Catholic Mass Readings For Thursday, July 03, 2014

Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle

FIRST READING: Ephesians 2: 19 - 22

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19 Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God. You are the house

20 whose foundations are the apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus.

21 In him the whole structure is joined together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord.

22 In him you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.

PSALM: Psalms 117: 1 - 2

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1 Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise him.

2 How great is his love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

GOSPEL: John 20: 24 - 29

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24 Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he replied, "Until I have seen in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

26 Eight days later, the disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Resist no longer and be a believer."

28 Thomas then said, "You are my Lord and my God."

29 Jesus replied, "You believe because you see me, don't you? Happy are those who have not seen and believe."

Catholic Mass Readings For Wednesday, July 02, 2014

FIRST READING: Amos 5: 14 - 15, 21 - 24

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14 Seek good and shun evil, that you may live. Then Yahweh, the God of hosts, as you have claimed, will be with you.

15 Hate wickedness and love virtue, and let justice prevail in the courts; perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will take pity on the remnant of Joseph.

21 "I hate, I reject your feasts, I take no pleasure when you assemble

22 to offer me your burnt offerings. Your cereal offerings, I will not accept! Your offerings of fattened beasts, I will not look upon!

23 Away with the noise of your chanting, away with your strumming on harps.

24 But let justice run its course like water, and righteousness be like an ever-flowing river.

PSALM: Psalms 50: 7 - 13, 16 - 17

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7 "Hear, O my people, for I am speaking. I will accuse you, O Israel, I am God, your God!

8 Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before me.

9 I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

10 For I own all the beasts of the forest and the animals of my thousand hills.

11 All the birds of the air I know; all that move in the fields are mine.

12 I need not tell you if I were hungry, for mine is the world and all that it contains.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

16 But God says this to the wicked: "What right have you to mouth my laws, or to talk about my covenant?

17 You hate my commands and cast my words behind you.

GOSPEL: Matthew 8: 28 - 34

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28 When Jesus reached Gadara on the other side, he was met by two demoniacs who came out from the tombs. They were so fierce that no one dared to pass that way.

29 Suddenly they shouted, "What do you want with us, you, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time?"

30 At some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding.

31 So the demons begged him, "If you drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs."

32 Jesus ordered them, "Go." So they left and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned.

33 The men in charge of them ran off to the town, where they told the whole story, also what had happened to the men possessed with the demons.

34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their area.