Catholic Daily Mass Readings and Reflections March 27, 2022
Reading 1, Joshua 5:9, 10-12
9 Yahweh then said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’ Hence, the place has been called Gilgal ever since.
10 The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the plain of Jericho.
11 On the very next day after the Passover, they ate what the land produced, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn.
12 The manna stopped the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. The Israelites from that year onwards ate the produce of Canaan and had no more manna.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
2 I will praise Yahweh from my heart; let the humble hear and rejoice.
3 Proclaim with me the greatness of Yahweh, let us acclaim his name together.
4 I seek Yahweh and he answers me, frees me from all my fears.
5 Fix your gaze on Yahweh and your face will grow bright, you will never hang your head in shame.
6 A pauper calls out and Yahweh hears, saves him from all his troubles.
7 The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.
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1 The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him,
2 and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
3 So he told them this parable:
11 Then he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger one said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me.” So the father divided the property between them.
13 A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
14 ‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch;
15 so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.
16 And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them.
17 Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger!
18 I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;
19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men.”
20 So he left the place and went back to his father. ‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him.
21 Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.”
22 But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast,
24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
25 ‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing.
26 Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.
27 The servant told him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound.”
28 He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in;
29 but he retorted to his father, “All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
30 But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property — he and his loose women — you kill the calf we had been fattening.”
31 ‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.
32 But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.” ‘
Reading 2, Second Corinthians 5:17-21
17 So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.
18 It is all God’s work; he reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
19 I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone’s faults against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were urging you through us, and in the name of Christ we appeal to you to be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God.
