Mass Readings
Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 25th March, 2023Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday's Readings
25-03, The Annunciation of the Lord
General Theme: Mary gives her consent to God to work through her and with her. She gave herself entirely to the person and work of Jesus without reservation, inspired by the Spirit of God. She is a great inspiration to us,
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 7:10-14. 8:10
Theme: The maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said,
‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’
‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel. a name which means,
‘God is with us.’“
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 39
Response Here I am Lord! I come to do your will.
I. You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I. Response
2. In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart. Response
3. Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord. Response
4. I have not hidden your justice in my heart
but declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden your love and your truth
from the great assembly. Response
SECOND READING
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews 10:4-10
Theme: I was commanded in the scroll of the book, ‘God, here I am! I am coming to do your will.’
Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what he said, on coming into the world:
You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation, prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: ‘You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them;’ and then he says: ‘Here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Gospel Acclamation Jn 1: 14
Praise to you O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The Word was made flesh, he lived among us and we saw his glory.
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 Luke 1:26-38 Glory to you, O Lord
Theme: You are to conceive and bear a Son.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her,
‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’
She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her,
‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’
Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?‘
‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God. ‘
‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.‘
And the angel left her.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reflection Sat, 25 Mar, Feast of the Annunciation Luke 1:26-38
For the evangelist Luke, who gives us the story of the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary, this moment is the beginning of the gospel. The gospel is proclaimed for the first time by Gabriel to Mary. Gabriel announces to Mary the good news that she is to conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to Jesus, who will be called Son of God. He will be a king who will reign over Israel and his kingdom will have no end. Mary, according to Luke, is the first to hear the gospel. She is the first to have the opportunity to respond to the preached gospel.
According to Luke, after some understandable perplexity and questioning, she responded with all her being to the word of the gospel that Gabriel preached to her, ‘I am the servant of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me’, or in another translation, ‘let it be with me according to your word’. Luke invites us to look to Mary as the one who made not only the first response to the preached gospel but also the most complete response. Every time the gospel is preached, every time we hear the Lord’s word, we can do no better than say with Mary, ‘let it be with me according to your word’.
She allowed her life to be shaped by God’s word, by God’s will and purpose as expressed in his word. In this way, she anticipated her adult son’s response to God’s word, to God’s will and purpose, as found in today’s second reading, ‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will’. Mary followed her Son before he was conceived; we are called to follow him as our risen Lord in the same complete way as she did.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from Reflections on the Weekday Readings 2022-2023: Your word is a lamp for my feet and light for my path by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications 2022, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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