Mass Readings

First reading	Nahum 2:1 - 3:7 ©
See, over the mountains the messenger hurries! ‘Peace!’ he proclaims. Judah, celebrate your feasts, carry out your vows, for Belial will never pass through you again; he is utterly annihilated. Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard of Jacob and the vineyard of Israel. For the plunderers had plundered them, they had broken off their branches. Woe to the city soaked in blood, full of lies, stuffed with booty, whose plunderings know no end! The crack of the whip! The rumble of wheels! Galloping horse, jolting chariot, charging cavalry, flash of swords, gleam of spears... a mass of wounded, hosts of dead, countless corpses; they stumble over the dead. I am going to pelt you with filth, shame you, make you a public show. And all who look on you will turn their backs on you and say, ‘Nineveh is a ruin.’ Could anyone pity her? Where can I find anyone to comfort her?

First reading

Nahum 2:1 - 3:7 ©

See, over the mountains the messenger hurries!
‘Peace!’ he proclaims.
Judah, celebrate your feasts,
carry out your vows,
for Belial will never pass through you again;
he is utterly annihilated.
Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard of Jacob
and the vineyard of Israel.
For the plunderers had plundered them,
they had broken off their branches.

Woe to the city soaked in blood,
full of lies,
stuffed with booty,
whose plunderings know no end!
The crack of the whip!
The rumble of wheels!
Galloping horse,
jolting chariot,
charging cavalry,
flash of swords,
gleam of spears...
a mass of wounded,
hosts of dead,
countless corpses;
they stumble over the dead.
I am going to pelt you with filth,
shame you, make you a public show.
And all who look on you will turn their backs on you and say,
‘Nineveh is a ruin.’
Could anyone pity her?
Where can I find anyone to comfort her?

Psalm or canticle	Deuteronomy 32:35 - 41 ©
Vengeance is mine, and requital, for the time when they make a false step. For it is close, the day of their ruin; their doom comes at speed. (For the Lord will see his people righted, he will take pity on his servants.) For he will see to it that their power fails, that, serf or freeman, there is not one remaining. See now that I, I am He, and beside me there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when I have struck it is I who heal and none can deliver from my hand. When I have whetted my flashing sword I will take up the cause of Right, I will give my foes as good again, I will repay those who hate me.

Psalm or canticle

Deuteronomy 32:35 - 41 ©

Vengeance is mine, and requital,
for the time when they make a false step.
For it is close, the day of their ruin;
their doom comes at speed.
(For the Lord will see his people righted,
he will take pity on his servants.)
For he will see to it that their power fails,
that, serf or freeman, there is not one remaining.

See now that I, I am He,
and beside me there is no other god.
It is I who deal death and life;
when I have struck it is I who heal
and none can deliver from my hand.
When I have whetted my flashing sword
I will take up the cause of Right,
I will give my foes as good again,
I will repay those who hate me.

Gospel	Matthew 16:24 - 28 ©
Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life? ‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.’

Gospel

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?
‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.’

August 2008
Thu 7	Thursday of week 18 of the year or Saints Sixtus II, Pope, and his Companions, Martyrs or Saint Cajetan, priest
Fri 8	Saint Dominic, priest
Sat 9	Saturday of week 18 of the year or Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr
Sun 10	19th Sunday of the year
Mon 11	Saint Clare, Virgin
Tue 12	Tuesday of week 19 of the year or Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, religious
Wed 13	Wednesday of week 19 of the year or Saints Pontian, Pope, and Hippolytus, priest, Martyrs
Thu 14	Saint Maximilian Kolbe, priest, Martyr

Calendar used: General Calendar

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. For on-line information about other Random House, Inc. books and authors, see the Internet web site at http://www.randomhouse.com.

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