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First Reading: Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38
Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded him.
On the first day of the first month of the second year
the Dwelling was erected.
It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.
He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,
and set up its columns.
He spread the tent over the Dwelling
and put the covering on top of the tent,
as the Lord had commanded him.
He took the commandments and put them in the ark;
he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.
He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil,
thus screening off the ark of the commandments,
as the Lord had commanded him.
Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,
and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.
Moses could not enter the meeting tent,
because the cloud settled down upon it
and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.
Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,
the children of Israel would set out on their journey.
But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;
only when it lifted did they go forward.
In the daytime the cloud of the Lord was seen over the Dwelling;
whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud
by the whole house of Israel
in all the stages of their journey.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11
R./ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R./ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my king and my God!
R./ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
O my strength! for you I watch;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
As for my God, may his mercy go before me;
may he show me the fall of my foes.
R./ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R./ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R./ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Gospel Reading: Matthew 13:44-46
Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
Opening Prayer
Faithful God,
you are present wherever people seek you
and call upon your name.
Your Son is here among us
as we have come together in his name.
Make us deeply aware
that you and your Son are also to be found
where people give themselves to one another
in genuine friendship and unselfish service.
Help us to encounter you
from person to person
in all our brothers and sisters.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading Introduction: The cloud covered the meeting tent and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.
In the years of the Exodus and the settlement in the Promised Land, the Tent is the sign of God’s presence among his people. When they march, God marches with them. When they move the Tent, God moves with them, for God is where his people are. It is a saving presence, a covenant presence, and so a presence of love. When later a Temple is built, it is powerless to contain him. Since Christ, God is with us in Christ, the new Temple. We ourselves become God’s temples as the prolongation of the Body of Christ. God is where people put their trust in him, in those who suffer, especially the poor, where people gather in Christ’s name, where people eat the Lord’s body, where people love one another.
Gospel Reading Introduction: They put what is good into buckets, what is bad they throw away.
The parable about the net full of fish, good and bad, is very close to the parable heard a few days ago about the wheat and the weeds. It ends with the statement that the scribe in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. Jesus came “not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them.” Therefore, the disciple, when he welcomes what is new, does not reject what is old. He treasures both.
General Intercessions
– Lord Jesus, you promised to be always with your Church until the end of time. Give your Church absolute trust in you and in the guidance of your Spirit, we pray:
– Lord Jesus, our way and truth and life, make us deeply aware that you journey with your pilgrim people sometimes in the thorny road of life, we pray:
– Lord Jesus, make the sick and those who suffer aware that you are there and see their misery, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
you are our God-with-us
through your Son, Jesus Christ,
in these signs of bread and wine.
Let your Son stay with us
in difficult days and in days of joy,
in the morning when we begin with fresh hope
to build our future and yours,
in the heat of the day
and in the cool of the evening of life.
Let him live in us and make us
his body to the world,
that people may recognize him
as your Son and their Lord for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, ever near,
you reveal yourself to the little ones.
Help us to discover you
in those in whom you are always present,
in the sorrowing, the lonely, and the poor,
in people considered of no account.
And make us humble and empty of ourselves,
that you may fill us with your presence
as you recognize in us
the face of your Son, Jesus Christ,
who is our Lord for ever.
Blessing
If we were only more aware of it, we should never ask, “God, where are you?” not even in difficult days. God is where we are; he is always with us. May Almighty God be with you and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
