Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 8th March, 2024
Friday of the Third week of Lent
Memorial may be made of Ss John of God, religious, and Senan, bishop
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Hosea 14:2-10
We will not say any more, ‘Our God’ to what our own hands have made.
The Lord says this:
Israel, come back to the Lord your God; your iniquity was the cause of your downfall.
Provide yourself with words and come back to the Lord.
Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away so that we may have happiness again
and offer you our words of praise.
Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more
or say, “Our God!” to what our own hands have made, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.
I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned from them.
I will fall like dew on Israel. He shall bloom like the lily,
and thrust out roots like the poplar, his shoots will spread far;
he will have the beauty of the olive and the fragrance of Lebanon.
They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow corn that flourishes,
they will cultivate vines as renowned as the wine of Helbon.
What has Ephraim to do with idols any more when it is I who hear his prayer and care for him?
I am like a cypress ever green, all your fruitfulness comes from me.
Let the wise man understand these words. Let the intelligent man grasp their meaning.
For the ways of the Lord are straight, and virtuous men walk in them, but sinners stumble.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 80
Response I am the Lord your God; listen to my warning.
1. A voice I did not know said to me: ‘I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load. You called in distress and I saved you. Response
2. ‘I answered, concealed in the storm cloud, at the waters of Meribah I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning, O Israel, if only you would heed! Response
3. ‘Let there be no foreign god among you, no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt. Response
4. ‘O that my people would heed me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat and fill them with honey from the rock.’ Response
Gospel Acclamation
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
or Mt 4: 17
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 12:28-34 Glory to you, O Lord
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart.
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him,
‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’
Jesus replied,
‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.
The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’
The scribe said to him,
‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’
Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said,
‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’
And after that no one dared to question him any more.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
*******************
Gospel Reflection Friday Third Week of Lent Mark 12:28-34
Today’s first reading is very striking in many ways. The Lord speaking through the prophet Hosea calls on his people to come back to him and if they do the Lord promises them to love them with all his heart. The Lord goes on to say to his people, ‘I am like a cypress ever green, all your fruitfulness comes from me’. Because the Lord alone loves us with all his heart, he alone is the source of true life for us. The Lord calls out to us in love, pleading with us to keep turning to him as the one who can allow our lives to bear rich fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. God’s life-giving love for us is the basis of Jesus’ call to us in the gospel reading to love the Lord all our heart, soul, mind and strength. If we can open ourselves to the Lord’s love for us, then we will be moved to love the Lord in return. God always loves us first and our love for God is a response to this love for us.
The good news of God’s faithful, unconditional, love for us is the foundation of what Jesus calls the first commandment, to love the Lord your God with all our being, with a love that is worthy of his love for us. Our loving relationship with God in turn is the foundation of what Jesus calls the second commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves. The more we open ourselves to God’s love for us and respond to his love by loving him, the more we will be empowered to love others with God’s own love. At the heart of our life as people of faith is love, God’s love for us, our love for God in return and the outpouring of God’s love through us onto others. When love becomes central to our lives in that sense, Jesus will say to us what he said to the scribe in today’s gospel reading, ‘you are not far from the Kingdom of God’.
______________________________________
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
