Mass Readings
Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 30th December, 2024Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday's Readings
-30-12 – Sixth Day in the Christmas Octave
The child Jesus grows to maturity, and he is filled with wisdom
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St John 2:12-17
Anyone who does the will of God is filled with wisdom and remains for ever.
I am writing to you, my own children,
whose sins have already been forgiven through his name;
I am writing to you, fathers,
who have come to know the one who has existed since the beginning;
I am writing to you, young men, who have already overcome the Evil One;
I have written to you, children, because you already know the Father;
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know the one who has existed since the beginning;
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and God’s word has made its home in you, and you have overcome the Evil One.
You must not love this passing world or anything that is in the world.
The love of the Father cannot be in any man who loves the world,
because nothing the world has to offer -the sensual body, the lustful eye,
pride in possessions – could ever come from the Father but only from the world;
and the world, with all it craves for, is coming to an end;
but anyone who does the will of God remains for ever.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 95:7-10
Response Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.
1. Give the Lord, you families of peoples, give the Lord glory and power,
give the Lord the glory of his name. Response
2. Bring an offering and enter his courts, worship the Lord in his temple.
O earth, tremble before him. Response
3. Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king’.
The world he made firm in its place; he will judge the peoples in fairness. Response
Gospel Acclamation Heb 1:1-2
Alleluia, alleluia!
At various times in the past and in various different ways,
God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;
but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
Alleluia!
Or
Alleluia, alleluia!
A hallowed day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, worship the Lord,
for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 2:36-40 Glory to you, O Lord.
Anna spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer.
She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas Luke 2:36-40
There are several women in Luke’s gospel who welcome the coming of God through the person of Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth are especially noteworthy, and then there are the sisters, Mary and Martha, the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and dried them with her hair, Mary Magdalene and the other women who accompanied Jesus and his disciples on their travels and provided for them out of their means. Anna in today’s gospel reading belongs in their company. She had been a widow for most of her adult life, her husband having died after only seven years of marriage and Anna herself now being eighty four years old. Her devotion to God through prayer and fasting made her sensitive to the coming of God’s special messenger, the child of Mary and Joseph.
When she saw Simeon with the child in his arms, she immediately recognized the child for who he was, and began praising God and speaking about the child to others. Her response to recognizing the true identity of this child was two-fold, towards God in prayer, and towards others in proclaiming to them the good news that God had come to deliver his people through this child. The portrayal of Anna in the gospel reading reminds us that prayer makes us sensitive to the Lord’s presence. Prayer attunes us to the various ways the Lord comes to us. Anna also shows us how to respond to the Lord’s coming to us, his presence with us. Like her, we respond firstly by giving praise to God. We also respond by proclaiming the good news of the Lord’s presence to others. We do this above all by allowing the Lord to be present to others through us
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings 2024: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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