Mass Readings for : Thursday, 7th March, 2024

Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 7th March, 2024

Thursday, Third Week in Lent

Hardness of heart is the characteristic of those who refuse to listen to God.
Satan still acts in our world out of hatred for God and the Kingdom of Jesus, the Christ.

Memorial may be made of Ss Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs

FIRST READING

A reading from the prophet Jeremiah 7.23-28
Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God.

These were my orders:

Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper.

But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me. From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer.
So tell them this,
‘Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction.
Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.’

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm Ps 94
Response O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

1. Come, ring out our joy to the Lord; hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come before him, giving thanks, with songs let us hail the Lord. Response

2. Come in; let us bow and bend low; let us kneel before the God who made us
for he is our God and we the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand. Response

3. O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your fathers put me to the test; when they tried me, though they saw my work’ Response

Gospel Acclamation Ez 18:31
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks-
and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

or Joel 2:12-13
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

GOSPEL

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 11:14-23 Glory to you, O Lord
He who is not with me is against me.

Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil had gone out the dumb man spoke,
and the people were amazed. But some of them said,
‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’

Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them,
‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? Since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils.
Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then.

But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.‘

The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection Thursday. Third Week of Lent Luke 11:14-23

Jeremiah is a prophet who is known for his complaints. He regularly complains to God because of the hostile way people are responding to the message that God had asked him to proclaim. In today’s first reading, he complains to God that nobody is listening to the message that God gave him to speak, ‘They have not listened to me, have not paid attention… Here is a nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God’. Jesus could have made the same complaint as Jeremiah, to an even greater degree.

In today’s gospel reading, people are not only not listening to Jesus but they are not seeing either. Indeed, their seeing is completely skewed. When they see Jesus healing the broken, they claim that the power at work in Jesus’ life is the power of Satan. This is a very good example of what has come to be known as fake news in a most extreme form, calling the life-giving power of God the evil power of Satan. Jesus confronts his accusers, these peddlers of fake news, declaring that it is through the finger of God that he casts out devils and heals the broken. It is a striking image, ‘the finger of God’. It suggests that through Jesus God attends to the details of people’s lives. God is not just concerned with people in general, but with the unique situation of each and every person, in all its very personal detail. If we are open to see, we will recognize God’s involvement in the detailed care many people show to those who are broken in body, mind and spirit. Each of us is called to be an instrument of the finger of God in the way we relate to others.