Readings for Saturday 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Year 2

First Reading
Eph 4:7-16

Christ is the head from whom the whole Body grows and builds itself up in love.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians

Brothers and sisters:
Grace was given to each of us
   according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore, it says:

      He ascended on high and took prisoners captive;
         he gave gifts to men.


What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended
   into the lower regions of the earth?
The one who descended is also the one who ascended
   far above all the heavens,
   that he might fill all things.

And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,
   others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
   to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
   for building up the Body of Christ,
   until we all attain to the unity of faith
   and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood
   to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
   so that we may no longer be infants,
   tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching
   arising from human trickery,
   from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.
Rather, living the truth in love,
   we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
   from whom the whole Body,
   joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
   with the proper functioning of each part,
   brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5

R. :

R. (1) Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

I rejoiced because they said to me,
   “We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
   within your gates, O Jerusalem.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Jerusalem, built as a city
   with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
   the tribes of the LORD.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

According to the decree for Israel,
   to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
   seats for the house of David.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Year 1

First Reading
Rom 8:1-11

The Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans

Brothers and sisters:
Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
   has freed you from the law of sin and death.
For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do,
   this God has done:
   by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
   and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
   so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us,
   who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh
   are concerned with the things of the flesh,
   but those who live according to the spirit
   with the things of the spirit.
The concern of the flesh is death,
   but the concern of the spirit is life and peace.
For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God;
   it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it;
   and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
   on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
   if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
   although the body is dead because of sin,
   the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
   the one who raised Christ from the dead
   will give life to your mortal bodies also,
   through his Spirit that dwells in you.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

R. :

R. (see 6) Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
   the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
   and established it upon the rivers.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
   or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
   who desires not what is vain.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
   a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
   that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.


Gospel Acclamation
Ez 33:11

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion that he may live.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.


Gospel
Lk 13:1-9

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
   whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
He said to them in reply,
   “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
   they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
   you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
   when the tower at Siloam fell on them?
   do you think they were more guilty
   than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
   you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable:
   “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
   and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
   he said to the gardener,
   ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
   but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
   ‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
   and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
   it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Then he kisses the book, saying quietly:

Through the words of the Gospel
may our sins be wiped away.


Homilies / Gospel Reflections




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