Entrance Antiphon
All that you have done to us, O Lord,
you have done with true judgement,
for we have sinned against you
and not obeyed your commandments.
But give glory to your name
and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.
First Reading: Amos 6:1. 4-7. A reading from the prophet Amos
You who give yourself to licentiousness and revelry will be exiled.
The almighty Lord says this:
Woe to those ensconced so snugly in Zion
and to those who feel so safe on the mountain of Samaria.
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.
Responsorial Psalm: Praise the Lord, my soul!
- It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord, who sets prisoners free. (R.)
- It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,
who raises up those who are bowed down.
It is the Lord who loves the just,
the Lord, who protects the stranger. (R.)
- He upholds the widow and orphan
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever,
Zion’s God, from age to age. (R.)
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 6:11-16. A reading from the first letter of St Paul to Timothy
Obey the commandments until the coming of the Lord.
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 Jesus 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.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus Christ was rich but he became poor, to make you rich out of his poverty. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31. A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
During your life good things came your way just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted while you are in agony.
Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘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 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 come 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.”’
REFLECTION
The woes of the rich man highlight the importance of listening, which is a theme of great interest to Pope Leo. Speaking of synodal practices in Rome, he affirms that ‘I would like to express my firm desire to contribute to this great ongoing process by listening to everyone as much as possible, in order to learn, understand and decide things together.’
The pope also encourages us to become an ever more listening people. We can consider how ‘the more we let ourselves be convinced and transformed by the Gospel … the more capable we are of proclaiming its message.’
In one sense, this means listening to and reflecting on our own experience. As he says, ‘we reflect in our hearts upon what we have experienced and learned, in order to understand more fully its meaning and to savour its beauty.’
In a related sense, this means the Church needs to be open to ‘listening to the world around us to respond to its challenges, and listening within our communities to understand needs and to propose sage and prophetic initiatives of evangelisation and charity.’
This is ‘a challenging, ongoing journey’, the pope acknowledges. But, he adds, we are ‘meant to embrace a very rich and complex reality’, so we had better start listening ever more carefully. (Pope Leo, Homily at the Mass and Installation as Pope, 25 May 2025)
© Nick Brodie