Reader Mike Novak is a very good observer. Hearing that Our Lady—perhaps for the first time in history— had given a specific date for a sign, Mr. Novak had a great idea: “I wonder what the Mass Readings will be for that day?” Then, he sent me this message:

Read the Scripture Readings for October 13, 2023.

I am busy with other endeavors this week but I thought I would share those readings with the folks here. I was overcome with emotion as I read them. Our Lady did not pick that day for nothing. Think of the enormous privilege we have to converse with Our Mother at this time when most of the world ignore her warnings and calls for repentance.

Let us have a small exercise in exegesis. Let each of us read these scriptures and pray them as well. As soon as I can I will post a commentary with what I see in them. Send me your thoughts if you will.

We are living in extraordinary times.

NOTE OF AUGUST 20, 2023: Following the suggestion of various readers we added the readings of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 465 — Reading I

Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!
wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
The house of your God is deprived
of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the elders,
all who dwell in the land,
Into the house of the LORD, your God,
and cry to the LORD!

Alas, the day!
for near is the day of the Lord,
and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who dwell in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom,
a day of clouds and somberness!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains,
a people numerous and mighty!
Their like has not been from of old,
nor will it be after them,
even to the years of distant generations.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms 9:2-3, 6 and 16, 8-9
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
You rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
their name you blotted out forever and ever.
The nations are sunk in the pit they have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.

Alleluia

John 12:31-32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The prince of this world will now be cast out,
and when I am lifted up from the earth
I will draw all to myself, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Luke 11:15-26
When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said:
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,
it roams through arid regions searching for rest
but, finding none, it says,
‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”

 

☩

Readings, Traditional Latin Mass — October 13, 2023

Introit

Psalms 36:30-31
The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom, and his tongue utters what is right. The law of his God is in his heart.
Psalms 36:1
Be not vexed over evildoers, nor jealous of those who do wrong.
Glory Be to the Father…
The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom, and his tongue utters what is right. The law of his God is in his heart.

Collect

O God, Who crowned blessed King Edward with the glory of eternity, grant us, we beseech You, so to venerate him on earth that we may be worthy to reign with him in heaven.
Through our Lord…

Epistle

Lesson from the book of Ecclesiasticus
Sirach 31:8-11
Happy the man found without fault, who turns not aside after gain, nor puts his trust in money nor in treasures! Who is he, that we may praise him? For he has done wonders in his life. He has been tested by gold and come off safe, and this remains his glory forever; he could have sinned but did not, could have done evil but would not, so that his possessions are secure in the Lord, and the assembly of the Saints shall recount his alms.

Gradual

Psalms 91:13; 91:14
The just man shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow in the house of the Lord.
Psalms 91:3
℣. To proclaim Your kindness at dawn and Your faithfulness throughout the night. Alleluia, alleluia.
James 1:12
℣. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been tried, he will receive the crown of life. Alleluia.

Gospel

Continuation ☩ of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 12:35-40
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning, and you yourselves like men waiting for their master’s return from the wedding; so that when he comes and knocks, they may straight-way open to him. Blessed are those servants whom the master, on his return, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, he will gird himself, and will make them recline at table, and will come and serve them. And if he comes in the second watch, and if in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants! But of this be assured, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would certainly have watched, and not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because at an hour that you do not expect, the Son of Man is coming.

Offertory

Psalms 88:25
My faithfulness and My kindness shall be with him, and through My name shall his horn be exalted.

Secret

We offer You sacrifices of praise, O Lord, in memory of Your Saints; trusting that by them we may be delivered from both present and future evils.
Through our Lord…

Preface

Common

It is truly meet and just, and profitable unto salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, through Christ, our Lord. Through whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the Dominions adore it, the Powers are in awe. Which the heavens and the hosts of heaven together with the blessed Seraphim joyfully do magnify. And do Thou command that it be permitted us to join with them in confessing Thee, while we say with lowly praise:

Communion

Matthew 24:46-47
Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, he will set him over all his goods.

Post Communion

Refreshed with heavenly food and drink, we humbly pray You, our God, that we also may be helped by his prayers in memory of whom we have partaken.
Through our Lord…

*13 October is the Feast of Saint Edward, the Confessor*