Todays readings at Mass (reflection, comment or homily)

Readings at Mass

First readingJonah 4:1-11 ©

Jonah was very indignant; he fell into a rage. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Ah, Lord, is not this just as I said would happen when I was still at home? That was why I went and fled to Tarshish: I knew that you were a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, relenting from evil. So now, Lord, please take away my life, for I might as well be dead as go on living.’ The Lord replied, ‘Are you right to be angry?’
Jonah then went out of the city and sat down to the east of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God arranged that a castor-oil plant should grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and soothe his ill-humour; Jonah was delighted with the castor-oil plant. But at dawn the next day, God arranged that a worm should attack the castor-oil plant – and it withered.
Next, when the sun rose, God arranged that there should be a scorching east wind; the sun beat down so hard on Jonah’s head that he was overcome and begged for death, saying, ‘I might as well be dead as go on living.’ God said to Jonah, ‘Are you right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?’ He replied, ‘I have every right to be angry, to the point of death.’ The Lord replied, ‘You are only upset about a castor-oil plant which cost you no labour, which you did not make grow, which sprouted in a night and has perished in a night. And am I not to feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, to say nothing of all the animals?’

Psalm
Psalm 85:3-6,9-10 ©

You, O Lord, have mercy and compassion.

You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord,
for I cry to you all the day long.
Give joy to your servant, O Lord,
for to you I lift up my soul.

You, O Lord, have mercy and compassion.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving,
full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my voice.

You, O Lord, have mercy and compassion.

All the nations shall come to adore you
and glorify your name, O Lord:
for you are great and do marvellous deeds,
you who alone are God.

You, O Lord, have mercy and compassion.

Gospel AcclamationPs118:24

Alleluia, alleluia!
Train me, Lord, to observe your law,
to keep it with my heart.
Alleluia!

OrRm8:15

Alleluia, alleluia!
The spirit you received is the spirit of sons,
and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’
Alleluia!

GospelLuke 11:1-4 ©

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘Say this when you pray:
“Father, may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come;
give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test.”’

 

I think we must have taken the readings for Our Lady of the Rosary at mass this morning because I missed this.

I was annoyed because they announced to us that we would no longer have the Eucahrist under both species in the Sacristy. No why's or wherefore's just the bare announcement.

Anyway a beautiful Feast Day.

 

Me too they had different reading.

As for your Eucharist changing...i would be mad too. But it is Gods Will so if He understands...we have to understand. I guess our job is to accept but maybe a few positive letters up the chain of command might cause a change of heart.

God understands...so we should too. but it never hurts to ask a few questions

 

I think I will. I am amazed they did not even explain the reason..

 

"The jar of meal shall not be spent, and the cruse of oil shall not fail, until the day of the Lord sends rain upon the earth."
"....so Christ...will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."
These are the words that stuck with me after today's readings. To me they speak of Mercy. We may feel in the coming tribulation that Mercy has gone but it will only be on hold. We will need to hold on in faith. That will be hard. That's why we have to get into training now.
In his homily our priest suggested that The Lord was not praising the poor lady for giving all she had but because this gift was a demonstration of her willingness to depend completely on God.
Similarly our priest suggested that the lady who had only enough food for one last meal with her son may have felt resentment at being asked to give it to Elijah. The true moral quality of this woman was shown in her action in doing what she was asked to do in spite of how she felt.
How often I have refrained from doing the right thing because of how I felt.
There is no moral fibre in this option. No fitness. It is like walking on the flat all the time and never tackling a hill.
It does nothing for my spiritual fitness.
I also like the story of the servant who did not obey at first but later changed his mind. God approved of him rather than the one who said yes then went back on his word. God gives us time to change but only so much.

 

That was Saturday vigil Mass in Hamilton. I went there for confession for my First Saturday. The Parish priest there is erudite. Today at 10am mass, my own PP who we share with the two other churches in our joint Parish of The Holy Family stuck to the traditional understsnding of the gospel. But he gave his most moving homily yet. I had the feeling he was longing for his homeland and his family. He is from the Phillipines and he recollected a time 6 years ago when as a deacon he was charged with bringing the Eucharist to people who dwelt high in the mountains. These people lived in abject poverty. Sometimes he had to climb for half a day through dangerous territory and treacherous terrain to reach them. He said this was especially hard in the rain. One such day he sat utterly exhausted on a rock "under the mango tree" he looked up and away to one side and repeated these words "under the mango tree" with a faraway wistful exoression on his face. He began to gently cry. He was like a wee boy lost, far away from home. He gathered himself and went on to say he began to sing on that rock. Then he sang that same song in his own language and he got choked up again. He translated the words of his song: "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me." He climbed on to reach the villagers who were incredibly grateful to him fot "bringing Jesus" to them. They gave him a gift for which they apoligised. It was all they could give. Like the poor lady in the gospel they gave of their poverty not their plenty. Again he was visibly moved as he recounted the story and remembered how humble he felt. He said he had seen the poorest of the poor but also the poor at their best. I was moved to tears as were many others in the church. He talked about the generosity of God being like this of how God empties Himself for our sake. He talked of how we can express our gratitude not just in money but in service even if we feel we have nothing more to offer. This may be the best reason. I had had a slight altercation with this priest recently and had felt inclined to correct him. It goes without saying I did not. Are we not blessed with such priests, the learned and the holy, sometimes both.

