Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 17th September, 2024
Tuesday of The Twenty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional Memorial of Ss Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church
and Hildegard of Bingen, virgin and doctor of the Church
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 12:12-14. 27-31
Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it.
Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.
Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its many parts. Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages.
Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them? Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 99
Response We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
1. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy. Response
2. Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock. Response
3. Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his courts with songs of praise,
Give thanks to him and bless his name. Response
4. Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love .
He is faithful from age to age. Response
Gospel Acclamation 2 Tim 1: 10
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Our saviour Christ Jesus abolished death,
and he has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News.
Alleluia !
Or Lk 7: 16
Alleluia, Alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke: 7:11-17 Glory to you, O Lord
Young man, I tell you to get up.
Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her.
‘Do not cry’ he said.
Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said,
‘Young man, I tell you to get up’.
And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother
Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying,
‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people’.
And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 7:11-17
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus ministers to a grieving widow. He restores her son to life and then he gives the restored young man to his mother. Jesus regularly ministered to those who were broken in body, mind and spirit. In this instance, he is moved with compassion by the broken heart of a grieving widow. Jesus was close to people in their grief. In John’s gospel he stands alongside Mary and Martha whose brother Lazarus had just died and brings life out of their experience of death. We can all find ourselves with an opportunity from time to time of ministering to the bereaved, to those whose heart is broken because they have lost a loved one. We may not be able to do what Jesus did for the widow at Nain, but our compassionate presence to someone grieving can be truly life-giving for them. We may not have much to say to them, but our presence, our desire to be with them in their grief, can itself be a very consoling message.
It is striking that no reference is made to the faith of the widow in the gospel, or to the faith of her son. She didn’t approach Jesus trusting in him for help, as so many others did. Jesus simply took an initiative towards her because he was deeply moved by her brokenness of heart and spirit. Our own ministry to the bereaved needs to be just as spontaneous. Without raising any question regarding their faith, we are there with those who grieve simply because they need us. Compassion does not ask questions; it is happy to walk alongside those whose brokenness is calling out for companionship.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
