TODAY'S MASS READING

Wednesday of week 26 in Ordinary Time
 or Saint Wenceslaus (Wacław), Martyr
 or Saints Laurence Ruiz and his Companions, Martyrs

Liturgical Colour: Green.


Readings at Mass

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Entrance Antiphon
Dn 3: 31, 29, 30, 43, 42

All that you have done to us, O Lord,
you have done with true judgement,
for we have sinned against you
and not obeyed your commandments.
But give glory to your name
and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.


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Collect

O God, who manifest your almighty power
above all by pardoning and showing mercy,
bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us
and make those hastening to attain your promises
heirs to the treasures of heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.


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First reading
Job 9:1-13,14-16

Job spoke to his friends:

Indeed, I know it is as you say:
    how can man be in the right against God?
If any were so rash as to challenge him for reasons,
    one in a thousand would be more than they could answer.
His heart is wise, and his strength is great:
    who then can successfully defy him?
He moves the mountains, though they do not know it;
    he throws them down when he is angry.
He shakes the earth, and moves it from its place,
    making all its pillars tremble.
The sun, at his command, forbears to rise,
    and on the stars he sets a seal.
He and no other stretched out the skies,
    and trampled the Sea’s tall waves.
The Bear, Orion too, are of his making,
    the Pleiades and the Mansions of the South.
His works are great, beyond all reckoning,
    his marvels, past all counting.
Were he to pass me, I should not see him,
    nor detect his stealthy movement.
Were he to snatch a prize, who could prevent him,
    or dare to say, ‘What are you doing?’
God never goes back on his anger,
    Rahab’s minions still lie at his feet.

How dare I plead my cause, then,
    or choose arguments against him?
Suppose I am in the right, what use is my defence?
    For he whom I must sue is judge as well.
If he deigned to answer my citation,
    could I be sure that he would listen to my voice?


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Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 87:10-15

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

I call to you, Lord, all the day long;
    to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work your wonders for the dead?
    Will the shades stand and praise you?

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

Will your love be told in the grave
    or your faithfulness among the dead?
Will your wonders be known in the dark
    or your justice in the land of oblivion?

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

As for me, Lord, I call to you for help:
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Lord, why do you reject me?
    Why do you hide your face?

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.


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Gospel Acclamation
Ps118:105

Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is a lamp for my steps
and a light for my path.
Alleluia!


Or
Ph3:8-9

Alleluia, alleluia!
I have accepted the loss of everything
and I look on everything as so much rubbish
if only I can have Christ
and be given a place in him.
Alleluia!


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Gospel
Luke 9:57-62

As Jesus and his disciples travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
    Another to whom he said, ‘Follow me’, replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ But he answered, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.’
    Another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’


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Prayer over the Offerings

Grant us, O merciful God,
that this our offering may find acceptance with you
and that through it the wellspring of all blessing
may be laid open before us.
Through Christ our Lord.


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Communion Antiphon
Cf. Ps 118: 49-50

Remember your word to your servant, O Lord,
by which you have given me hope.
This is my comfort when I am brought low.


Or
1 Jn 3: 16

By this we came to know the love of God:
that Christ laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for one another.


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Prayer after Communion

May this heavenly mystery, O Lord,
restore us in mind and body,
that we may be coheirs in glory with Christ,
to whose suffering we are united
whenever we proclaim his Death.
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.