Mass Readings

Catholic Ireland

Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 25th September, 2023
Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday's Readings

Monday of 25th week in Ordinary Time, Year 1
Optional memorial of St Finbarr, bishop

FIRST READING

A reading from the book of Ezra              1:1-6
Whoever is of the Lord’s people, let him go up to Jerusalem to build the Temple of the Lord.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfil the word of the Lord that was spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom:
‘Thus speaks Cyrus king of Persia,
“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; he has ordered me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah to build the Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, wherever he lives, be helped by the people of that place with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, as well as voluntary offerings for the Temple of God which is in Jerusalem.”

“Then the heads of families of Judah and of Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, in fact all whose spirit had been roused by God, prepared to go and rebuild the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem; and all their neighbours gave them every assistance with silver, gold, goods, cattle, quantities of costly gifts and with voluntary offerings of every kind.

The Word of the Lord.           Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm         Ps  125
Response                             What marvels the Lord worked for us.

1. When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs.            Response

2. The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels the Lord worked for them!’
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.                               Response

3. Deliver us, a Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry land.
Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.                                       Response

4. They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing:
they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves.                Response

Gospel  Acclamation            Jms 1: 18
Alleluia, alleluia!
By his own choice the Father makes us his children by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he created.
Alleluia!

Or                                              Mt 5: 16
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your light must shine in the sight of men,  so that, seeing your good works,
they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke       8:16-18     Glory to you, O Lord.
A lamp is put on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in.

Jesus said to his disciples;
‘No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, he puts it on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be known and brought to light.

So take care how you hear; for anyone who has will be given more; from anyone who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.’

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

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Gospel Reflection     Monday,      Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time      Luke 8:16-18

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘take care how you hear’. The gospel reading invites us to ask, ‘How well do we hear?’ These verses come immediately after the parable of the sower. The farmer sowing seed is an image of Jesus sowing God’s word. The hearing that Jesus is referring to is the hearing of God’s word. God always has something to say to us but he needs us to be good listeners, to hear well. God speaks to us in a whole variety of ways. In this season of creation, we remind ourselves that he speaks to us through all of creation. Listening to the sounds of nature is one form of listening to God speaking to us. I have become more aware recently of the sounds of birds, the different forms of birdsong. We are fortunate to live in a place where birdsong is abundant and diverse. God can also speak to us through each other. In the first reading, God was speaking to his people through the pagan king of Persia, Cyrus, an outsider, calling on them to go back to their homeland to build their Temple. We are invited to ask ourselves, ‘What may the Lord be saying to us, to me, through the voice of others, including the voice of outsiders?’. God speaks in a privileged way to us through the Scriptures, the Word of God. There is a long tradition in the church of attentive reading of God’s word, a slow, meditative reading that has been compared to a cow chewing the cud. The gospel reading of the Sunday could be the focus of such a prayerful, listening, reading. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus promises that if we listen carefully to the various ways God is speaking to us, ‘we will be given more’. Our attentive listening will create an opening for the Lord to grace us abundantly.

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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 his book 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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