Daily catholic bible Readings for Friday November 12, 2010

Reading 1, 2 Jn 4-9

4 It has given me great joy to find that children of yours have been living the life of truth as we were commanded by the Father.

5 And now I am asking you -- dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but only the one which we have had from the beginning -- that we should love one another.

6 To love is to live according to his commandments: this is the commandment which you have heard since the beginning, to live a life of love.

7 There are many deceivers at large in the world, refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in human nature. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist.

8 Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and you will forfeit your full reward.

9 If anybody does not remain in the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he does not have God with him: only those who remain in what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them.

Gospel, Lk 17:26-37

26 'As it was in Noah's day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of man.

27 People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all.

28 It will be the same as it was in Lot's day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,

29 but the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all.

30 It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of man to be revealed.

31 'When that Day comes, no one on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back.

32 Remember Lot's wife.

33 Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe.

34 I tell you, on that night, when two are in one bed, one will be taken, the other left;

35 when two women are grinding corn together, one will be taken, the other left.'

36 The disciples spoke up and asked, 'Where, Lord?' He said, 'Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.'

Daily Catholic bible Readings for Wednesday November 10, 2010

Reading 1, Ti 3:1-7

1 Remind them to be obedient to the officials in authority; to be ready to do good at every opportunity;

2 not to go slandering other people but to be peaceable and gentle, and always polite to people of all kinds.

3 There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves.

4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed,

5 it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit

6 which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

7 so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life.

Gospel, Lk 17:11-19

11 Now it happened that on the way to Jerusalem he was travelling in the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee.

12 As he entered one of the villages, ten men suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to meet him. They stood some way off

13 and called to him, 'Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.'

14 When he saw them he said, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' Now as they were going away they were cleansed.

15 Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice

16 and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan.

17 This led Jesus to say, 'Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they?

18 It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.'

19 And he said to the man, 'Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.'

Daily Readings for Tuesday November 09, 2010

Reading 1, Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

1 He brought me back to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream flowed eastwards from under the Temple threshold, for the Temple faced east. The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar.

2 He took me out by the north gate and led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate where the water flowed out on the right-hand side.

8 He said, 'This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome.

9 Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows.

12 Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.'

Gospel, Jn 2:13-22

13 When the time of the Jewish Passover was near Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

14 and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting there.

15 Making a whip out of cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, sheep and cattle as well, scattered the money changers' coins, knocked their tables over

16 and said to the dove sellers, 'Take all this out of here and stop using my Father's house as a market.'

17 Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: I am eaten up with zeal for your house.

18 The Jews intervened and said, 'What sign can you show us that you should act like this?'

19 Jesus answered, 'Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'

20 The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple: are you going to raise it up again in three days?'

21 But he was speaking of the Temple that was his body,

22 and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what he had said.

Reading 2, 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

9 After all, we do share in God's work; you are God's farm, God's building.

10 By the grace of God which was given to me, I laid the foundations like a trained master-builder, and someone else is building on them. Now each one must be careful how he does the building.

11 For nobody can lay down any other foundation than the one which is there already, namely Jesus Christ.

16 Do you not realise that you are a temple of God with the Spirit of God living in you?

17 If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy that person, because God's temple is holy; and you are that temple.

Daily Readings for Monday November 08, 2010

Reading 1, Ti 1:1-9

1 From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion,

2 and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie

3 and so, in due time, he made known his message by a proclamation which was entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.

4 To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.

5 The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to organise everything that still had to be done and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you,

6 that is, each of them must be a man of irreproachable character, husband of one wife, and his children must be believers and not liable to be charged with disorderly conduct or insubordination.

7 The presiding elder has to be irreproachable since he is God's representative: never arrogant or hot-tempered, nor a heavy drinker or violent, nor avaricious;

8 but hospitable and a lover of goodness; sensible, upright, devout and self-controlled;

9 and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on both for giving encouragement in sound doctrine and for refuting those who argue against it.

