today's Mass readings / Commentary (God rejoices in His people / the new Jerusalem [the Church] / people believe because of signs)

[distracted]

March 15 2010

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 244

Reading I
Is 65:17-21

Thus says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create;
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.
No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,
or the sound of crying;
No longer shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;
He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,
and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.
They shall live in the houses they build,
and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.

Responsorial Psalm
30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

R. (2a) *** I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me***.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Gospel
Jn 4:43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
***“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”***The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.

.

Jerusalem is a joy to the Lord… I feel the Church is the new Jersusalem… and i feel that now the Lord rejoices in His Catholic Church… I don’t think he rejoices much in so called Catholics who don’t take the Church seriously… but He rejoices in those who love Him and love/appreicate the beautiful Chruch He gave us… where His Real Presence abides 24/7

 

[Palaeologos]

INTROIT. Laetare. Is. 66.
REJOICE ye with Jerusalem: and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breast of her consolations. Ps. 122 I was glad when the said unto me: We will go into the house of the Lord. V. Glory be.

COLLECT.
GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved. Through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [Who.]

EPISTLE. Galatians 4:21-31
21 BRETHREN: Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

GRADUAL. Ps. 122. I was glad when they said unto me: We will go into the house of the Lord. V. Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces.

TRACT. Ps. 125. They that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion: which may not be removed but standeth fast for ever. V. The hills stand about Jerusalem: even so standeth the Lord round about his people, from this time forth for evermore.

GOSPEL. Saint John 6:1-14
1 AT that time: Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

OFFERTORY. Ps. 135. O praise the Lord, for the Lord is gracious: O sing praises unto his Name, for it is lovely: whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth.

SECRET.
WE beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to have respect unto these our oblations: that the same may be profitable unto us for our increase in all godliness, and for the attainment of everlasting salvation. [Through.]

COMMUNION. Ps. 122. Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity with itself: for thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord.

POSTCOMMUNION.
O LORD, who sufferest us to be partakers of thy wondrous mysteries: grant, we beseech thee; that by thy mercy we may be absolved from all our iniquities, and defended against all adversities. [Through.]