August 28, 2022 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

 

First Reading - Sir 3:17-18.20. 28-29

    My child, conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not. 

     The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise. Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins.

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 68 

R –God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor!

* The just rejoice and exult before God; they are glad and rejoice. Sing to God, chant praise to his name; whose name is the Lord. R. 

* The father of orphans and the defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. God gives a home to the forsaken; he leads forth prisoners to prosperity. R. 

* A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance; you restored the land when it languished. Your flock settled in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy. R. 

Second Reading - Heb 12:18-19. 22-24 

    Brothers and sisters: 

    You have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fi re and gloomy darkness and storm and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them. 

    No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.

Gospel Acclamation - Mt 11:29 

Alleluia! Alleluia! “Take my yoke upon you,” says the Lord, “and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” 

Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Gospel Lk 14:1.7-14

    On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 

    “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you, he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

    Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

August 21, 2022 - 21st Sunday in Ordinary (Time Year C)

 

First Reading - Is 66:18-21

    Thus says the Lord: “I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them. I will spare some of them and send them to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.      They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the Lord in clean vessels. 

    Some of these I will take as priests and Levites,” says the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 117 

R –Go out to all the world and tell the Good News!

* Praise the Lord, all you nations; glorify him, all you peoples! R. 

* For steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever. R. 

Second Reading - Heb 12:5-7.11-13

    Brothers and sisters, 

    You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. He scourges every son he acknowledges.” 

     Endure your trials as “discipline.” God treats you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. 

     So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed. 

Gospel Acclamation - Jn 14:6 

Alleluia! Alleluia! 

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” says the Lord; “no one comes to the Father, except through me.” Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Gospel - Lk 13:22-30

     Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.             Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. 

     After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves cast out. 

    And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

August 15, 2022 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Years A, B, C)

 First Reading - Rv 11:19; 12:1-6.10

    God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. 

    A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.      Then another sign appeared in the sky: it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns; and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. 

    Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fl ed into the desert, where she had a place prepared by God.     Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed One.”

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 45 

R –The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold!

* The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir. R. * Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear, forget your people and your father’s house. R. 

* So shall the king desire your beauty; for he is your lord. R. 

* They are borne in with gladness and joy; they enter the palace of the king. R.

Second Reading - 1 Cor 15:20-27

    Brothers and sisters: 

    Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

    For since death came through a human being , the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life. 

    But each one in proper order: Christ, the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty, and every authority and power.For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for “he subjected everything under his feet.”

Gospel Acclamation 

Alleluia! Alleluia! Mary is taken up to heaven; a chorus of angels exults.  

Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Gospel - Lk 1:39-56

    Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 

    When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” 

    And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed. The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. 

    He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. 

    He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. 

    He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. 

    He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 

    He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.” 

    Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.

August 14, 2022 - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

 

First Reading - Jer 38:4-6.8-10

    In those days, the princes said to the king: “Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them. He is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin.” King Zedekiah answered: “He is in your power”; for the king could do nothing with them. And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, which was in the quarters of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud. 

    Ebedmelech, a court official, went there from the palace and said to him: “My lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern. He will die of famine on the spot, for there is no more food in the city.” Then the king ordered Ebedmelech the Cushite to take three men along with him, and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he should die.

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 40 

R –Lord, come to my aid!

* I have waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped toward me. R. 

* The Lord heard my cry. He drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp; he set my feet upon a crag; he made firm my steps. R. 

* And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look in awe and trust in the Lord. R. 

* Though I am afflicted and poor, yet the Lord thinks of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, hold not back! R.

Second Reading - Heb 12:1-4

    Brothers and sisters: 

    Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. 

     For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

Gospel Acclamation - Jn 10:27 

All – Alleluia! Alleluia! “My sheep hear my voice,” says the Lord; “I know them, and they follow me.” Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Gospel - Lk 12:49-53

    Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! 

    Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

August 7, 2022 - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

 

First Reading Wis 18:6-9

The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage. Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes. For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned. For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution. The Word of the Lord! 

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 33 

R –Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own!

* Exult, you just, in the Lord; praise from the upright is fitting. Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. R. 

* See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. R. 

* Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in you. R. 

Second Reading - Heb 11:1-2.8-19

    Brothers and sisters: 

    Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was to go. 

    By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age – and Sarah herself was sterile – for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. 

     All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 

    By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac, descendants shall bear your name.” He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.

Gospel Acclamation - Mt 24:42.44 

Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Stay awake and be ready! For you do not know on what day the Son of Man will come. 

Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Gospel - Lk 12:32-48

    Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. 

    Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. 

     Gird your loins and light your lamps, and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. 

    Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” 

    Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” 

    And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. 

    But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely, and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”