Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 24th November, 2023
Friday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1
Memorial of St Andrew Dung-Lac and companions , martyrs
FIRST READING
A reading from the first book of Maccabees 4:36-37. 52-59
They celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts
Judas dedicates the altar.
Judas and his brothers said,
‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion.
On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful.
For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm 1 Chron 29
Response We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
I. Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father,
for ever, for ages unending. Response
2. Yours, Lord, are greatness and power, and splendour, triumph and glory.
All is yours, in heaven and on earth. Response
3. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, you are supreme over all.
Both honour and riches come from you. Response
4. You are the ruler of all, from your hand come strength and power,
from your hand come greatness and might. Response
Gospel Acclamation 2 Tim 1: 10
Alleluia, alleluia!
Our saviour Christ Jesus abolished death,
and he has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News.
Alleluia!
Or Jn 10: 27
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the lord, I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 19:45-48 Glory to you, O Lord.
You have turned the house of God into a robbers’ den.
Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling.
‘According to scripture,‘ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer.
But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’
He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time Luke 19:45-48
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the Temple in Jerusalem as a ‘house of prayer’. We think of a house as a place where a family gathers. The Temple was the place where the family of God’s people gathered for prayer, whether it was the prayer of petition, of thanksgiving or of intercession. Every parish church could be described as a house of prayer. It is a place where the family of God’s people gather to pray.
In our prayer, as Christians, we recognize the God to whom the Jewish people prayed in the Temple as the Father of Jesus and we recognize Jesus as God’s beloved Son. We pray to God our Father, through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, whom we recognize as the Spirit of both God the Father and God the Son. When we gather in this house of prayer, our parish church, we do so as family, as the family of faith, recognizing ourselves and one another as sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus and temples of the Holy Spirit. Even when we come into the church on our own, we are always conscious of the other members of our family of faith and of the human family, and, indeed, the family of all God’s creatures, all God’s creation. We are fortunate to have a parish church which is very conducive to prayer.
It is a prayerful place, where we are helped to pray for ourselves and for each other. In this house of prayer, as in every house of prayer, we open ourselves up to God present to us through his Son and the Holy Spirit. As a result, we are strengthened in our identity as sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus and temples of the Holy Spirit. We leave this house of prayer empowered to live out of that identity more generously and courageously.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
