Liturgical Readings
Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
FIRST READING
A reading from the second book of Kings 19:-.9-11. 14-21. 31-36
I will protect this city and save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.
Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians sent messengers to Hezekiah again, saying,
‘Tell this to Hezekiah king of Judah,
“Do not let your God on whom you are relying deceive you, when he says: Jerusalem shall not fall into the power of the king of Assyria.” You have learnt by now what the kings of Assyria have done to every country, putting them all under the ban. Are you likely to be spared?’
Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messenger and read it; he then went up to the Temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
Hezekiah said this prayer in the presence of the Lord,
‘Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned on the cherubs, you alone are God
of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth.
Give ear, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib who has sent to insult the living God.’
‘It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have exterminated all the nations, they have thrown their gods on the fire, for these were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, and hence they have destroyed them. But now, Lord our God, save us from his hand, I pray you, and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you alone are God, Lord.’
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah.’ The Lord, the God of Israel’ he said ‘says this,
“I have heard the prayer you have addressed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria.“
Here is the oracle that the Lord has pronounced against him:
“She despises you, she scorns you, the virgin, daughter of Zion;
she tosses her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem.
A remnant shall go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion.
The jealous love of the Lord of Hosts shall accomplish this.”
‘This, then, is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city, he will let fly no arrow against it,
confront it with no shield, throw up no earthwork against it.
By the road that he came on he will return;
he shall not enter this city. It is the Lord who speaks.
I will protect this city and save it
for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”‘
That same night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. In the early morning when it was time to get up, there they lay, so many corpses. Sennacherib struck camp and left; he returned home and stayed in Nineveh.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 47
Response God upholds his city for ever.
I. The Lord is great and worthy to be praised in the city of our God.
His holy mountain rises in beauty, the joy of all the earth. Response
2. Mount Zion, true pole of the earth, the Great King’s city!
God, in the midst of its citadels, has shown himself its stronghold. Response
3. O God, we ponder your love within your temple.
Your praise, O God, like your name reaches to the ends of the earth. Response
Gospel Acclamation Mt 11: 25
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.
Alleluia!
or Jn 8: 12
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord, anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 7:6. 12-14 Glory to you, O Lord
Always treat others as you would like them to treat you.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs, or they may trample them and then turn on you and tear you to pieces.
‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.
‘Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to perdition is wide and spacious, and many take it;
but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 7:6, 12-14
On two occasions in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus reduces everything in the Law and the Prophets to a simple formula. In today’s gospel reading he declares that the Law and the Prophets can be summed up as ‘Treat others as you would like them to treat you’.
Later in this gospel Jesus declares that the Law and the Prophets can be reduced to two commandments, the commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, and the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves. The first summary can be interpreted in the light of the second. How would we like others to treat us? We would like them to love us as they would love themselves; we would like their love for us to flow from their love of God, so that their love of us reflects something of God’s love for them and for us.
We would all wish to have an experience of God’s love for us in and through those who relate to us. We would like to be treated by others in the same loving, merciful and compassionate, way that God treats us. Jesus invites us to imagine what that would be like and then to treat others in a similar way. Jesus himself was the fullest revelation of God’s love for others. In today’s gospel reading, he is calling on us to be Jesus figures for others. There is something of the ‘narrow gate’ and the ‘hard road’ about this calling, in the language of today’s gospel reading. Yet, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can all be Jesus figures in our world today, to some degree.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
