26TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) – 30 SEPTEMBER, 2018

Saturday, 29 September, 2018

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

First Reading

NUMBERS 11:25-29

25 Yahweh descended in the cloud. He spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied -- but only once.

26 Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit came down on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrolled among the rest. These began to prophesy in the camp.

27 A young man ran to tell Moses this. 'Look,' he said, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'

28 Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses since he was a boy, spoke up and said, 'My lord Moses, stop them!'

29 Moses replied, 'Are you jealous on my account? If only all Yahweh's people were prophets, and Yahweh had given them his spirit!'

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14

8 The precepts of Yahweh are honest, joy for the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is pure, light for the eyes.

10 more desirable than gold, even than the finest gold; his words are sweeter than honey, that drips from the comb.

12 But who can detect his own failings? Wash away my hidden faults.

13 And from pride preserve your servant, never let it be my master. So shall I be above reproach, free from grave sin.

14 May the words of my mouth always find favour, and the whispering of my heart, in your presence, Yahweh, my rock, my redeemer.

Second Reading

JAMES 5:1-6

1 Well now, you rich! Lament, weep for the miseries that are coming to you.

2 Your wealth is rotting, your clothes are all moth-eaten.

3 All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be a witness against you and eat into your body. It is like a fire which you have stored up for the final days.

4 Can you hear crying out against you the wages which you kept back from the labourers mowing your fields? The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth.

5 On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart's content.

6 It was you who condemned the upright and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

MARK 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

38 John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.'

39 But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.

40 Anyone who is not against us is for us.

41 'If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward.

42 'But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck.

43 And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out.

45 And if your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

47 And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell

48 where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

25TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) – 23 SEPTEMBER, 2018

Saturday, 22 September, 2018

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

First Reading

WISDOM 2:17-20

17 Let us see if what he says is true, and test him to see what sort of end he will have.

18 For if the upright man is God's son, God will help him and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.

19 Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his patience to the test.

20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death since God will rescue him -- or so he claims.'

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 54:3-4, 5, 6-8

3 Arrogant men are attacking me, bullies hounding me to death, no room in their thoughts for God.

4 But now God is coming to my help, the Lord, among those who sustain me.

5 May their wickedness recoil on those who lie in wait for me. Yahweh, in your constancy destroy them.

6 How gladly will I offer you sacrifice, and praise your name, for it is good,

7 for it has rescued me from all my troubles, and my eye has feasted on my enemies.

Second Reading

JAMES 3:16--4:3

16 Wherever there are jealousy and ambition, there are also disharmony and wickedness of every kind;

17 whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it is also peaceable, kindly and considerate; it is full of mercy and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it.

18 The peace sown by peacemakers brings a harvest of justice.

1 Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?

2 You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive;

3 when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

MARK 9:30-37

30 After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know,

31 because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.'

32 But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.

33 They came to Capernaum, and when he got into the house he asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the road?'

34 They said nothing, because on the road they had been arguing which of them was the greatest.

35 So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.'

36 He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them,

37 'Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'

‘The Gospel of the Lord”

24TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) – 16 SEPTEMBER, 2018

Saturday, 15 September, 2018

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

Sunday, 16^th September, 2018

24^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

6:20 pm   Multilingual Mass

First Reading

ISAIAH 50:4-9

4 Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple's tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple.

5 Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I have not resisted, I have not turned away.

6 I have offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I have not turned my face away from insult and spitting.

7 Lord Yahweh comes to my help, this is why insult has not touched me, this is why I have set my face like flint and know that I shall not be put to shame.

8 He who grants me saving justice is near! Who will bring a case against me? Let us appear in court together! Who has a case against me? Let him approach me!

9 Look, Lord Yahweh is coming to my help! Who dares condemn me? Look at them, all falling apart like moth-eaten clothes!

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

1 Alleluia! I am filled with love when Yahweh listens to the sound of my prayer,

2 when he bends down to hear me, as I call.

3 The bonds of death were all round me, the snares of Sheol held me fast; distress and anguish held me in their grip,

4 I called on the name of Yahweh. Deliver me, Yahweh, I beg you.

5 Yahweh is merciful and upright, our God is tenderness.

6 Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength.

7 My heart, be at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously.

8 He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.

9 I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh, in the land of the living.

Second Reading

JAMES 2:14-18

14 How does it help, my brothers, when someone who has never done a single good act claims to have faith? Will that faith bring salvation?

15 If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on,

16 and one of you says to them, 'I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty,' without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that?

17 In the same way faith, if good deeds do not go with it, is quite dead.

18 But someone may say: So you have faith and I have good deeds? Show me this faith of yours without deeds, then! It is by my deeds that I will show you my faith.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

MARK 8:27-35

27 Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say I am?'

28 And they told him, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah, others again, one of the prophets.'

29 'But you,' he asked them, 'who do you say I am?' Peter spoke up and said to him, 'You are the Christ.'

30 And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was destined to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again;

32 and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter tried to rebuke him.

33 But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do.'

34 He called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

35 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

23RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) – 09 SEPTEMBER, 2018

Saturday, 08 September, 2018

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

First Reading

ISAIAH 35:4-7

4 and say to the faint-hearted, 'Be strong! Do not be afraid. Here is your God, vengeance is coming, divine retribution; he is coming to save you.'

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed,

6 then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy; for water will gush in the desert and streams in the wastelands,

7 the parched ground will become a marsh and the thirsty land springs of water; the lairs where the jackals used to live will become plots of reed and papyrus.

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 146:7, 8-9, 9-10

7 gives justice to the oppressed, gives food to the hungry; Yahweh sets prisoners free.

8 Yahweh gives sight to the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down.

9 Yahweh protects the stranger, he sustains the orphan and the widow. Yahweh loves the upright,but he frustrates the wicked.

10 Yahweh reigns for ever, your God, Zion, from age to age.

Second Reading

JAMES 2:1-5

1 My brothers, do not let class distinction enter into your faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord.

2 Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, well-dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes,

3 and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, 'Come this way to the best seats'; then you tell the poor man, 'Stand over there' or 'You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.'

4 In making this distinction among yourselves have you not used a corrupt standard?

5 Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who were poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

MARK 7:31-37

31 Returning from the territory of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee, right through the Decapolis territory.

32 And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him.

33 He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle.

34 Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.'

35 And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.

36 And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it.

37 Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, 'Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'

“The Gospel of the Lord”