Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 14th August, 2024
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Memorial of St Maximilian Kolby, priest and martyr
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel 9:1-7. 18-22
Mark a cross on the foreheads of all who deplore and disapprove of all the filth practised in Jerusalem.
As I, Ezekiel, listened God shouted,
‘Come here, you scourges of the city, and bring your weapons of destruction‘.
Immediately six men advanced from the upper north gate, each holding a deadly weapon. In the middle of them was a man in white, with a scribe’s ink horn in his belt. They came in and halted in front of the bronze altar. The glory of the God of Israel rose off the cherubs where it had been and went up to the threshold of the Temple.
He called the man in white with a scribe’s ink horn in his belt and said,
‘Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all who deplore and disapprove of all the filth practised in it’. I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city, and strike. Show neither pity nor mercy; old men, young men, virgins, children, women, kill and exterminate them all. But do not touch anyone with a cross on his forehead. Begin at my sanctuary.’
So they began with the old men in front of the Temple. He said to them, ‘Defile the Temple; fill the courts with corpses, and go’.
They went out and hacked their way through the city.
The glory of the Lord came out from the Temple threshold and paused over the cherubs. The cherubs spread their wings and rose from the ground to leave, and as I watched the wheels rose with them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of the Temple of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. This was the creature that I had seen supporting the God of Israel beside the river Chebar, and I was now certain that these were cherubs. Each had four faces and four wings and what seemed to be human hands under their wings. Their faces were just as I had seen them beside the river Chebar. Each moved straight forward.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 112
Response Above the heavens is the glory of the Lord.
Or Alleluia!
1. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed both now and for evermore! Response
2. From the rising of the sun to its setting praised be the name of the Lord!
High above all nations is the Lord, above the heavens his glory. Response
3. Who is like the Lord, our God, who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down, to look down upon heaven and earth? Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 110: 7. 8
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O Lord, are all of them sure; they stand firm for ever and ever.
Alleluia !
Or 2 Thess 2: 14
Alleluia, alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 18: 15-20 Glory to you, O Lord
If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, is between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge.
But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.
‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.
‘I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 18:15-20
Jewish rabbis claimed that when two pious Jews sat together to discuss the words of the Jewish Law, the divine presence was with them. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus declares that where two or three of his followers meet in his name, he shall be there with them. The meeting in his name that Jesus refers to is a meeting for worship, for prayer. As a church we gather not around the words of the Jewish Law but around the words of Jesus, and when we do that Jesus will be among us, and he will be among us as Emmanuel, God-with-us.
The first reading portrayed the ‘glory of the Lord’, the presence of God, leaving the Jewish temple; the gospel reading speaks of the presence of God, the presence of Jesus, God-with-us, among the disciples of Jesus. For the Lord to be with us whenever we gather to worship is a great privilege, a great grace. Yet, we are called to live in a way that is worthy of such a grace. The Lord who is present among us when we gather for prayer calls on us to reveal his presence to others when we rise from prayer and go about our daily tasks.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
