Mass Reading: Sunday - 16th February 2025

First reading
Jeremiah 17:5-8
A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord

The Lord says this:

‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man,
who relies on things of flesh,
whose heart turns from the Lord.
He is like dry scrub in the wastelands:
if good comes, he has no eyes for it,
he settles in the parched places of the wilderness,
a salt land, uninhabited.

‘A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord,
with the Lord for his hope.
He is like a tree by the waterside
that thrusts its roots to the stream:
when the heat comes it feels no alarm,
its foliage stays green;
it has no worries in a year of drought,
and never ceases to bear fruit.’

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 1:1-4,6

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Happy indeed is the man
    who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
    nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
    and who ponders his law day and night.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted
    beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
    and whose leaves shall never fade;
    and all that he does shall prosper.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
    shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
    but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

________

Second reading
1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20
If Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins

    If Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.

    But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation
Mt11:25

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessed are you, Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.

Alleluia!

Or:
Lk6:23ab

Alleluia, alleluia!

Rejoice and be glad:
your reward will be great in heaven.

Alleluia!

________

Gospel
Luke 6:17,20-26
Happy are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep

Jesus came down with the Twelve and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he said:

‘How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.
Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh.

Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

‘But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now.
Alas for you who have your fill now: you shall go hungry.
Alas for you who laugh now: you shall mourn and weep.

‘Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 16th February 2025

 

JER 17: 5-8; PS 1:1-4,6; 1 COR 15:12, 16-20; LK 6: 17, 20-26

Today’s readings speak of an essential quality for the Christian steward — hope. This is especially fitting this year, as Pope Francis has designated 2025 as a Jubilee Year with the theme, "Pilgrims of Hope."

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1817).”

In many ways, this is the very definition of a stewardship way of life — focusing on eternity as we live our daily lives and relying on God to provide for our needs and satisfy our deepest longings for meaning and happiness right now.

The First Reading from Jeremiah paints a vivid picture of the difference between the person who puts his trust in fellow humans versus the person who relies on — or, in other words, hopes in — the Lord. “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh... He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season but stands in a lava waste.” Not a pretty picture!

On the other hand, the prophet teaches, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green.”

Notice that the one who trusts in the Lord does not escape the heat any more than the one who has put his trust in human strength — his own or another’s. The difference between the two is that the one who fails to trust in the Lord becomes barren in the heat, while the one who trusts in God is given the means to persevere and even thrive in the midst of the challenging times. “Its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress but still bears fruit.”

In the Second Reading, St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that it is foolish to think of hope in the Lord with only an “earthly” vision since God desires nothing less than our eternal happiness. “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.” To aim only for comforts or pleasure or honors in this life is actually an impoverished way of living.

In today’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus describes the true richness of life that is possible for those of us who are willing to live as his disciples. We are all familiar with this passage in which Jesus reveals the Beatitudes: blessed are the poor; they have the kingdom of God. Blessed are those now hungry because they will be satisfied. Blessed are those who weep because they will laugh. Blessed are those who are hated, excluded, and insulted because they are disciples of Jesus; they will be greatly rewarded in heaven. Jesus is describing here the character of one who is living a life of hope — the life of a Christian steward whose trust is firmly rooted in God and who is focused on others and eternity. It is not always an easy life, but it is a deeply meaningful life and one that leads to eternal reward.

Mass Reading: Sunday - 09th February 2025

First reading
Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8
'Here I am: send me'

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord of Hosts seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings.

    And they cried out to one another in this way,
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.
His glory fills the whole earth.’

The foundations of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said:

    ‘What a wretched state I am in! I am lost,
for I am a man of unclean lips
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of Hosts.’

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this he touched my mouth and said:

    ‘See now, this has touched your lips,
your sin is taken away,
your iniquity is purged.’
    Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’
I answered, ‘Here I am, send me.’

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 137(138):1-5,7-8

Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
    you have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless you.
    I will adore before your holy temple.

Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

I thank you for your faithfulness and love,
    which excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called, you answered;
    you increased the strength of my soul.

Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

All earth’s kings shall thank you
    when they hear the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of the Lord’s ways:
    ‘How great is the glory of the Lord!’

Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

You stretch out your hand and save me,
    your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,
    discard not the work of your hands.

Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

________

Second reading
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
I preached what the others preach, and you all believed

    Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to anything.

    Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it.

    I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.

The word of the Lord

________

Gospel Acclamation
Jn15:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Or:
Mt4:19

Alleluia, alleluia!

Follow me, says the Lord,
and I will make you into fishers of men.

Alleluia!

________

Gospel
Luke 5:1-11
They left everything and followed him

    Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

    When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.

    When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

 

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 09th February 2025

 

IS 6: 1-2A, 3-8; PS 138: 1-5, 7-8; 1 COR 15:1-11 or 1 COR 15:3-8, 11; LK 5: 1-11

Our readings today remind us of the great privilege we have in calling ourselves children and disciples of the Most High God.

The First Reading from Isaiah describes a vision of the prophet in which angels surround the Lord. They proclaim, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” Our God invites us to such deep intimacy and friendship with Him that we sometimes can forget just how majestic and unspeakably holy He truly is.

While we can approach Him with the confidence of a child before his father, we must also remember the deep reverence and awe that we owe to Him.

This sense of awe and reverence should motivate us to deepen our stewardship way of life as well. As we contemplate the holiness of God, we come to a heightened awareness of what a privilege it is that He has chosen to include us in His work of spreading the Gospel to others through the grateful sharing of the gifts He has given us. We can make the words of the prophet Isaiah our own: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send” Who will go for us? Here I am, I said, send me!”

The theme of awe before God continues in the Gospel passage from Luke, where we again see the juxtaposition of a God who is so near to us, yet who is altogether holy and powerful. In this passage we find Jesus preaching to a crowd who is pressing in on Him to listen. (What an inspiring image! Do we “press in” as we listen to the readings proclaimed in Mass with this same sense of wonder and urgency?) In response, Jesus uses very ordinary means so that the crowd can hear Him. He simply gets into one of the nearby boats belonging to Simon so that His voice will better carry over the water. He finishes speaking and then tells Simon the fisherman to lower his nets for a catch. Simon is skeptical about this instruction but obeys, putting his fishing talents to use as Jesus asks.

The result is a catch of fish beyond Simon’s wildest imaginings. Overwhelmed, he fell at Jesus’ knees, “for astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him.”

When we truly embrace a stewardship way of life, putting our talents, time and treasure at the service of the Most High God, we, too, will be astonished at what God will do. Our lives may take a direction beyond our wildest imaginings.

But just as Jesus reassured Simon, “Be not afraid,” He reassures us, too. We need not fear a stewardship way of life. Rather, we should embrace the adventure it presents us and prepare to be astonished by what our awesome God will do. “Here I am Lord, send me!”