Mass Readings for : Friday, 6th September, 2024

Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 6th September, 2024

Friday of the The Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2

FIRST READING

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 4:1-5
The Lord will reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts.

People must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not.
I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge.

There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 36:3-6, 27-28, 39-40 R/v 39
Response The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

1. If you trust in the Lord and do good, then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord; he will grant your heart’s desire. Response

2. Commit your life to the Lord, trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light, your cause like the noon-day sun. Response

3 Then turn away from evil and do good and you shall have a home for ever;
for the Lord loves justice and will never forsake his friends. Response

4. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord, their stronghold in time of distress.
The Lord helps them and delivers them and saves them: for their refuge is in him. Response

Gospel Acclamation Ps 18: 9
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Your words gladden the heart, O Lord, they give light to the eyes.
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 Luke 5:33-39
When the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.

The Pharisees and the Scribes said to Jesus,
‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too,
but yours go on eating and drinking’.
Jesus replied,
‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them;
that will be the time when they will fast.‘

He also told them this parable,
‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’

The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection Friday Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time Luke 5:33-39

There is a wisdom in what Paul says in today’s first reading, ‘There must be no passing of premature judgement’. He made that statement in response to people who were judging his ministry as not powerful enough. He goes on to say that judgement should be left until the Lord comes. He alone can reveal the secret intentions of people’s hearts. Interestingly, Paul says, ‘I will not even pass judgement on myself’. We know ourselves better than we know others, and, yet, Paul is saying that we don’t know ourselves well enough to make a judgement about ourselves. It is only the Lord who can light up what is hidden in the dark, whether in ourselves or in others. We can obviously make a judgement that certain ways of behaving are better than others, but Paul is saying that we cannot really judge what is in another’s heart because we don’t have access to it.

In the gospel reading, we find the Pharisees judging the behaviour of Jesus’ disciples and getting it wrong. They judged that the behaviour of Jesus’ disciples fell short of what God wanted because they didn’t pray in the way other religious people prayed, and they didn’t fast in ways other religious people did, such as the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees. Jesus went on to say that he came to bring new wine that needed new wineskins, new ways of expressing faith in God, new forms of prayer, new ways of understanding fasting. Jesus acknowledges that the response he often got from people to the new wine he was offering was ‘the old is good’. Jesus would have acknowledged that there was much good in the past, but he also knew that we cannot remain there. The risen Lord is always doing something new, in our own lives, in our parishes, in the wider church. Our calling is to be ready with the new wineskins that can better contain, better express, the new initiative the Lord is always taking.