Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 9th January, 2026Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
01-09- Friday after the Epiphany
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St John 5:5-13
The Spirit, the water and the blood.
Who can overcome the world? Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God:
Jesus Christ who came by water and blood, not with water only, but with water and blood;
with the Spirit as another witness- since the Spirit is the truth- so that there are three witnesses,
the Spirit, the water and the blood, and all three of them agree.
We accept the testimony of human witnesses, but God’s testimony is much greater, and this is God’s testimony, given as evidence for his Son.
Everybody who believes in the Son of God has this testimony inside him;
and anyone who will not believe God is making God out to be a liar,
because he has not trusted the testimony God has given about his Son.
This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son; anyone who has the Son has life, anyone who does not have the Son does not have life.
I have written all this to you so that you who believe in the name of the Son of God may be sure that you have eternal life.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 147
Response O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Or Alleluia!
1 O praise the Lord, Jerusalem! Zion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates, he has blessed the children within you. Response
2 He established peace on your borders, he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth and swiftly runs his command. Response
3 He makes his word known to Jacob; to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations; he has not taught them his decrees. Response
Gospel Acclamation 1Tim 3:16
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to you, o Christ, proclaimed to the pagans;
glory to you, O Christ, believed in by the world.
Alleluia!
Or Mt 4:23
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of diseases among the people.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 5:12-16
And the leprosy left him.
Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said,
‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’
And the leprosy left him at once. He ordered him to tell no one,
‘But go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your healing as Moses prescribed it, as evidence for them’.
His reputation continued to grow, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness cured, but he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Friday after the Epiphany Luke 5:12–16
Today’s first reading from the first letter of Saint John makes a very striking statement, ‘Anyone who has the Son has life’. It reflects Jesus’ own declaration in the gospel of John that he has come that we may have life and have it to the full. If we receive his coming in faith, we will discover that our relationship with him is life-enhancing and life-giving. The gospel reading is the story of someone who received Jesus’ coming and experienced Jesus as life-giving.
A leper fell on his face before Jesus, imploring him, ‘if you want to, you can cure me’. This profound act of faith in Jesus released him of his leprosy. It gave him a new and fuller life; he would no longer be required to live apart from the community. He would no longer feel separated from God. The leper had great faith in Jesus’ power to heal him. His only concern was whether Jesus actually wanted to heal him, ‘if you want to’. He must have wondered if Jesus really wanted to involve himself with someone who was shunned by everyone else.
Jesus did the one thing no healthy person would have done; he reached out his hand and touched the leper. There could be no doubt about Jesus’ willingness to be in communion with this man, so as to cure him and bring him a fuller life. Jesus’ willingness to be in communion with us in a way that is life-giving for us is never in doubt. He is never put off by whatever may be broken or out of joint in our lives. His life-giving coming and presence can be relied upon each day. What is needed from us is something of the leper’s faith, a readiness to come before him in our need and entrust ourselves to him.
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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/