February 23, 2025 - 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

 

 First Reading -    1 Sm 26:2.7-9. 12-13.22-23

     In those days, Saul went down to the desert of Ziph with three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph. 

     David and Abishai went among Saul’s soldiers by night and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade, with his spear thrust into the ground at his head, and Abner and his men sleeping around him. Abishai whispered to David: “God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear. I will not need a second thrust!” But David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him, for who can lay hands on the Lord’s anointed and remain unpunished?” So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul’s head, and they got away without anyone’s seeing or knowing or awakening. All remained asleep, because the Lord had put them into a deep slumber. 

     Going across to an opposite slope, David stood on a remote hilltop at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops. He said: “Here is the king’s spear. Let an attendant come over to get it. The Lord will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness. Today, though the Lord delivered you into my grasp, I would not harm the Lord’s anointed.”

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 103 

R –The Lord is kind and merciful!

 * Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. R.

 * He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills. He re deems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion. R. 

 * Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. R. 

 * As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. R. 

 Second Reading -  1 Cor 15:45-49

     Brothers and sisters: 

     It is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam, a life giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural, and then the spiritual. The f irst man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

 Gospel Acclamation - Jn 13:34 

 Alleluia! Alleluia! 
 I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you. 
 Alleluia! Alleluia! 

 Gospel - Lk 6:27-38

     Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear, I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. 

 For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. 

     But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back;  then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 

     Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be con demned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

February 16, 2025 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

 

 First Reading - Jer 17:5-8

    Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. 

     Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream. It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green. In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.

 Responsorial Psalm - Ps 1 

 R –Blessed are they who hope in the Lord!

 * Blessed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. R. 

* He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. R. 

 * Not so the wicked, not so! They are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. R. 

 Second Reading - 1 Cor 15:12.16-20

    Brothers and sisters: 

     If Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If the dead are not raised, nei ther has Christ been raised. 

     And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most 
pitiable people of all. 

     But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

 Gospel Acclamation -  Lk 6:23 

 Alleluia! Alleluia! 
 Rejoice and be glad; your reward will be great in heaven. 
 Alleluia! Alleluia! 

 Gospel - Lk 6:17.20-26

    Jesus came down with the Twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.

     And raising his eyes to ward his disciples he said: 

     “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. 

     Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. 

     Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. 

     Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. 

     But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 

     Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. 

     Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. 

     Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

February 9, 2025 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

 

First Reading - Is 6:1-8

     In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above. 

     They cried one to the other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” 

     At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 

     Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, “See, now that this has touched  your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

 Responsorial Psalm - Ps 138 

 R - In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord!

 * I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth; in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise. I will worship at your holy temple and give thanks to your name. R. 

 * Because of your kindness and your truth; for you have made great above all things your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me. R. 

 * All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth; and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord: “Great is the glory of the Lord.” R.

 * Your right hand saves me. The Lord will complete what he has done for me; your kind ness, O Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of your hands. R. 

 Second Reading - 1 Cor 15:1-11

    I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that, he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. 

     For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Gospel Acclamation - Mt 4:19 

 Alleluia! Alleluia! 
 Come after me and I will make you fishers of men. 
 Alleluia! Alleluia! 

 Gospel - Lk 5:1-11

     While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, Jesus asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 

     After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great num ber of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. 

     When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Je sus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on, you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.