 

Readings at Mass

First reading
1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64 ©

There grew a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus; once a hostage in Rome, he became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks. It was then that there emerged from Israel a set of renegades who led many people astray. ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us reach an understanding with the pagans surrounding us, for since we separated ourselves from them many misfortunes have overtaken us.’ This proposal proved acceptable, and a number of the people eagerly approached the king, who authorised them to practise the pagan observances. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, such as the pagans have, disguised their circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant, submitting to the heathen rule as willing slaves of impiety.
Then the king issued a proclamation to his whole kingdom that all were to become a single people, each renouncing his particular customs. All the pagans conformed to the king’s decree, and many Israelites chose to accept his religion, sacrificing to idols and profaning the sabbath. The king erected the abomination of desolation above the altar; and altars were built in the surrounding towns of Judah and incense offered at the doors of houses and in the streets. Any books of the Law that came to light were torn up and burned. Whenever anyone was discovered possessing a copy of the covenant or practising the Law, the king’s decree sentenced him to death.
Yet there were many in Israel who stood firm and found the courage to refuse unclean food. They chose death rather than contamination by such fare or profanation of the holy covenant, and they were executed. It was a dreadful wrath that visited Israel.

Psalm
Psalm 118:53,61,134,150,155,158 ©

Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your will.

I am seized with indignation at the wicked
who forsake your law.
Though the nets of the wicked ensnared me
I remembered your law.

Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your will.

Redeem me from man’s oppression
and I will keep your precepts.
Those who harm me unjustly draw near;
they are far from your law.

Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your will.

Salvation is far from the wicked
who are heedless of your statutes.
I look at the faithless with disgust;
they ignore your promise.

Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your will.

Gospel AcclamationJn8:12

Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Luke 18:35-43 ©

As Jesus drew near to Jericho there was a blind man sitting at the side of the road begging. When he heard the crowd going past he asked what it was all about, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. So he called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.’ The people in front scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring the man to him, and when he came up, asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Sir,’ he replied ‘let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.’ And instantly his sight returned and he followed him praising God, and all the people who saw it gave praise to God for what had happened.

 

Readings at Mass

First reading
2 Maccabees 6:18-31 ©

Eleazar, one of the foremost teachers of the Law, a man already advanced in years and of most noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth wide to swallow pig’s flesh. But he, resolving to die with honour rather than to live disgraced, went to the block of his own accord, spitting the stuff out, the plain duty of anyone with the courage to reject what it is not lawful to taste, even from a natural tenderness for his own life. Those in charge of the impious banquet, because of their long-standing friendship with him, took him aside and privately urged him to have meat brought of a kind he could properly use, prepared by himself, and only pretend to eat the portions of sacrificial meat as prescribed by the king; this action would enable him to escape death, by availing himself of an act of kindness prompted by their long friendship. But having taken a noble decision worthy of his years and the dignity of his great age and the well earned distinction of his grey hairs, worthy too of his impeccable conduct from boyhood, and above all of the holy legislation established by God himself, he publicly stated his convictions, telling them to send him at once to Hades. ‘Such pretence’ he said ‘does not square with our time of life; many young people would suppose that Eleazar at the age of ninety had conformed to the foreigners’ way of life, and because I had played this part for the sake of a paltry brief spell of life might themselves be led astray on my account; I should only bring defilement and disgrace on my old age. Even though for the moment I avoid execution by man, I can never, living or dead, elude the grasp of the Almighty. Therefore if I am man enough to quit this life here and now I shall prove myself worthy of my old age, and I shall have left the young a noble example of how to make a good death, eagerly and generously, for the venerable and holy laws.’
With these words he went straight to the block. His escorts, so recently well disposed towards him, turned against him after this declaration, which they regarded as sheer madness. Just before he died under the blows, he groaned aloud and said, ‘The Lord whose knowledge is holy sees clearly that, though I might have escaped death, whatever agonies of body I now endure under this bludgeoning, in my soul I am glad to suffer, because of the awe which he inspires in me.’
This was how he died, leaving his death as an example of nobility and a record of virtue not only for the young but for the great majority of the nation.

PsalmPsalm 3:2-7 ©

The Lord upholds me.

