Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 8th January, 2026Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
01-08 -Thursday After the Epiphany
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St John 4:19-5:4
Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
We are to love, because God loved us first.
Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see 
So this is the commandment that he has given us,
that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and whoever loves the Father that begot him loves the child whom he begets.
We can be sure that we love God’s children if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us;
this is what loving God is- keeping his commandments;
and his commandments are not difficult, because anyone who has been begotten by God
has already overcome the world; this is the victory over the world -our faith.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 71
Response All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
1 O God, give your judgement to the king, to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people injustice and your poor in right judgement. Response
2 T
The kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring him gifts.
Before him all kings shall fall prostrate, all nations shall serve him. Response
3 For he shall save the poor when they cry and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
Gospel Acclamation Lk 7.16
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
Or Lk 4:18
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 4:14-22 Glory to you, O Lord
This text is being fulfilled today.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did.
He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.’
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down.
And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them,
‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’
And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
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Gospel Reflection 08 January Thursday after Epiphany Luke 4:14–22
We sometimes ask people to do us a favour. In using the word ‘favour’ we understand that this is a request that the other person does not have to respond to. There is no requirement on someone’s part to do us a favour. Our favouring someone, in that sense, is sheer gift. According to Luke’s gospel, when Jesus was born, the shepherds heard a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom God favours’. The birth of Jesus was the greatest possible sign of God’s favour. Through the birth of this child, God was favouring all of humanity in the most complete way imaginable.
According to today’s gospel reading from Luke, when this child became an adult, he went to the synagogue of his home town, Nazareth, and proclaimed the ‘Lord’s year of favour’. Jesus understood that his whole ministry was a making present of God’s favour for all, especially for those who had been made to feel out of favour with God and with others, such as the poor, the captives, the blind, the downtrodden and the lost.
That ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ was not a calendar year. It coincided with the whole of Jesus’ public ministry and, also, his ministry as risen Lord in the church, which continues until the end of time. We continue to be graced by God’s favour through Jesus today. Our calling is to keep opening ourselves to God’s favour, to allow ourselves to be deeply touched by it, and then to reveal something of God’s favour to others, especially to those most in need of it.
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The scripture readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/The Gospel reflection comes from WEEKDAY REFLECTIONS The Word of God is Living and Active by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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