Daily Readings

Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole landand attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israelthe king of Assyria took Samaria,and deported the children of Israel to Assyria,setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan,and the cities of the Medes.This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD,their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt,from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,and because they venerated other gods.They followed the rites of the nationswhom the Lord had cleared out of the way of the children of Israeland the kings of Israel whom they set up.And though the LORD warned Israel and Judahby every prophet and seer,“Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes,in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathersand which I sent you by my servants the prophets,”they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,who had not believed in the LORD, their God.They rejected his statutes,the covenant which he had made with their fathers,and the warnings which he had given them, till,in his great anger against Israel,the LORD put them away out of his sight.Only the tribe of Judah was left.

R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses;you have been angry; rally us!R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.You have rocked the country and split it open;repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.You have made your people feel hardships;you have given us stupefying wine.R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.Have not you, O God, rejected us,so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies?Give us aid against the foe,for worthless is the help of men.R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.The word of God is living and effective,able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus said to his disciples:“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.For as you judge, so will you be judged,and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?How can you say to your brother,‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’while the wooden beam is in your eye?You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;then you will see clearlyto remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

Jeremiah said:"I hear the whisperings of many:'Terror on every side!Denounce! let us denounce him!'All those who were my friendsare on the watch for any misstep of mine.'Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,and take our vengeance on him.'But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.In their failure they will be put to utter shame,to lasting, unforgettable confusion.O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,who probe mind and heart,let me witness the vengeance you take on them,for to you I have entrusted my cause.Sing to the LORD,praise the LORD,for he has rescued the life of the poorfrom the power of the wicked!" 

R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.For your sake I bear insult,and shame covers my face.I have become an outcast to my brothers,a stranger to my mother's children,Because zeal for your house consumes me,and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.I pray to you, O LORD,for the time of your favor, O God!In your great kindness answer mewith your constant help.Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;in your great mercy turn toward me.R. Lord, in your great love, answer me."See, you lowly ones, and be glad;you who seek God, may your hearts revive!For the LORD hears the poor,and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.Let the heavens and the earth praise him,the seas and whatever moves in them!''R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Brothers and sisters:Through one man sin entered the world,and through sin, death,and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,though sin is not accounted when there is no law.But death reigned from Adam to Moses,even over those who did not sinafter the pattern of the trespass of Adam,who is the type of the one who was to come.But the gift is not like the transgression.For if by the transgression of the one the many died,how much more did the grace of Godand the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christoverflow for the many. 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord;and you also will testify.R. Alleluia, alleluia. 

Jesus said to the Twelve:"Fear no one.Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,nor secret that will not be known.What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;rather, be afraid of the one who can destroyboth soul and body in Gehenna.Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.Even all the hairs of your head are counted.So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.Everyone who acknowledges me before othersI will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.But whoever denies me before others,I will deny before my heavenly Father." 

After the death of Jehoiada,the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash,and the king then listened to them.They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers,and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols;and because of this crime of theirs,wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD,the people would not listen to their warnings.Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah,son of Jehoiada the priest.He took his stand above the people and said to them:"God says, 'Why are you transgressing the LORD's commands,so that you cannot prosper?Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'"But they conspired against him,and at the king's order they stoned him to deathin the court of the LORD's temple.Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown himby Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, and slew his son.And as Zechariah was dying, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge."At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash.They invaded Judah and Jerusalem,did away with all the princes of the people,and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.Though the Aramean force came with few men,the LORD surrendered a very large force into their power,because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers.So punishment was meted out to Joash.After the Arameans had departed from him,leaving him in grievous suffering,his servants conspired against himbecause of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest.He was buried in the City of David,but not in the tombs of the kings. 

R. (29a) For ever I will maintain my love for my servant."I have made a covenant with my chosen one,I have sworn to David my servant:Forever will I confirm your posterityand establish your throne for all generations."R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant."Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,and my covenant with him stands firm.I will make his posterity endure foreverand his throne as the days of heaven."R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant."If his sons forsake my lawand walk not according to my ordinances,If they violate my statutesand keep not my commands."R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant."I will punish their crime with a rodand their guilt with stripes.Yet my mercy I will not take from him,nor will I belie my faithfulness."R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant. 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich,so that by his poverty you might become rich.R. Alleluia, alleluia. 

Jesus said to his disciples:"No one can serve two masters.He will either hate one and love the other,or be devoted to one and despise the other.You cannot serve God and mammon."Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,what you will eat or drink,or about your body, what you will wear.Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?Look at the birds in the sky;they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Are not you more important than they?Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?Why are you anxious about clothes?Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.They do not work or spin.But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendorwas clothed like one of them.If God so clothes the grass of the field,which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?'or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'All these things the pagans seek.Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,and all these things will be given you besides.Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.Sufficient for a day is its own evil."