Saint Aengus, bishop and abbot 1st Reading: Deuteronomy 26:16-19 A people holy to the Lord your God This very day the Lord your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances; so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have obtained the Lord’s agreement: to be…
1st Reading: Ezekiel 18:21-28 Personal responsibility to replace the idea of shared guilt But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die. None of the transgressions that they have committed…
Saint Frances of Rome, religious 1st Reading: Esther 4:29-42 Queen Esther’s prayer wins God’s help in a time of crisis Queen Esther, seized with deadly anxiety, fled to the Lord. She prayed to the Lord God of Israel, and said: “O my Lord, you only are our king; help me, who am alone and have…
Saint John of God, religious; Saint Senan, bishop 1st Reading: Jonah 3:1-10 When Jonah’s preaching bears fruit, God has mercy on Nineveh The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set…
Saints Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs 1st Reading: Isaiah 55:10-11 God’s word comes down like rain, to generate life For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the…
1st Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 Practical guidance for worship and for social compassion The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall each revere your mother and father, and you…
We celebrate the first Sunday of Lent. All over the world today, men and women are beginning a period of preparation for their baptism at the Easter Vigil. Like them, we spend Lent preparing to renew our baptismal vows at Easter, looking forward to our blessing with Easter water and to receiving the gift of a new start.
Lent offers us time to reflect on our life as sharing in the life of Jesus and growing in the image of God. This includes an aspect of dying to self and of rising to God’s new life of grace and rebirth. First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7 The Lord God formed man from the dust…
Welcome to the season of Lent. Today we begin the journey of penance and reflection that will bring us to the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter time. On Ash Wednesday, we pray for the grace to keep Lent faithfully.
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.
