August 28, 2016

First Reading

Sirach 3: 17-18, 20, 28- 29

3:17 And you will be built up in justice, and you will be remembered in the day of tribulation. And your sins will dissolve like ice in warm weather.
3:18 What an evil form has he who forsakes his father! And whoever exasperates his mother is accursed by God.

3:20 However great you may be, humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace in the presence of God.

3:28 A heart advancing in two directions will not have success, and the depraved heart will be scandalized in this way.
3:29 A wicked heart will be burdened with sorrows, and a sinner will add further sins.

Second Reading

Hebrews 12: 18-19, 22- 24

12:18 But you have not drawn near to a tangible mountain, or a burning fire, or a whirlwind, or a mist, or a storm,
12:19 or the sound of a trumpet, or a voice of words. Those who had experienced these things excused themselves, lest the Word be spoken to them.

12:22 But you have drawn near to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of Angels,
12:23 and to the Church of the first-born, those who have been inscribed in the heavens, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect,
12:24 and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament, and to a sprinkling of blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Gospel

Luke 14: 1, 7- 14

14:1 And it happened that, when Jesus entered the house of a certain leader of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were observing him.

14:7 Then he also told a parable, to those who were invited, noticing how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them:
14:8 “When you are invited to a wedding, do not sit down in the first place, lest perhaps someone more honored than yourself may have been invited by him.
14:9 And then he who called both you and him, approaching, may say to you, ‘Give this place to him.’ And then you would begin, with shame, to take the last place.
14:10 But when you are invited, go, sit down in the lowest place, so that, when he who invited you arrives, he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the sight of those who sit at table together with you.
14:11 For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”
14:12 Then he also said to the one who had invited him: “When you prepare a lunch or dinner, do not choose to call your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they might then invite you in return and repayment would made to you.
14:13 But when you prepare a feast, call the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind.
14:14 And you will be blessed because they do not have a way to repay you. So then, your recompense will be in the resurrection of the just.”