24th Sunday of the Year (C): Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14

Sunday Readings for Your Reflection: for Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)

24th Sunday of the Year (C), September 15, 2013

Liturgical readings
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Psalm 51
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32 (short form Luke 15:1-10)

"Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel."


The Lord said to Moses,


"Go down at once to your people,
whom you brought
        out of the land of Egypt,


for they have become depraved.


They have soon turned aside
from the way
        I pointed out to them,


making for themselves
        a molten calf
        and worshipping it,


        sacrificing to it
        and crying out,


        'This is your God
        O Israel,
        who brought you out
        of the land of Egypt!'


I see how stiff-necked
this people is,"


continued the Lord to Moses.


"Let me alone, then,
that my wrath may blaze up
        against them
        to consume them.


Then I will make of you
a great nation."


But Moses implored the Lord, his God,


saying,


"Why, O Lord,
should your wrath blaze up
against your own people,


whom you brought
        out of the land of Egypt


with such great power
and with so strong a hand?


Remember your servants
        Abraham,
        Isaac,
        and Israel,


and how you swore to them
by your own self,


saying,


'I will make your descendants
as numerous as the stars in the sky,


and all this land
that I promised,


I will give your descendants
as their perpetual heritage,'"


So the Lord relented
in the punishment
he had threatened
to inflict on his people.


Scripture quotes from the Sunday readings:
"So the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people." (Exodus 32)
"A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn." (Psalm 51)
"God has treated Paul mercifully, and the grace of our Lord has been granted him in overflowing measure." (1 Timothy)