Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 11th December, 2023
Monday of the Second Week of Advent
Optional Memorial of St Damasus I, pope
Jesus and his works are at the core of Isaiah’s poetic vision of God’s saving love.
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Isaiah 35:1-10
God himself is coming to save you.
Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom,
let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil, let it rejoice and sing for joy.
The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
they shall see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.
Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees
and say to all faint hearts,
‘Courage! Do not be afraid.
‘Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming,
the retribution of God; he is coming to save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed,
then the lamb shall leap like a deer and the
tongues of the dumb sing for joy;
for water gushes in the desert, streams in the wasteland,
the scorched earth becomes a lake, the parched land springs of water.
The lairs where the jackals used to live become thickets of reed and papyrus.
And through it will run a highway undefiled which shall be called the Sacred Way;
the unclean may not travel by it, nor fools stray along it.
No lion will be there nor any fierce beast roam about it,
but the redeemed will walk there, for those the Lord has ransomed shall return.
They will come to Zion shouting for joy, everlasting joy on their faces;
joy and gladness will go with them and sorrow and lament be ended.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 84
Response Look, our God is coming to save us.
1. I will hear what the Lord God has to say, a voice that speaks of peace, peace for his people.
His help is near for those who fear him and his glory will dwell in our land. Response
2. Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven. Response
3. The Lord will make us prosper and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him and peace shall follow his steps. Response
Gospel Acclamation Lk 3:4.6
Alleluia, alleluia!
Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight..
and all mankind shall see the salvation of God
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 5:17-26 Glory to you, O Lord.
We have seen strange things today.
Jesus was teaching one day, and among the audience there were Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the Power of the Lord was behind his works of healing. Then some men appeared, carrying on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay down in front of him. But as the crowd made it impossible to find a way of getting him in, they went up on to the flat roof and lowered him and his stretcher down through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith he said,
‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you’.
The scribes and the Pharisees began to think this over.
‘Who is this man talking blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’
But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, made them this reply,
‘What are these thoughts you have in your hearts? Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you” or to say, “Get up and walk“?
But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’–he said to the paralysed man
‘I order you: get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’
And immediately before their very eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home praising God.
They were all astounded and praised God, and were filled with awe, saying,
‘We have seen strange things today.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Monday, Second Week of Advent Luke 5:17-26
In the gospel reading we have a very good image of faith in action. The friends of the paralyzed man were so intent on getting their friend to Jesus that they went to the extreme of creating an opening in the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching and letting their friend down in front of Jesus. They clearly would stop at nothing to place their paralyzed friend before Jesus. The gospel reading states, ‘Seeing their faith Jesus said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you’. It was not so much the faith of the paralyzed man that caught Jesus’ attention as the faith of his friends. The man was literally carried to Jesus by the faith of his friends. There is an image there of what all of us are called to be for each other within the church. We are called to carry each other by our faith. Our own faith in action carries others. Sometimes we need the faith of others to carry us when our own faith seems weak. Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans that the life and death of each one of us has its influence on others. He would also have said that the faith of each one of us has its influence for good on others.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
