Mass Readings - Sunday, 11th August 2019

FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Wisdom  18:6-9
By the same act with which you took vengeance on our foes you made us glorious by
calling us to you.

That night had been foretold to our ancestors, so that,
once they saw what kind of oaths they had put their trust in,
they would joyfully take courage.
This was the expectation of your people,
the saving of the virtuous and the ruin of their enemies;
for by the same act with which you took vengeance on our foes
you made us glorious by calling us to you.
The devout children of worthy men offered sacrifice in secret
and this divine pact they struck with one accord:
that the saints would share the same blessings and dangers alike; and forthwith they
had begun to chant the hymns of the fathers.

The Word of the Lord.



Responsorial Psalm    Ps 32

Response:    Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
1. Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
They are happy, whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own. Response

2. The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine. Response

3. Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you. Response



SECOND READING
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Hebrews   11: 1-2. 8-12.
Abraham looked forward to a city founded , designed and built by God.

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the
realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were
commended.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the
inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing
where he was going. By faith he arrived, as a foreigner, in the Promised Land, and lived
there as if in a strange country, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the
same promise. They lived there in tents while he looked forward to a city founded,
designed and built by God.

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to
conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to
it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as
dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of
heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but
they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only
strangers and nomads on earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it
quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland. They, can hardly have meant
the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact
they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is
not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to
sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had
been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that
God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given
back Isaac from the dead.

The Word of the Lord

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Shorter form
SECOND READING
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Hebrews 11: 1-2. 8-12.
Abraham looked forward to a city founded , designed and built by God.

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the
realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were
commended.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the
inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing
where he was going. By faith he arrived, as a foreigner, in the Promised Land, and lived
there as if in a strange country, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the
same promise. They lived there in tents while he looked forward to a city founded,
designed and built by God.

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to
conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to
it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as
dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of
heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

The Word of the Lord
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Gospel Acclamation   Mt 11: 25
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.
Alleluia!

Or Mt 24: 42: 44

Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready,
because you do not know the.
hour when the Son of Man is coming.
Alleluia!



GOSPEL
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 12: 32-48
You too must stand ready.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased
your Father to give you the kingdom.

‘Sell your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out,
treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy
it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

‘See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for
their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he
comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he
comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on
them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants
if he finds them ready. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known
at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the
wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an
hour you do not expect.’

Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord replied,
‘What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over
his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that
servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place
him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, “My master is
taking his time coming”, and sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and
eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect
and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same
fate as the unfaithful.

‘The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out
those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but
deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man
has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has
had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.’

The Gospel of the Lord