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.
10th October – Thursday, Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
There are various forms of prayer, such as the prayer of petition, the prayer of thanksgiving, the prayer of praise, the prayer of contrition, the prayer of surrender. It is probably true to say that the prayer that comes most naturally to us is the prayer of petition. If we reflect on our prayer life, we will likely find that the prayer of petition, the prayer of asking God for help of some kind, is very much to the fore. There is a prayer book in the Bible, the book of psalms, composed long before the coming of Jesus, and the dominant prayer in that collection of prayers is the prayer of petition. Jesus was aware of the significance of the prayer of petition in the life of believers and today’s gospel reading suggests that he encouraged his disciples to pray that form of prayer, ‘Ask (keep on asking)… search (keep on searching)… knock (keep on knocking)…’. He promises that our prayer of petition will always be answered, ‘It will be given to you… you will find… the door will be opened to you’. It often seems as if our prayers of petition are not answered. We ask for healing for someone, and they don’t get better. Yet, the Lord assures us in the gospel reading that no prayer of petition goes unanswered. Our prayer may not be answered in the way that we had hoped, but Jesus assures us that God is never deaf to our cries for help. At the end of the gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?’ Our prayer of petition will always create a space for the Holy Spirit to work more powerfully in our lives. Saint Paul once wrote, in his letter to the Romans, ‘the Spirit helps us in our weakness’. In response to our prayer of petition we can be assured of receiving the help of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our need and to empower us to strengthen others in their need.
9th October – Wednesday, Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading gives us a unique insight into a serious disagreement in the church of Antioch between Peter and Paul, two of the most significant leaders in the early church. Paul accused Peter of ‘not respecting the true meaning of the Good News’ or, in a more literal translation, ‘not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel’. The disagreement between them concerned whether or not members of the church from a pagan background were expected to keep Jewish food laws, as members of the church from a Jewish background did. The issue of the relationship between Jews and pagans within the early church was a complicated one and there were different views on it. No doubt Peter, in acting as he did, would have regarded himself as respecting the true meaning of the gospel. Committed believers have always had different views as to what constitutes the truth of the gospel, in relation to a whole variety of issues. Peter and Paul may have disagreed strongly on this occasion, but for many years afterwards they each preached the gospel in different parts of the Mediterranean world and each of them was put to death for the truth of the gospel in the persecution of the church in Rome by Nero around the year 64 AD. Although they may have disagreed on one particular issue in the church of Antioch, they went on to show themselves united on the fundamentals of the faith. What are the fundamentals of the faith? They are to be found in the Creed we recite every Sunday. They are also to be found in the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples in today’s gospel reading. We are to be united in the fundamental task of helping to create a space for the coming of God’s kingdom. We are to be united in praying for and working for daily bread for all of God’s people, both physical and spiritual bread. We are to be united in our shared recognition of ourselves as sinners before God and in our shared willingness to pass on to others the forgiveness we have received from God. We are to be united in looking to God for the strength to remain faithful to the truth of the gospel when our faith is put to the test by forces hostile to the gospel.
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10th October >> Mass Readings
Thursday, Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))
First Reading Galatians 3:1-5 You received the Spirit because you believed what was preached.
Are you people in Galatia mad? Has someone put a spell on you, in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Let me ask you one question: was it because you practised the Law that you received the Spirit, or because you believed what was preached to you? Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances what you began in the Spirit? Have all the favours you received been wasted? And if this were so, they would most certainly have been wasted. Does God give you the Spirit so freely and work miracles among you because you practise Law, or because you believed what was preached to you?
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Luke 1:69-75
R/ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour in the house of David his servant, as he promised by the lips of holy men, those who were his prophets from of old.
R/ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
A saviour who would free us from our foes, from the hands of all who hate us. So his love for our fathers is fulfilled and his holy covenant remembered.
R/ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes, we might serve him in holiness and justice all the days of our life in his presence.
R/ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
Gospel Acclamation John 14:6
Alleluia, alleluia! I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord; No one can come to the Father except through me. Alleluia!
Or: cf. Acts of the Apostles 16:14
Alleluia, alleluia! Open our heart, O Lord, to accept the words of your Son. Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 11:5-13 Ask, and it will be given to you.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants. ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
9th October >> Mass Readings
Wednesday, Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
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Saints Denis, Bishop, and his Companions, Martyrs
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Saint John Leonardi, Priest
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Saint John Henry Newman, Priest.
Wednesday, Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))
First Reading Galatians 2:1-2,7-14 They recognised the grace that God had given me.
It was not till fourteen years had passed that I went up to Jerusalem again. I went with Barnabas and took Titus with me. I went there as the result of a revelation, and privately I laid before the leading men the Good News as I proclaim it among the pagans; I did so for fear the course I was adopting or had already adopted would not be allowed. On the contrary, they recognised that I had been commissioned to preach the Good News to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been commissioned to preach it to the circumcised. The same person whose action had made Peter the apostle of the circumcised had given me a similar mission to the pagans. So, James, Cephas and John, these leaders, these pillars, shook hands with Barnabas and me as a sign of partnership: we were to go to the pagans and they to the circumcised. The only thing they insisted on was that we should remember to help the poor, as indeed I was anxious to do. When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, since he was manifestly in the wrong. His custom had been to eat with the pagans, but after certain friends of James arrived he stopped doing this and kept away from them altogether for fear of the group that insisted on circumcision. The other Jews joined him in this pretence, and even Barnabas felt himself obliged to copy their behaviour. When I saw they were not respecting the true meaning of the Good News, I said to Cephas in front of everyone, ‘In spite of being a Jew, you live like the pagans and not like the Jews, so you have no right to make the pagans copy Jewish ways.’
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 116(117)
R/ Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
O praise the Lord, all you nations, acclaim him all you peoples!
R/ Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
Strong is his love for us; he is faithful for ever.
R/ Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
Gospel Acclamation Psalm 118:34
Alleluia, alleluia! Train me, Lord, to observe your law, to keep it with my heart. Alleluia!
Or: Romans 8:15
Alleluia, alleluia! The spirit you received is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 11:1-4 How to pray.
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘Say this when you pray:
‘“Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come; give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us. And do not put us to the test.”’
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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