Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 23rd August, 2024
Friday of the Tweentieth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional Memorials of Ss Rose of Lima, virgin and Eugene, bishop
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel 37:1-14
Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel.
The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up.
He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?‘
I said, ‘You know, Lord.
He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say,
“Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”‘
I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them.
He said to me,
‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath,
“The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”‘
I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them;
they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.
Then he said,
‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying,
“Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead”. So prophesy. Say to them,
“The Lord says this:
I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 106
Response O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; For his love has no end.
1. Let them say this, the Lord’s redeemed, whom he redeemed from the hand of the foe
and gathered from far-off lands, from east and west, north and south. Response
2. Some wandered in the desert, in the wilderness, finding no way to a city they could dwell in
Hungry they were and thirsty; Their soul was fainting within them. Response
3. Then they cried to the Lord in their need And he rescued them from their distress
And he led them along the right way, To reach a city they could dwell in. Response
4. Let them thank the Lord for his love For the wonders he does for men.
For he satisfies the thirsty soul; He fills the hungry with good things. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 118: 18
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I am consider the wonders of your law.
Alleluia !
Or Ps 24: 4. 5.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 22:34-40 Glory to you, O Lord
You must love the Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself.
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question,
‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’
Jesus said,
‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.‘
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Friday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 22:34-40
Life can be very complex and we often feel the need to cut through all the complexities to what is essential and truly valuable. In the time of Jesus, the Jewish religion had become a little complex. There were many laws and regulations governing all sorts of areas of life. The question that was put to Jesus at the beginning of today’s gospel reading was looking for what was essential and valuable in the midst of all this complexity, ‘Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ In other words, ‘What does it all boil down to in the end?’ In answering that question, Jesus found it necessary to give not just the one greatest commandment of the Law, but the greatest and the next greatest commandment of the Law. He couldn’t really boil the Jewish Law down to one commandment, but he could boil it down to two commandments. However, the two commandments have something essential in common. They are both commandments to love.
In a way, Jesus was saying that all the laws and regulations of the Jewish religion can be boiled down to the commandment to love. Yet, for Jesus, there is a primary love and a secondary love. Our primary love is due to God. Only God is to be loved with our whole being, all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. God is deserving of such love because that is how God loves us. God loves us with all God’s being, and we are to love God with all our being. However, for Jesus this total love of God is inseparable from the love of our neighbour and our neighbour is every human being, regardless of their race, religion, background, or way of life. We are to love others in the way God loves them. It is our loving relationship with God that empowers us to love others in this God-like way.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
