Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 27th September, 2024
Friday of the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2
Memorial of St Vincent de Paul , priest
FIRST READING Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
There is a time for every occupation under heaven
There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:
A time for giving birth, a time for dying;
a time for planting, a time for uprooting what has been planted.
A time for killing, a time for healing;
a time for knocking down, a time for building.
A time for tears, a time for laughter;
a time for mourning, a time for dancing.
A time for throwing stones away, a time for gathering them up;
A time for embracing, a time to refrain from embracing.
A time for searching, a time for losing;
a time for keeping, a time for throwing away.
A time for tearing, a time for sewing;
a time for keeping silent, a time for speaking.
A time for loving, a time for hating;
A time for war, a time for peace.
What does a man gain for the efforts that he makes? I contemplate the task that God gives mankind to labour at.
All that he does is apt for its time; but though he has permitted man to consider time in its wholeness,
man cannot comprehend the work of God from beginning to end.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 143
Response Blessed be the Lord, my rock.
1. Blessed be the Lord, my rock. He is my love, my fortress;
he is my stronghold, my saviour, my shield, my place of refuge. Response
2. Lord, what is man that you care for him, mortal man, that you keep him in mind;
man who is merely a breath whose life fades like a passing shadow? Response
Gospel Acclamation Eph 1: 17
Alleluia, Alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia !
or Mk 10: 45
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 9:18-22 Glory to you, O Lord
You are the Christ of God’ The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously.
One day when Jesus was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them,
‘Who do the crowds say I am?‘
And they answered, ‘John the Baptist; others Elijah;
and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life’. ‘
But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’
It was Peter who spoke up. ‘The Christ of God’ he said.
But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.
‘The Son of Man’ he said ‘is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Friday Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 9:18-22
Some questions are easier to answer than others. In the gospel reading, Jesus asks the disciples two questions. The first question would have been much easier for them to answer, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ They had their answers immediately, John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the ancient prophets come back to life. However, they would have found Jesus’ second question more difficult to answer,
‘But you, who do you say I am?’ This question required them to look into their own hearts and be open and honest about who they understood Jesus to be. We sense a hesitation on the part of the disciples. It was Peter who eventually spoke up on behalf of the others,
‘The Christ of God’. Peter confesses Jesus to be the long awaited Jewish Messiah. He thereby showed great insight into Jesus, and, yet, it was only a limited insight. His answer left open the question as to which kind of Messiah Jesus would turn out to be. Jesus immediately began to indicate the kind of Messiah he would be by speaking of himself as the Son of Man who was destined to suffer, to be rejected by the religious authorities and to be put to death, all in the service of his loving mission to humankind. It was probably not the kind of Messiah Peter had in mind. There was more to Jesus than even Peter understood. There is always more to the Lord than we can grasp or understand. He is more loving, more merciful, than we could ever grasp.
In one of his letters, Saint Paul spoke of ‘the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge’ (Eph 4:19). We spend our lives growing in our appreciation of the Lord’s love for us, until we reach that eternal moment when we will see him as he really is.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
