Daily Mass Reflection & Daily Mass Readings
Daily Mass Reflection & Daily Mass Readings are vital for nurturing spiritual growth and maintaining a strong connection to one’s faith. These practices offer a dedicated time to meditate on the scriptures and the teachings of the homily, helping individuals internalize the lessons and apply them to their daily lives. Regular engagement with the readings fosters a deeper understanding of religious texts, while the reflection period allows for personal introspection and spiritual renewal. Together, they provide a foundation for a more meaningful and conscious practice of faith, promoting a sense of peace, guidance, and communal belonging.
14th December – Saturday, Second Week of Advent
The gospel reading suggests that people often do not recognize the messengers that God’s sends them. Jesus declares that John the Baptist was long awaited return of the prophet Elijah who, it was believed, would prepare people for the coming of the Lord. Yet the people of Jesus’ day did not recognize John the Baptist for who he was, God’s messenger, and instead of being welcomed he was put to death. Jesus goes on to say that what happened to John points ahead to what will happen to himself. If John was the messenger of the Lord, Jesus was the Lord himself, for whose coming John was preparing people. Yet many of Jesus’ contemporaries did not recognize him for who he was, God’s anointed one, and instead of being welcomed he was crucified. We often fail to recognize the messengers God sends us. The risen Lord, God’s greatest messenger because he was God’s Son, comes to us in a whole variety of ways. In the gospels we hear that he comes to us through children and through the most vulnerable in society. He often comes to us through the stranger, those whose ways are very different to ours. He also comes to us through his word and, in a unique way, through the Eucharist. Our calling is to recognize the many and varied ways that the Lord comes to us today, and to respond to his coming with open and welcoming hearts. In praying the Advent prayer, ‘Come Lord Jesus’, we are inviting the Lord to open our eyes so that we recognize the many ways he comes to us each day of our lives.
13th December – Friday, Second Week of Advent
Children’s games have become more sophisticated in recent decades, especially with the arrival of computers. We can probably all think back to the games we played when we were children. They were a lot simpler, and, probably involved more physical movement. In the gospel reading, Jesus notices how the children of his time and place play games in the market square. They are playing what we might call ‘pretend’. One group of children pretend to be musicians, pipe players, just like at a wedding. They then go on to pretend to be singing sad dirges, as at a funeral. They want another group of children to play along with them, to dance to their pipe playing or to mourn to their sad songs. However, this second group are unmoved; they don’t want to play either at being at a wedding or a funeral. This second group reminds Jesus of some of the adults he has come to notice. They were equally unmoved by the somewhat gloomy message of John the Baptist and also by the much more joyful and celebratory message of Jesus. You may have heard the term ‘God’s frozen people’! Jesus sees himself in the children playing the pipes inviting other children to dance. The risen Lord continues to play the joyful tune of the Holy Spirit among us today. It is a tune that brings hope and that is always uplifting. We are invited to really listen to that tune and to be moved by it, to live hopeful and joyful lives that bring hope and joy to others. The Lord’s message and presence is always good news, no matter how dark or difficult the situation in which we find ourselves. He makes present to us God’s merciful love from which nothing in all creation can separate us, and that is always something to rejoice in.
14th December >> Mass Readings
Saint John of the Cross, Priest, Doctor
on
Saturday, Second Week of Advent.
Saturday, Second Week of Advent
(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I))
(Readings for the feria (Saturday))
(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)
First Reading Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4,9-12 The prophet Elijah will come again.
The prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch. It was he who brought famine on the people, and who decimated them in his zeal. By the word of the Lord, he shut up the heavens, he also, three times, brought down fire. How glorious you were in your miracles, Elijah! Has anyone reason to boast as you have? Taken up in the whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses; designated in the prophecies of doom to allay God’s wrath before the fury breaks, to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob, Happy shall they be who see you, and those who have fallen asleep in love.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 79(80):2-3,15-16,18-19
R/ God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hear us, shine forth from your cherubim throne. O Lord, rouse up your might, O Lord, come to our help.
R/ God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
God of hosts, turn again, we implore, look down from heaven and see. Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted.
R/ God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
May your hand be on the man you have chosen, the man you have given your strength. And we shall never forsake you again; give us life that we may call upon your name.
R/ God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia! The day of the Lord is near; Look, he comes to save us. Alleluia!
Or: Luke 3:4,6
Alleluia, alleluia! Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight, and all mankind shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!
Gospel Matthew 17:10-13 Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him.
As they came down from the mountain the disciples put this question to Jesus, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?’ ‘True;’ he replied ‘Elijah is to come to see that everything is once more as it should be; however, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands.’ The disciples understood then that he had been speaking of John the Baptist.
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
13th December >> Mass Readings
Saint Lucy, Virgin, Martyr
on
Friday, Second Week of Advent.
Friday, Second Week of Advent
(Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I))
(Readings for the feria (Friday))
(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Friday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)
First Reading Isaiah 48:17-19 If you had been alert to my commandments, your happiness would have been like a river.
Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is good for you, I lead you in the way that you must go. If only you had been alert to my commandments, your happiness would have been like a river, your integrity like the waves of the sea. Your children would have been numbered like the sand, your descendants as many as its grains. Never would your name have been cut off or blotted out before me.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 1:1-4,6
R/ Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life.
Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night.
R/ Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.
R/ Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life.
Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind: for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
R/ Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia! See, the king, the Lord of the world, will come. He will free us from the yoke of our bondage. Alleluia!
Or:
Alleluia, alleluia! The Lord will come, go out to meet him. Great is his beginning and his reign will have no end. Alleluia!
Gospel Matthew 11:16-19 They heed neither John nor the Son of Man.
Jesus spoke to the crowds: ‘What description can I find for this generation? It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place:
“We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t be mourners.”
‘For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He is possessed.” The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Yet wisdom has been proved right by her actions.’
The Gospel of the Lord