Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 3rd October, 2024
Thursday of the Twenty-Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional memorial of Bl. Columba Marmion, priest
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Job 19:21-27
I know that my Redeemer lives.
Job said:
Pity me, pity me, you, my friends, for the hand of God has struck me.
Why do you hound me down like God, will you never have enough of my flesh?
Ah, would that these words of mine were written down, inscribed on some monument
with iron chisel and engraving tool, cut into the rock for ever.
This I know: that my Avenger lives, and he, the Last, will take his stand on earth.
After my awaking, he will set me close to him, and from my flesh I shall look on God.
He whom I shall see will take my part: these eyes will gaze on him and find him not aloof.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 26
Response I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness, in the land of the living.
1. O Lord, hear my voice when I call; have mercy and answer.
Of you my heart has spoken: Seek his face.’ Response
2. It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face.
Dismiss not your servant in anger; you have been my help. Response
3. I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord! Response
Gospel Acclamation Mt 4: 4
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God .
Alleluia !
Or Mk 1: 15
Alleluia, alleluia!
The kingdom of God is close at hand, repent and believe the Good News.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 1-:1-12
Your peace will rest on him.
The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them,
‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!“
And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say,
“The kingdom of God is very near to you”. But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, . “We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near.“
I tell you, on that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with that town.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Thursday Twenty Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 10:1-12
When Jesus sends out the seventy two in the gospel reading, he makes clear to them that, whereas they will be well received by some towns, they will most certainly not be made welcome by other towns. However, regardless of how they are received, their message is to be the same, ‘the kingdom of God is very near to you’. The reign of God in Jesus is equally present to those who reject it as it is to those who welcome it. We are being reminded that we do not make God present, nor, indeed, can we drive God away. God is present to us, through his Son, now risen Lord, whether we want God’s presence or not, whether we are aware of God’s presence or not. God is changeless in that God cannot but be present to us, even though as human beings we can change; we can be more or less present to God.
Because the kingdom of God is always very near to us, because God’s loving and just rule is powerfully present to us at all times, our calling is to keep opening ourselves to God’s presence, to allow God to be Emmanuel, God with us. God has done and is doing all God can do for us; it falls to us to keep opening ourselves more fully to what God is doing for us. It has pleased God to give us the gift of the kingdom, the gift of his loving presence; God wants us to receive this gift and then to live out of the fullness and richness of this gift. God has drawn near to us through his Son, and God desires us to draw near to him, to be in communion with him, and then, in the strength of that communion to go forth and become his labourers in his harvest, like the seventy two in today’s gospel reading.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
