Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 11th March, 2024
Monday of the Fourth week of Lent
Memorial of St Aengus, bishop and abbot may be made today
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Isaiah 65:17-21
No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard.
Thus says the Lord:
Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds.
Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy‘ and her people ‘Gladness‘. I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 29
Response I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
1. I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grave. Response
2. Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him, give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts but a moment; his favour through life. At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn. Response
3. The Lord listened and had pity.The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into dancing;O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 129:5. 7
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
My soul is waiting for the Lord; I count on his word,
because with the Lord, there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
or Amos 5:14
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you.
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 John 4:43-54 Glory to you, O Lord
Go home, your son will live.
Jesus left Samaria for Galilee. He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in his own country, but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.
He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum and, hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son as he was at the point of death.
Jesus said, ‘So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents!’
‘Sir,’ answered the official ‘come down before my child dies.’
‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’
The man believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He asked them when the boy had begun to recover.
‘The fever left him yesterday’ they said ‘at the seventh hour.’
The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live‘;
and he and all his household believed.
This was the second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Monday Fourth Week of Lent John 4:43-54
In the first reading the Lord speaking through the prophet Isaiah says of the city of Jerusalem that had been besieged some years before, ‘No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days… They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit’. This is God’s desire for the ruined city of Jerusalem. It is hard not to think of the many cities ruined by today’s wars when we hear those words. God’s desire for Jerusalem is also God’s desire for every city, and, yet, so often what the powerful desire for the cities of the earth is far removed from God’s desire. When the powerful of the world seek to promote their own kingdom, it usually inhibits the coming of God’s kingdom to earth, a kingdom where God’s justice and peace reigns.
The God in whom we believe is a God of life, not a God of death. Jesus was the fullest revelation possible in human form of the God of life. He was the supreme life-giver. In today’s gospel reading, he declares to an official at the court of Herod Antipas, who came to him pleading for his seriously ill son, ‘Go, your son will live’. The official trusted in Jesus’ word of promise and his trust was vindicated; his son recovered from his life-threatening fever. Jesus will declare in this gospel of John that he came so that we may have life and have it to the full. Fullness of life is our ultimate destiny, a sharing in God’s own life. Yet, Jesus intends that we have a foretaste of eternal life in this present earthly life; his deepest desire is that something of the kingdom of heaven would come to earth. He looks to us his followers to be channels of his life-giving presence in the here and now. They will often mean standing up to those who are intent on inflicting death on others.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
