THE SUPREMACY OF CHARITY

MY LIPS WILL TELL OF YOUR HELP

SUNDAY  WEEK IV IN ORD. TIME YEAR C

PRAYER FOR DAILY NEGLECTS: Eternal Father, I offer thee the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with all its Love, all its sufferings and all its merits. 

First: To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit…… Readings 

Second: To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit……  Lectures 

Third: To supply for the good I ought to have done, and that I have neglected this day and during all my life, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit…… Pieta Reflection

First Reading Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19

'I have appointed you prophet to the nations'

 In the days of Josiah, the word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying:

‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you; I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.

‘So now brace yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command you. Do not be dismayed at their presence, or in their presence I will make you dismayed.

‘I, for my part, today will make you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze to confront all this land: the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests and the country people.

They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you, it is the Lord who speaks.’

Responsorial Psalm: My lips will tell of your help

Second Reading 1 Corint. 12:31-13,13

The supremacy of charity

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Gospel Luke 4:21-30

No prophet is ever accepted in his own country

Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’ 

But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’

And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’

When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

God my Father, my lips will tell of your great deeds. Father I thank you for the wonder of my being. Thank you for my consecration before my birth. Father my life is in your hand. Do with me whatever you will. Let your Holy Will be done in my life God my Father. Father for you know me through and through. I am your creature, you are my Father, my God.

Lord Jesus Christ I trust in you. Virgin Mary pray for me. Saint Joseph pray for me. God's Holy Angels pray for me. My Guardian Angel pray for me. Protect me. Guide and guard me.

Pray the Holy Rosary. May the Blessed Virgin Mary pray for us. May she bring us close to her Son Jesus Christ our Lord.