Mass Readings

Catholic Ireland

Friday of Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1
Optional memorial of Ss Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs

FIRST READING   

A reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus            44:1. 9-13
Here is a list of generous men whose good works have not been forgotten.

Let us praise illustrious men, our ancestors in their successive generations.
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.

But 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.

The Word of the Lord         Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm      Ps 149
Response                          The Lord takes delight in his people
Or                                        Alleluia!

1. Sing a new song to the Lord, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker, let Zion’s sons exult in their king.                                 Response

2.  Let them praise his name with dancing and make music with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the poor with salvation.            Response

3. Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips; this honour is for all his faithful.                      Response

Gospel  Acclamation          Ps 118:29. 35
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Bend my heart to your will, O Lord, and teach me your commands.
Alleluia!

or                                                Jn 15: 16
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I chose you from the world to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you             And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark        11:11-26            Glory to you, O Lord
My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. Have faith in God.

After he had been acclaimed by the crowds, Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple. He looked all round him, but as it was now late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Next day as they were leaving Bethany, he felt hungry. Seeing a fig tree in leaf some distance away, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it, but when he came up to it he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs. And he addressed the fig tree.
‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again‘ he said. And his disciples heard him say this.

So they reached Jerusalem and he went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling pigeons. Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple. And he taught them and said,
‘Does not scripture say: My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples? But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’ This came to the ears of the chief priests and the scribes, and they tried to find some way of doing away with him; they were afraid of him because the people were carried away by his teaching. And when evening came he went out of the city.

Next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered to the roots. Peter remembered. ‘Look, Rabbi,’ he said to Jesus ‘the fig tree you cursed has withered away.’
Jesus answered, ‘Have faith in God. I tell you solemnly, if anyone says to this mountain, “Get up and throw yourself into the sea”, with no hesitation in his heart but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. I tell you therefore: everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.
But if you do not forgive, your Father in heaven will not forgive your failings either. ‘

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

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Gospel Reflection      Friday,                  Eighth Week in Ordinary Time               Mark 11:11-26

Many people comment on how prayerful a place our parish church is. It is very much a place of prayer. All through the day people come in to our church to pray. In the gospel reading, Jesus is critical of the Temple of his day because it wasn’t the house of prayer for all the peoples that God intended it to be. Not everyone was equally welcome there. We all want our own parish church to be a house of prayer for everyone, a place where everyone, without exception, feels at home and can pray in peace. There needs to be a warm, welcoming feel to every parish church, which reflects the welcoming love of the Lord for all. The Lord is present in the Eucharist in our church drawing all people to himself.

Later in the gospel reading, Jesus encourages his followers to pray, to ask God for their needs in the confidence that God will respond to their prayer of petition. ‘Everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours’. Our prayer will not always be answered in the way we might want or expect, but our heartfelt prayer will never go unanswered. In the gospel reading, Jesus not only asks us to be a praying community but to be a forgiving community as well. ‘When you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody’. As we open our hearts in prayer to God, God calls on us to open our hearts in forgiveness to one another at the same time. Our love of God, expressed in prayer, is to be accompanied by our love of one another expressed by our willingness to forgive one another. Such forgiveness will not always come easy to us, especially if we have been deeply hurt by someone. Sometimes all we can manage is the desire to forgive or even the seeking after that desire, and that itself is acceptable to the Lord and would make a worthwhile prayer, ‘Lord, grant me the desire to forgive’.

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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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