Mass Readings
Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 9th June, 2023Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday's Readings
06-09 St Columba(Columcille)
ST READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans 12:1-2,9-13
If you have hope, this will make you cheerful.
Think of God’s mercy, my brothers, and worship him, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God. Do not model yourselves on the behaviour of the world around you, but let your behaviour change, modelled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do. 
Do not let your love be a pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as much as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other. Work for the Lord with untiring effort and with great earnestness of spirit. If you have hope, this will make you cheerful. Do not give up if trials come; and keep on praying, if any of the saints are in need you must share with them; and you should make hospitality your special care.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
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Alternative FIRST READING
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 5:14-21
For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation.
The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.
From now onwards, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. lt is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
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Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:2-3, 10-15, R/ 11
Response Strong lions suffer want and grow hungry
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.
1. I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast. The humble shall hear and be glad. Response
2. Revere the Lord, you his saints. They lack nothing, those who revere him.
Strong lions suffer want and go hungry but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing. Response
3. Come, children, and hear me that I may teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is he who longs for life and many days, to enjoy his prosperity? Response
4. Then keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn aside from evil and do good; seek and strive after peace. Response
Gospel Acclamation Mt 28: 19-20
Alleluia, Alleluia!
‘Go, make disciples of all the nations,’ says the Lord , ‘I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 8:18-27 Glory to you, O Lord
Theme: Whatever kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.
When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side. One of the scribes then came up and said to him, ‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go.’
Jesus replied,
‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’.
Another man, one of his disciples, said to him,
‘Sir, let me go and bury my father first.’
But Jesus replied,
‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.‘
Then he got into the boat followed by his disciples. Without warning a storm broke over the lake, so violent that the waves were breaking right over the boat. But he was asleep. So they went to him and woke him saying,
‘Save us, Lord, we are going down!’
And he said to them,
‘Why are you so frightened, you men of little faith?’
And with that he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and all was calm again. The men were astounded and said,
‘Whatever kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Alternative GOSPEL:
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew Mt 19:27-29 Glory to you, O Lord
You will sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
Peter spoke. ‘What about us? he said to him. ‘We have left everything and followed you. What are we to have, then?’
Jesus said to him,
‘I tell you solemnly, when all is made new and the Son of Man sits on his throne of glory, you will yourselves sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or land for the sake of my name will be repaid a hundred times over, and also inherit eternal life.’
‘Many who are first will be last, and the last, first.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reflection, 9th June Feast of Saint Columba Matthew 8:18-27
Colum Cille was born in Gartan, Co. Donegal in 521 and was of royal lineage. He founded monasteries in Derry, Durrow, and possibly Kells. In 565, at the age of forty four, he left Ireland with twelve companions and founded a monastery on the island of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull, off South West Scotland. It was given to him for a monastery by the ruler of the Irish Dalriada. He remained the rest of his life in Scotland, mainly Iona, returning to Ireland only for occasional visits. Colum Cille and his companions preached the gospel in the Western part of Scotland. He died on June 9, 597, at the age of seventy six. After his death, monks from Iona went to evangelize Northumbria, where they established monasteries at Lindisfarne and Whitby. Columcille and his companions made the word of God fully known wherever they went.
During their ministry, they went through many a stormy time, like the disciples in today’s gospel reading. Yet, just as Jesus was with the disciples in the storm at sea and brought them through it, he was with Columcille and his companions through all their difficult moments, and they came to discover, like those disciples, that the Lord was stronger than the storm. Our own following of the Lord won’t always be easy; the storms and trials of life will often put our faith to the test. Just as Jesus was asleep in the boat, it can seem to us at such times that the Lord is asleep on our watch. Yet, the Lord is always attentive to us. One of the psalms expresses that conviction very well, ‘He who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep’. The Lord is ever watchful and faithful. It is we who can become faithless or, in the rebuke of Jesus to the disciples in the boat, people of ‘little faith’. We fail to watch, to keep him in view. It is because we are all prone to ‘little faith’ that we need to keep making our own the prayer of one of the minor characters of the gospel story, the father of a seriously ill boy who prayed to Jesus, ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief’.
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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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