Twenty Sixth Sunday of the Year

Amos 6:1 - 7
Woe to those ensconced so snugly in Zion
and to those who feel so safe on the mountain of Samaria,
those famous men of this first of nations
to whom the House of Israel goes as client.
Lying on ivory beds
and sprawling on their divans,
they dine on lambs from the flock,
and stall-fattened veal;
they bawl to the sound of the harp,
they invent new instruments of music like David,
they drink wine by the bowlful,
and use the finest oil for anointing themselves,
but about the ruin of Joseph they do not care at all.
That is why they will be the first to be exiled;
the sprawlers’ revelry is over.

Psalm 145
Alleluia!
My sóul, give práise to the Lórd;
I will práise the Lórd all my dáys,
make músic to my Gód while I líve.
Pút no trúst in prínces,
In mortal mén in whóm there is no hélp.
Take their bréath, they retúrn to cláy
and their pláns that dáy come to nóthing.
He is háppy who is hélped by Jacob's Gód,
whose hópe is in the Lórd his Gód,
who alóne made héaven and éarth,
the séas and áll they cóntain.
It is hé who keeps fáith for éver,
who is júst to thóse who are oppréssed.
It is hé who gives bréad to the húngry,
the Lórd, who sets prísoners frée,
the Lórd who gives síght to the blínd,
who ráises up thóse who are bowed dówn,
the Lórd, who protécts the stránger
and uphólds the wídow and órphan.
It is the Lórd who lóves the júst
but thwárts the páth of the wícked.
The Lórd will réign for éver,
Zion's Gód, from áge to áge.
Alleluia!

1 Timothy 6:11 - 16
As a man dedicated to God, you must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses. Now, before God the source of all life and before Christ, who spoke up as a witness for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no man has seen and no man is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.

Luke 16:19 - 31
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames”. “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”
‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too”. “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.”. “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead”.’

This week the readings are about the way we should behave towards others less fortunate than ourselves. Unlike some of the readings we've had before it's quite obvious what we're being told today!

• What do you think Amos is talking about in the first reading?
• Who is Joseph supposed to be?
• Who are the people eating and drinking, and generally living it up?
  

• What do you think of the difference between the way Lazarus and the rich man lived?
• Do you know why the rich man wears purple?
• What kind of dogs do you think Jesus is talking about?
• What do you think Luke is telling us when he only gives Lazarus a name and not the rich man?
• What does Abraham mean when he talks to the rich man?
• What do you think Abraham means when he says “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead”?
• What is the message of this parable?

Twenty Fifth Sunday of the Year

Amos 8:4 - 7
Listen to this, you who trample on the needy
and try to suppress the poor people of the country,
you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over
so that we can sell our corn,
and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?
Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,
by swindling and tampering with the scales,
we can buy up the poor for money,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’
The Lord swears it by the pride of Jacob,
‘Never will I forget a single thing you have done’.

Psalm 112
Alleluia!
Práise, O sérvants of the Lórd,
práise the náme of the Lórd!
May the náme of the Lórd be bléssed
both nów and for évermóre!
From the rísing of the sún to its sétting
práised be the náme of the Lórd!

Hígh above all nátions is the Lórd,
abóve the héavens his glóry.
Whó is like the Lórd, our Gód,
who has rísen on hígh to his thróne
yet stóops from the héights to look dówn,
to look dówn upon héaven and éarth?

From the dúst he lífts up the lówly,
from the dúngheap he ráises the póor
to sét them in the cómpany of prínces,
yés, with the prínces of his péople.
To the chíldless wífe he gives a hóme
and gláddens her héart with chíldren.

1 Timothy 2:1 - 8
My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our saviour: he wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth. For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all. He is the evidence of this, sent at the appointed time, and I have been named a herald and apostle of it and – I am telling the truth and no lie – a teacher of the faith and the truth to the pagans.
In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument.

Luke 16:1 - 13
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer.” Then the steward said to himself, “Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes.”
Then he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, “How much do you owe my master?” “One hundred measures of oil” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty”. To another he said, “And you, sir, how much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of wheat” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond and write eighty”.
‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.
‘And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?
‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’

This week the readings are about money.

In the first reading we hear that God will remember when we cheated people. In the gospel we hear a parable about riches entrusted to us.

• What is a bushel?
• What is a shekel?

• What are your first impressions of the parable?
• Who do you think is the good guy of this story?
• the rich man
• the steward
• the debtors
• Why do you think the master praised the steward?
• What do you think Jesus means at the end?
• What are the little things?
• What are the great things?
• How do you think you can apply Jesus' teaching?