1st Reading: Sirach 35:1-12 He recommends generosity to the poor and condemns extortion The one who keeps the law makes many offerings;one who heeds the commandments makes an offering of well-being.The one who returns a kindness offers choice flour,and one who gives alms sacrifices a thank offering.To keep from wickedness is pleasing to the Lord,and…
1st Reading: Sirach 17:20-24 Repent from sin while you are still alive. The dead cannot praise God Their iniquities are not hidden from him,and all their sins are before the Lord. One’s almsgiving is like a signet ring with the Lord,and he will keep a person’s kindness like the apple of his eye. Afterward he…
The Lord gathers us in to his loving embrace, the Lord who invites us not to worry about tomorrow. Setting our hearts on his kingdom, we entrust all our tomorrows to him and ask him to help us live for this, his day.
Today, the last Sunday before Lent, is Temperance Sunday.
1st Reading: Isaiah 49:14-16 God loves us just as a woman loves the child of her womb Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget…
1st Reading: Sirach 17:1-15 God made us in the divine image, and looks with favour on us The Lord created human beings out of earth, and makes them return to it again. He gave them a fixed number of days, but granted them authority over everything on the earth. He endowed them with strength like…
1st Reading: Sirach 6:5-17 Let your friends be tried and trusted. Faithful friends are a tonic Pleasant speech multiplies friends, and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies. Let those who are friendly with you be many, but let your advisers be one in a thousand. When you gain friends, gain them through testing, and do not…
1st Reading: Sirach 5:1-8 Do not delay to turn back to the Lord Do not rely on your wealth, or say, “I have enough.”Do not follow your inclination and strength in pursuing the desires of your heart.Do not say, “Who can have power over me?” for the Lord will surely punish you.Do not say, “I…
Today we celebrate Saint Peter’s leadership of the church in Rome. The magnificent marble cathedra, fashioned (c.1650) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for St. Peter’s basilica surrounds a small wooden chair that may have been used by Peter himself, as his throne of office. 1st Reading: 1 Pet 5:1-4 Peter’s advice to his fellow Church leaders:…
Saint Peter Damian, bishop and doctor of the Church 1st Reading: Sirach 2:1-11 Experience shows that those who hope in the Lord are not forsaken My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing.Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be impetuous in time of calamity.Cling to him…
1st Reading: Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 1:1-10 All wisdom comes from God and returns to him All wisdom is from the Lord, and with him it remains forever. The sand of the sea, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity–who can count them? The height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, the abyss, and…
Loving the enemy and praying for those who make life difficult are two marks of a Christian, or so Jesus teaches us today. We gather, aware of how difficult love can be, yet united by the saving mercy of God, on which we rely.
Theme: We naturally resent those who do us wrong. But hatred, if nurtured, can come between us and God, whose ideal of perfection is mercy. 1st Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 God calls us to love our neighbour as ourselves The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel…
1st Reading: Hebrews 11:1-7 Heroic examples of faith, from the Scriptures Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from…
The Seven Founders of the Servite Order; Saint Fintan, abbot 1st Reading: Genesis 11:1-9 When people sought independence from God, their language is scrambled Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there….
1st Reading: Genesis 9:1-13 The rainbow, a perpetual sign of God’s covenant with Noah and the human race God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of…
1st Reading: Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22 The Lord promises never again to destroy the earth At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out…
1st Reading: Acts 13:46-49 The missionary courage of the apostles, later emulated by the mission of Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs. Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy…
1st Reading: Genesis 4:1-15 Cain’s jealousy leading to the murder of his brother Abel Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a…
Theme: Using our freedom well. It is not so much individual acts that can separate us from God, but our disorientated hearts, drawn to self-assertion and selfishness. Jesus insists that our conscience must go deeper than external deeds. The vital question is what is going on within our hearts, our thoughts and motives? He teaches…
Our Lady of Lourdes; Saint Gobnait, virgin 1st Reading: Genesis 3:9-24 The Lord sentences the serpent, and Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because…
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