Gospel, Lk 17:1-6

1 He said to his disciples, 'Causes of falling are sure to come, but alas for the one through whom they occur!

2 It would be better for such a person to be thrown into the sea with a millstone round the neck than to be the downfall of a single one of these little ones.

3 Keep watch on yourselves! 'If your brother does something wrong, rebuke him and, if he is sorry, forgive him.

4 And if he wrongs you seven times a day and seven times comes back to you and says, "I am sorry," you must forgive him.'

5 The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith.'

6 The Lord replied, 'If you had faith like a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you.

Daily Readings for Wednesday November 03, 2010

Reading 1, Phil 2:12-18

12 So, my dear friends, you have always been obedient; your obedience must not be limited to times when I am present. Now that I am absent it must be more in evidence, so work out your salvation in fear and trembling.

13 It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and the powers to act.

14 Let your behaviour be free of murmuring and complaining

15 so that you remain faultless and pure, unspoilt children of God surrounded by a deceitful and underhand brood, shining out among them like bright stars in the world,

16 proffering to it the Word of life. Then I shall have reason to be proud on the Day of Christ, for it will not be for nothing that I have run the race and toiled so hard.

17 Indeed, even if my blood has to be poured as a libation over your sacrifice and the offering of your faith, then I shall be glad and join in your rejoicing-

18 and in the same way, you must be glad and join in my rejoicing.

Gospel, Lk 14:25-33

25 Great crowds accompanied him on his way and he turned and spoke to them.

26 'Anyone who comes to me without hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, cannot be my disciple.

27 No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple.

28 'And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying,

30 "Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish."

31 Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand?

32 If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace.

33 So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns.

Daily Readings for Tuesday November 02, 2010

Reading 1, Wis 3:1-9

1 But the souls of the upright are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them.

2 To the unenlightened, they appeared to die, their departure was regarded as disaster,

3 their leaving us like annihilation; but they are at peace.

4 If, as it seemed to us, they suffered punishment, their hope was rich with immortality;

5 slight was their correction, great will their blessings be. God was putting them to the test and has proved them worthy to be with him;

6 he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a perfect burnt offering.

7 At their time of visitation, they will shine out; as sparks run through the stubble, so will they.

8 They will judge nations, rule over peoples, and the Lord will be their king for ever.

9 Those who trust in him will understand the truth, those who are faithful will live with him in love; for grace and mercy await his holy ones, and he intervenes on behalf of his chosen.

Gospel, Rom 5:5-11

5 and a hope which will not let us down, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

6 When we were still helpless, at the appointed time, Christ died for the godless.

7 You could hardly find anyone ready to die even for someone upright; though it is just possible that, for a really good person, someone might undertake to die.

8 So it is proof of God's own love for us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

9 How much more can we be sure, therefore, that, now that we have been justified by his death, we shall be saved through him from the retribution of God.

10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more can we be sure that, being now reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

11 What is more, we are filled with exultant trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation.

Daily Readings for Monday November 01, 2010

Reading 1, Rv 7:2-4, 9-14

2 Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea,

3 'Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.'

4 And I heard how many had been sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.

9 After that I saw that there was a huge number, impossible for anyone to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted in a loud voice,

10 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'

11 And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four living creatures, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God

12 with these words: Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.

13 One of the elders then spoke and asked me, 'Who are these people, dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?'

14 I answered him, 'You can tell me, sir.' Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.

Gospel, Mt 5:1-12a

1 Seeing the crowds, he went onto the mountain. And when he was seated his disciples came to him.

2 Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

3 How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

4 Blessed are the gentle: they shall have the earth as inheritance.

5 Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their fill.

7 Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 'Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.

Reading 2, 1 Jn 3:1-3

1 You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children -- which is what we are! The reason why the world does not acknowledge us is that it did not acknowledge him.

2 My dear friends, we are already God's children, but what we shall be in the future has not yet been revealed. We are well aware that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.

3 Whoever treasures this hope of him purifies himself, to be as pure as he is.