 'The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.'

The Gospel of the Lord              Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection       Saturday,               Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time                 Luke 6:1-5

In today’s first reading, Saint Paul asks a question that is worth reflecting upon. ‘What do you have that was not given to you?’ Paul is reminding the members of the church in Corinth that so much in life is gift. We might work for something but even the ability to work is itself a gift. The people who matter most to us in life are a gift. We probably didn’t go looking for them; they came to us. We have just begun the Season of Creation in the church, which goes from 1st of September to the 4th of October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. It is a good time to recall how the natural world is a gift that has been given to us. Nature is a wonderful gift that can bring us healing and that can help to renew our spirits.

In the gospel reading, Jesus’ disciples were treating the ears of corn in the cornfield through which they walked as a gift. The Pharisees accused them of breaking God’s Law, but Jesus defended their actions. They were hungry and the taking of a few ears of corn to satisfy their hunger was perfectly acceptable. It might be the equivalent of us picking and eating the black berries that are appearing in various hedgerows at the moment. Jesus would want us to appreciate the ways that God is always gracing us and bestowing gifts on us. The appropriate response to the experience of being gifted is gratitude. A spirit of thanksgiving to God is to characterize the Lord’s followers. As Saint Paul says in another of his letters, ‘Give thanks in all circumstances’. He doesn’t say ‘for all circumstances’ but ‘in all circumstances’. No matter how difficult life may be for us, there is always something for which we can give thanks.

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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 2024: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications 2022/23, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time ,Year B
The Messiah has come in Jesus Christ and we are witnesses to his presence in the life of the Church.
Ears have been opened to the Good News and the response of faith has been spoken.

FIRST READING

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah       35:4-7
The ears of the deaf unsealed, and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.

Say to all faint hearts,
'Courage! Do not be afraid. '
Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming,
the retribution of God; he is coming to save you.'

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed,
then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy;
for water gushes in the desert, streams in the wasteland,
the scorched earth becomes a lake, the parched land springs of water.

The Word of the Lord                  Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm                       Ps 145:7-10
Response                                           My soul, give praise to the Lord.
or                                                          Alleluia!
1. It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry, the Lord, who sets prisoners free.      Response

2. It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind, who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord who loves the just, the Lord, who protects the stranger.                    Response

3. The Lord upholds the widow and orphan, but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever, Zion's God, from age to age.                                  Response
SECOND READING           

A reading from the letter of St James        2:1-5
It was the poor that God chose to be the heirs to the kingdom.

My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people. Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, beautifully dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes, and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say,
'Come this way to the best seats;' then you tell the poor man,
'Stand over there' or 'You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.'

Can't you see that you have used two different standards in your mind, and turned yourselves into judges, and corrupt judges at that?
Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.

The Word of the Lord               Thanks be to God.


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

or                                              Mt 4: 23
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                           

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark               7:31-37           Glory to you, O Lord.
He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.

Returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, right through the Decapolis region. And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle.
Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him,
'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.'
And his ears were opened, and the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they published it.

Their admiration was unbounded.
'He has done all things well,' they said, 'he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'

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.