Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 18th June, 2024
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
FIRST READING
A reading from the first Book of Kings 21: 17-29
You led Israel into sin
After the death of Naboth the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite,
‘Up! Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, in Samaria. You will find him in Naboth’s vineyard;
he has gone down to take possession of it. You are to say this to him,
“The Lord says this:
You have committed murder; now you usurp as well. For this – and the Lord says this – in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your blood too.“‘
Ahab said to Elijah, ‘ So you have found me out, O my enemy!‘
Elijah answered,
‘I have found you out. For your double dealing, and since you have done what is displeasing to the Lord, I will now bring disaster down on you; I will sweep away your descendants, and wipe out every male belonging to the family of Ahab, fettered or free in Israel. I will treat your House as I treated the House of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah, for provoking my anger and leading Israel into sin.
Against Jezebel too the Lord spoke these words:
The dogs will eat Jezebel in the Field of Jezreel. Those of Ahab’s family who die in the city, the dogs will eat;
and those who die in the open country, the birds of the air will eat.’
And indeed there never was anyone like Ahab for double dealing and for doing what is displeasing to the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the most abominable way, adhering to idols, just as the Amorites used to do whom the Lord had dispossessed for the sons of Israel.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put sackcloth next his skin and fasted;
he slept in the sackcloth; he walked with slow steps. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite,
‘Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me,
I will not bring the disaster in his days; I will bring the disaster down on his House in the days of his son.’
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50
Response Have mercy on us, Lord, for we have sinned.
1. Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from sin. Response
2. My offences truly I know them; my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done. Response
3. From my sins turn away your face and blot out all my guilt:
a rescue me, God, my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness. Response
Gospel Acclamation 2 Cor 5: 19
Alleluia, Alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled .
Alleluia!
Or Jn 13: 34
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved you, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 5: 43-48
Love your enemies.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘You have learnt how it was said:
You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy.
But I say this to you:
love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike.
For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not?
You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 5:43-48
The Sermon on the Mount is probably the most challenging part of Jesus’ teaching and today’s gospel reading is the most challenging part of the Sermon on the Mount. ‘I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’. It seems to go against every natural instinct to ask people to love those who are out to destroy them and to show their love for them by praying for them. How could a whole people who are suffering from an unprovoked invasion be expected to love those who invaded their land and have caused so much misery?
The love that Jesus calls for here is not an emotion. No one could have any other emotion but extreme anger in the face of unprovoked aggression. The love Jesus asks for resides in the will. He asks us to want what is best even for our enemies. We are to desire, to hope, to pray, that our enemies would come to embrace the path that God wants for them and that will bring them happiness in this life and in the next. We are to hope and pray that they would be delivered from the evil to which they have succumbed, and we are to do whatever is in our power to help bring about such deliverance. In other words, we are to be instruments of God’s saving purpose for their lives, in whatever small way we can. Jesus mentions praying for our enemies, and that may be as much as we can do at times. However, such prayer for the enemy surely falls within the ambit of Jesus’ wider promise elsewhere in the Sermon and the Mount, ‘Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find’.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
