Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 23rd February, 2024
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Memorial may be made of St Polycarp, bishop and martyr
As we celebrate the Eucharist we need to remind ourselves that God expects us
to act justly and peacefully with other people as they too are God’s family.
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Ezekiel 18:21-28
Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live?
Thus says the Lord:
‘If the wicked man renounces all the sins he has committed, respects my laws and is
law-abiding and honest, he will certainly live; he will not die. All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practised.
What! Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man – it is the Lord who speaks – and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live?
‘But if the upright man renounces his integrity, commits sin, copies the wicked man and practises every kind of filth, is he to live? All the integrity he has practised shall be forgotten from then on; but this is because he himself has broken faith and committed sin, and for this he shall die.
But you object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 129
Response If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?
1. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading. Response
2. If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness: for this we revere you. Response
3. My soul is waiting for the Lord, I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord more than watchman for daybreak.
Let the watchman count on daybreak and Israel on the Lord. Response
4. Because with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will redeem from all its iniquity. Response
Gospel Acclamation Amos 5: 14
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Or Ez 18:31
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 5:20-26 Glory to you, O Lord
Go and be reconciled with your brother first.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court.
But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court;
if a man calls his brother “Fool” he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him “Renegade” he will answer for it in hell fire.
‘So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.
‘I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Friday, First Week of Lent Matthew 5:20-26
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus calls his disciples to a virtue that goes deeper than the virtue of the scribes and Pharisees. One of the ten commandments of the Jewish Law was ‘You shall not kill’. However, the call of Jesus goes deeper than that; it looks beyond the action of killing to the underlying attitudes and emotions which lead people to kill or injure each other. Jesus invites us to look below the surface of what we do to why we do it. He calls for a renewal of the heart and mind; that is what we mean by ‘repentance’ or ‘conversion’. That deep-seated renewal that Jesus calls for is not something we can bring about on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to work that kind of deep transformation within ourselves.
A prayer that has been traditional within the church acknowledges that very clearly: ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart, and kindle in me the fire of your love’. It is a prayer I have always found myself drawn to. It calls on the Holy Spirit to recreate deep within us the love which shaped the person of Jesus; it calls on the Spirit to form in us the roots of that deeper virtue which Jesus speaks about in today’s gospel reading. This is a virtue that enables us to channel in life-giving ways those powerful emotions, such as anger, that we all experience.
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
