Mass Readings - Sunday, 24th March, 2019

Liturgical Readings
Today's Readings
Léachtaí Gaeilge


FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Exodus   3:1-18. 13-15
I am has sent me to you.

Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of
Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to
Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to
him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush.
Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up.
‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said ‘and see why the
bush is not burnt.’ Now the Lord saw him go forward to look, and God
called to him from the middle of the bush.
‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am’ he answered. ‘Come no nearer’ he
said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy
ground. I am the God of your father,’ he said ‘the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face,
afraid to look at God.
And the Lord said, ‘I have seen the miserable state of my people in
Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I
am well aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the
hands of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a land rich
and broad, a land where milk and honey flow, the home of the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the
Jebusites. After you have led the people out of Egypt, you are to offer
worship to God on this mountain.’
Then Moses said to God, ‘I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say
to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” But if they ask
me what his name is, what am I to tell them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I
Am who I Am. ‘This’ he added ‘is what you must say to the sons of
Israel: “I Am has sent me to you.” And God also said to Moses, ‘You are
to say to the sons of Israel: ” the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to
you.” This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all
generations to come.


The Word of the Lord



Responsorial Psalm      Ps 102

Response : The Lord is compassion and love.

1. My soul, give thanks to the Lord,
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.                          Response

2. It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals everyone of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.          Response

3. The Lord does deeds of justice,
gives judgement for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses
and his deeds to Israel’s sons.                                 Response

4. The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
For as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.           Response



Second Reading
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians   10:1-6. 10-12
The life of the people was written down to be a lesson for us.

I want to remind you, brothers, how our fathers were all guided by a
cloud above them and how they all passed through the sea. They were
all baptised into Moses in this cloud and in this sea; all ate the same
spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank
from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and that rock
was Christ. In spite of this, most of them failed to please God and their
corpses littered the desert.
These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked
lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain: some
of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.
All this happened to them as a warning, and it was written down to be a
lesson for us who are living at the end of the age. The man who thinks
he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.

The Word of the Lord



Gospel Acclamation   Mt 4:17

Glory and praise to you, O Christ , you are the Word of God!

Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ , you are the Word of God!



GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke   13:1-9
Unless you repent you will all perish as they did.

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood
Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices At this he said to them,
‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater
sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but
unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on
whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that
they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They
were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they
did.’
He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and
he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who
looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been
coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why
should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one
more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear
fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”

The Gospel of the Lord