How many are my foes, O Lord!
How many are rising up against me!
How many are saying about me:
‘There is no help for him in God.’

The Lord upholds me.

But you, Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, who lift up my head.
I cry aloud to the Lord.
He answers from his holy mountain.

The Lord upholds me.

I lie down to rest and I sleep.
I wake, for the Lord upholds me.
I will not fear even thousands of people
who are ranged on every side against me.
The Lord upholds me.

Gospel Acclamationcf.Ps129:5

Alleluia, alleluia!

My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
Alleluia!

Or1Jn4:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

God so loved us that he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Luke 19:1-10 ©

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance: he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.’

 

Am I the only one that thought of Padraig today when hearing the story of Eleazar?

 

No, you were not the only one

 

Today Jan 24 (New Zealand) I am doing the first reading. On the day our new church was dedicated one year ago we had these same readings which were so special to me. They feature Ezra the Scribe. Our statue of Our Lady of Akita was carved in memory of a wee boy who drowned. His grandfather gave the wood which came from a bridge in the gold mines of Waihi. The wee boy's name was Ezra.
The second reading today is very wholistic. Would probably have been more suitable for me being an osteopath but I am left to struggle with all those old testament names. I will speak them with confidence and no one will know I don't have a clue how to pronounce them correctly.
Today it is very warm and sunny, not a cloud to be seen. Poor America. I will pray for those people on the March For Life.

 

Between you and me no one knows how to pronounce them right anymore. Hebrew has no vowels and so when you read you have to guess the vowels in . So your guess is as good, or as bad as anyone else's.

The reading was very touching. The Jews had returned to their homeland and were having to recreate their entire Faith bottom up.

The day will come when we too as Catholics will have to rebuild the Church after its destruction .

 

We had the strangest homily at today's Mass. It was a Church I attend occasionally but try to avoid the Masses celebrated by this particular priest. Anyway, the homily was on the first reading from Acts, which I have quoted below. The priest started out by reminding us that Pope Francis told us that we shouldn't try to convert the Jews because the Jews are God's chosen people for all time and God will sort things with the Jews. Then he said that Jesus promised us eternal life and we have absolutely nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter what we do, if we have a great prayer life or are very holy, Jesus promised us all eternal life and God doesn't change his mind. He said that some of us who are older might find that hard to accept but it's true. He also said something about some very good, kind people already having eternal life within them and that we should thank God for the eternal life in all of us. He said that we should give thanks for this great gift from God and that's why we celebrate the Eucharist.

Maybe it's just me, but that sounds remarkably like "Once Saved, Always Saved" theology. Does anyone else find it peculiar?

This was the reading:

Paul and Barnabas carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats.

When the meeting broke up many Jews and devout converts joined Paul and Barnabas and in their talks with them Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to the grace God had given them.

The next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God. When they saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, we must turn to the pagans. For this is what the Lord commanded us to do when he said:

“I have made you a light for the nations,
so that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”

It made the pagans very happy to hear this and they thanked the Lord for his message; all who were destined for eternal life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord spread through the whole countryside.

But the Jews worked upon some of the devout women of the upper classes and the leading men of the city and persuaded them to turn against Paul and Barnabas and expel them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in defiance and went off to Iconium; but the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

 

Who knows where he was coming from on this. Maybe he over emphasized what I do believe is correct- we don't deserve or earn eternal life. It was, is and always will be a great gift of God to all human beings. Having said that, I think perhaps where he didn't explain well (or perhaps my understanding is wrong) is a gift can be rejected and left "unopened". This is our free will at work. God bestowed us with a mind and soul that can accept his free and unearned gift or we can reject it. It seems to me that is more the message in the reading. Paul and Barnabas proclaimed this Good News and just like today, some accept and others reject. They didn't try to ram it down their throats- they left and went off to the next town to proclaim the same news. And to me the major message is the last sentence- Paul and Barnabas weren't mad or bitter...they were filled with joy. In the end, to me, this is all we can do whether it family or friends- proclaim this Good News as best we can and let the Holy Spirit and the God-given gift of free will hash it out.

 

Or maybe this priest believes it is those who say, "Lord, Lord who will enter the kingdom of heaven and not (necessarily) those who do the Will of my Father".

 

Yes, I understand that salvation is an unearned gift from God. I also understand about sharing the Good News without forcing it on people.

The priest told us that we have nothing to worry about because we all will be given eternal life no matter what irrespective of whether we do good works or have a good prayer life; that people who do good already have eternal life in them; that you can tell by the way some people do good that they are already living part of eternal life here on earth. He actually told us to thank God for the eternal life that's already in us.

If this has always been the case, why would he say that some older people would find it hard to accept? According to him, all that's required of us is to thank God for the gift. Didn't St. James say something about faith without works being dead? Isn't the priest's approach the same as Martin Luther's?