Preparing for the Mass - March 22, 2009

The Fourth Sunday in Lent (cycle B)

The Readings (NAB)

Reading 1 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23
" (In Judah) . . . . . the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD's temple . . . . . . . . . (they became) captive to Babylon, where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons until the kingdom of the Persians came to power. All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: "Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

Reading II Eph 2:4-10
"God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved . . . "

Gospel Jn 3:14-21

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

OK, so this is the KJ version of the scripture -- it is the wording I learned as a child.

First, For the children.

Now for us big kids.
The first reading is the inspiration for a song from Godspell.

On the willows, there
We hung up our lyres
For our captors there
Required
Of us songs
And our tormentors mirth
On the willows, there
We hung up our lyres
For our captors there
Required
Of us songs
And our tormentor's mirth
Saying
Sing us one
Of the songs of Zion
Sing us one
Of the songs of Zion
But how can we sing?
Sing the Lord's songs?
In a foreign land?

sources:
Center for Liturgy Index Page - choose date
A Catholic Notebook