Fasting, prayer and alms are three traditional forms for expressing our conversion to Christ’s way. Lent is our penitential season, prompted by the gospel account of his forty days in the desert. 1st Reading: Deuteronomy 26:4-10 Offering the firsts fruits of harvest, they give thanks to God When the priest takes the basket from your…
1st Reading: Isaiah 58:9-14 If the people are converted, they are blessed, like a spring whose waters never fail Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking…
1st Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9 True religion is contrasted with merely external observance Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were…
Our Lady of Lourdes, optional memorial 1st Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 A warm call to fidelity. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live! Keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and…
Saint Scholastica (not celebrated this year) 1st Reading: Joel 2:12-18 “Return to me with all your heart”– “Spare your people, Lord” “Now, now,” says the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD, your God, for…
1st Reading: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30 The temple dedication ends with a beautiful prayer Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above…
Saints Jerome Emiliani and Josephine Bakhita, optional memorials 1st Reading: 1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13 A cloud fills the sanctuary, symbolizing the Lord’s awesome presence Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up…
Everyone who believes God’s word is called to pass on the Good News. Like many who have gone before us, including the prophet Isaiah and the apostles Peter and Paul, we may not feel up to the task. But God helps us every day.
• Today, the last Sunday before Lent, is celebrated as Temperance Sunday in Ireland.
Trust in God is a virtue not only for fishermen but for all Christians. We need it more than ever, today. 1st Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah responds to God’s call with enthusiasm In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his…
Saint Paul Miki and Companions, optional memorial 1st Reading: 1 Kings 3:4-13 Solomon prays for understanding, to judge God’s people and to distinguish right from wrong The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the…
Saint Agatha, optional memorial 1st Reading: Sirach 47:2-11 David’s virtues: defender of Israel, psalmist, penitent sinner, blessed by God As the fat is set apart from the offering of well-being, so David was set apart from the Israelites. He played with lions as though they were young goats, and with bears as though they were…
1st Reading: 1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12 The dying David urges Solomon to have courage and stay faithful to God in every way When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, and keep the charge of…
Saint Blaise, optional memorial 1st Reading: 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17 Having sinned by counting the people, David wants to pay the price himself So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of…
1st Reading: Malachi 3:1-4 When God’s Messenger arrives, he will refine the people See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight–indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But…
Special readings for St Brigid, secondary patron of Ireland 1st Reading: Job 31:16-20; 24-25; 31-32 Job’s generosity towards the needy is reflected in St Brigid’s works of charity I have never withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the…
We gather as people loved by God, people called to pass on the love we have received. The love God has put into the world will never fail, but will last as long as humanity lasts. We praise God for the gifts lavished on us. (Today is the first day of Catholic Schools Week in Ireland.)
1st Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 Jeremiah is commissioned by God, as a prophet Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” But you, gird up your loins;…
1st Reading: 2 Samuel 12:1-7, 10-17 David’s sin with Bathsheba will be punished within his own family The Lord sent Nathan to David. He went to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds;…
1st Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10, 13-17 David’s adultery and his “executive murder” of Uriah In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late…
Saint Thomas Aquinas, memorial 1st Reading: 2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29 David prays with gratitude, about God’s everlasting promises to his descendants Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was…
