Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 4th September, 2024
Wednesday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional Memorial of St Mac Nissi, bishop
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 3:1-9
We are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building
Brothers, I myself was unable to speak to you as people of the Spirit:
I treated you as sensual men, still infants in Christ. What I fed you with was milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and indeed, you are still not ready for it since you are still unspiritual. Isn’t that obvious from all the jealousy and wrangling that there is among you, from the way that you go on behaving like ordinary people? What could be more unspiritual than your slogans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos‘?
After all, what is Apollos and what is Paul? They are servants who brought the faith to you. Even the different ways in which they brought it were assigned to them by the Lord. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things grow. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God, who makes things grow. It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will duly be paid according to his share in the work. We are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 32
Response Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
1. They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own.
From the heavens the Lord looks forth, he sees all the children of men. Response
2. From the place where he dwells, he gazes on all the dwellers on the earth,
he who shapes the heart of them all and considers all their deeds. Response
3. Our soul is waiting for the Lord. The Lord is our help and our shield.
In him do our hearts find joy. We trust in his holy name. Response
Gospel Acclamation 1 Pt 1: 25
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever:
What is this word? It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Alleluia !
Or Lk 4: 18
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the Good News to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 4:38-44
I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.
Leaving the synagogue he went to Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to wait on them.
At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.‘
But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, but he answered,
‘I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.‘
And he continued his preaching in the synagogues of Judaea.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time Luke4:38-44
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus brings healing to many people in Capernaum. Understandably, the people of Capernaum wanted to hold on to him. When Jesus went off to a lonely place just outside Capernaum to pray they caught up with him and tried to prevent him leaving them. However, Jesus was very clear that he had to move on, ‘I must proclaim the kingdom of God in the other towns too’. The people of Capernaum had to let him go; Jesus was at the disposal of God’s purpose and that took priority over what the people of Capernaum wanted.
We began reading from the gospel of Luke last Monday; Luke consistently portrays Jesus as someone who was totally at the service of God’s purpose. That often brought him into conflict with human purposes that were opposed to God’s purpose. We are all called to live our lives in accordance with God’s purpose. We try to do what we think God wants of us. That will often bring us into conflict with what other people want of us and want from us. In our struggle to do what God wants, however, we have the risen Lord to help us to walk that way. He can empower us to take the path he took, through his presence to us in his word, in the Eucharist and in each other.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
