Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 30th August, 2024
Friday of the Twenty-First Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional memorial of St Fiacre, monk
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 1: 17-25
We are preaching a crucified Christ, an obstacle to men but to those who have been called, the wisdom of God.
Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed. The language of the cross may be illogical to those who are not on the way to salvation, but those of us who are on the way see it as God’s power to save.
As scripture says: I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing all the learning of the learned.
Where are the philosophers now? Where are the scribes? Where are any of our thinkers today?
Do you see now how God has shown up the foolishness of human wisdom? If it was God’s wisdom that human wisdom should not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message that we preach. And so, while the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom,
here are we preaching a crucified Christ;
to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over,
to the pagans madness,
but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God.
For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 32
Response The Lord fills the earth with his love.
1. Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs. Response
2. For the word of the Lord is faithful and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right and fills the earth with his love. Response
3. He frustrates the designs of the nations, he defeats the plans of the peoples.
His own designs shall stand for ever, the plans of his heart from age to age. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 129: 5
Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting for the Lord, I count on his word.
Alleluia !
Or Lk 21: 36
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 25:1-13 Glory to you, O Lord
The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this:
Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.”
At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out”.
But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves”.
They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.”
But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you”.
So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
______________________
Gospel Reflection Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 25:1-13
It seems that in the time of Jesus young unmarried women waited with the bride at her family home for the arrival of the bridegroom. Then when he arrived they would escort the couple with lighted lamps to the house of the bridegroom where the marriage feast had been prepared and the guests were waiting for the couple’s grand entry. It was an important task for these bridesmaids to accompany the couple and to guide them through the darkness with lamps burning brightly. It would have been very embarrassing if they didn’t have enough oil to keep their lamps lighting for the length of the procession to the house of the bridegroom.
In the parable, five of the ten bridesmaids discovered at the last moment that they didn’t have enough oil for their role of accompanying the married couple. ‘Our lamps are going out’, they cried. Jesus may be saying to us that we need to keep the lamp, the flame, of our faith burning brightly to the very end, and not allow it to go out. At the baptism of a child, when the godfather lights the baptismal candle from the Paschal candle, the priest says to the parents of the child, ‘keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart’. That is our baptismal calling, to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts and to allow our faith to show itself in the loving service of others. Elsewhere in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to his disciples, to us all, ‘You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’. We are called to let the light of the gospel shine through us, for the long haul, and to do that we will always need the help of the Holy Spirit, who kindles in us the fire, the flame, of loving faith.
_______________________________________
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
