Mass Readings for : Monday, 6th November, 2023

Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 6th November, 2023

FIRST READING

A reading from the letter to the Hebrews 11:2, 12:1-4, 15, 13:1
Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection.

It was for faith that our ancestors were commended. With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. • In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.

Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God
and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a whole community.
Continue to love each other like brothers, and remember always to
I welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Alternative FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus 44:1-15
Their name lives on for all generations.

Let us praise illustrious men, our ancestors in their successive generations.
The Lord has created an abundance of glory, and displayed his greatness from earliest times.
Some wielded authority as kings and were renowned for their strength;
others were intelligent advisers and uttered prophetic oracles.
Others directed the people by their advice, by their understanding of the popular mind,
and by the wise words of their teaching; others composed musical melodies, and set down ballads;
others were rich and powerful, living peacefully in their homes.
All these were honoured by their contemporaries, and were the glory of their day.
Some of them left a name behind them, so that their praises are still sung.
While others have left no memory, and disappeared as though they had not existed, they are now as though they had never been, and so too, their children after them.

Here is a list of generous men whose good works have not been forgotten.
In their descendants there remains a rich inheritance born of them.
Their descendants stand by the covenants and, thanks to them,
so do their children’s children.
Their offspring will last for ever, their glory will not fade.
Their bodies have been buried in peace, and their name lives on for all generations.
The peoples will proclaim their wisdom, the assembly will celebrate their praises.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Responsorial Psalm Ps 125: Rv 5
Response Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

1.Those who put their trust in the Lord are like Mount Sion,
that cannot be shaken, that stands for ever. Response

2. Jerusalem! The mountains surround her,
so the Lord surrounds his people both now and for ever. Response

3. For the sceptre of the wicked shall not rest over the land of the just
for fear that the hands of the just should turn to evil. Response

4. Do good, Lord, to those who are good, to the upright of heart;
but the crooked and those who do evil, drive them away!
On Israel, peace! Response

Gospel Acclamation Mt 11: 28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 6: 20-26 Glory to you, O Lord.
Rejoice when that day comes, your reward will be great in heaven

Fixing his eyes on his disciples Jesus said:

‘How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.
Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh.
‘Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven.

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

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Gospel Reflection All the Saints of Ireland Luke 6:20-26

All the saints of Ireland, whose feast we celebrate today, include those whose saintly way of life has been recognized by the church, but also those whose sanctity was known only to those who lived alongside them. These were the men and women of our island through whom the light of God’s loving presence shone brightly. Many of them would have been considered poor, hungry and weeping, in the language of today’s gospel reading. When Jesus says in that gospel reading, ‘how happy are you who are poor; yours is the kingdom of God’, he was not suggesting that poverty was, in itself, a blessed state.

Jesus was saying that the poor are blessed because God was standing by their side and was working tirelessly to transform their plight. Throughout his ministry, Jesus revealed a God who pledged to act on behalf of the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable, the broken in body, mind and spirit, the hungry, the sorrowful. Jesus proclaimed that God was acting in and through his own ministry to reverse the situation of these groups. Jesus made present a God who was the passionate defender of the weak and powerless. What God was doing through Jesus, Jesus wants to continue doing through us his followers, his body in the world. That is why Jesus speaks these beatitudes while fixing his eyes on his disciples.

He is calling on us all to work to ensure that the promises he makes to the poor and vulnerable in today’s gospel reading come to pass, ‘yours is the kingdom of God, you shall be satisfied, you shall laugh’. These promises of Jesus don’t just pertain to life beyond this earthly life. Jesus wasn’t saying to those in greatest need, ‘you can be happy because your situation will be reversed in heaven’. Jesus expected the promises he made to begin to become a reality in the here and now. The saints included those through whom the Lord was free to work to begin bringing to pass in the here and now the promises made in the beatitudes. Because of their openness to the Lord’s presence and call, these saints allowed the poor to experience something of the coming kingdom of God on this side of eternity; they enabled the hungry in body and spirit to be satisfied; they dried the tears of those who wept and helped them to taste something of the joy of the risen Lord. Just as Jesus fixed his eyes on his disciples when he spoke these beatitudes, so he fixes his eyes on all of us today. He calls out to us to help him to bring to pass in the here and now the promises that he makes to the most vulnerable in today’s gospel reading. He calls us to be saints.