Sunday Solemn Mass – Westminster Cathedral
Reading 1, First Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
2 So Saul set off and went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph.
7 So in the dark David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found Saul lying asleep inside the camp, his spear stuck in the ground beside his head, with Abner and the troops lying round him.
8 Abishai then said to David, ‘Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I shall not need to strike him twice.’
9 David said to Abishai, ‘Do not kill him, for who could raise his hand against Yahweh’s anointed and go unpunished?
12 David took the spear and the pitcher of water from beside Saul’s head, and they made off. No one saw, no one knew, no one woke up; they were all asleep, because a torpor from Yahweh had fallen on them.
13 David crossed to the other side and halted on the top of the mountain a long way off; there was a wide space between them.
22 In reply, David said, ‘Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the men come across and get it.
23 May Yahweh reward each as each has been upright and loyal. Today Yahweh put you in my power but I would not raise my hand against Yahweh’s anointed.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
1 [Of David] Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the depths of my being, his holy name;
2 bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all his acts of kindness.
3 He forgives all your offences, cures all your diseases,
4 he redeems your life from the abyss, crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offences.
12 As the distance of east from west, so far from us does he put our faults.
13 As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats those who fear him;
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27 ‘But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.
29 To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic.
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it.
31 Treat others as you would like people to treat you.
32 If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them.
33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much.
34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount.
35 Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
36 ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.
37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.’
Reading 2, First Corinthians 15:45-49
45 So the first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; and the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit.
46 But first came the natural body, not the spiritual one; that came only afterwards.
47 The first man, being made of earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven.
48 The earthly man is the pattern for earthly people, the heavenly man for heavenly ones.
49 And as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so we shall bear the likeness of the heavenly one.
