Daily Readings

One day Elisha came to Shunem,where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roofand furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

Later Elisha asked, “Can something be done for her?”His servant Gehazi answered, “Yes!She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.”Elisha said, “Call her.”When the woman had been called and stood at the door,Elisha promised, “This time next yearyou will be fondling a baby son.”

R. (2a) Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.The promises of the LORD I will sing forever,through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.For you have said, “My kindness is established forever;”in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.R. Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.At your name they rejoice all the day,and through your justice they are exalted.R. Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.You are the splendor of their strength,and by your favor our horn is exalted.For to the LORD belongs our shield,and the Holy One of Israel, our king.R. Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters:Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesuswere baptized into his death?We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,so that, just as Christ was raised from the deadby the glory of the Father,we too might live in newness of life.If, then, we have died with Christ,we believe that we shall also live with him.We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;death no longer has power over him.As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;as to his life, he lives for God.Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sinand living for God in Christ Jesus.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation;announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus said to his apostles:“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;and whoever does not take up his crossand follow after me is not worthy of me.Whoever finds his life will lose it,and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.""Whoever receives you receives me,and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophetwill receive a prophet’s reward,and whoever receives a righteous manbecause he is a righteous manwill receive a righteous man’s reward.And whoever gives only a cup of cold waterto one of these little ones to drinkbecause the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

The Lord has consumed without pityall the dwellings of Jacob;He has torn down in his angerthe fortresses of daughter Judah;He has brought to the ground in dishonorher king and her princes.On the ground in silence sitthe old men of daughter Zion;They strew dust on their headsand gird themselves with sackcloth;The maidens of Jerusalembow their heads to the ground.Worn out from weeping are my eyes,within me all is in ferment;My gall is poured out on the groundbecause of the downfall of the daughter of my people,As child and infant faint awayin the open spaces of the town.In vain they ask their mothers,“Where is the grain?”As they faint away like the woundedin the streets of the city,And breathe their lastin their mothers’ arms.To what can I liken or compare you,O daughter Jerusalem?What example can I show you for your comfort,virgin daughter Zion?For great as the sea is your downfall;who can heal you?Your prophets had for youfalse and specious visions;They did not lay bare your guilt,to avert your fate;They beheld for you in visionfalse and misleading portents.Cry out to the Lord;moan, O daughter Zion!Let your tears flow like a torrentday and night;Let there be no respite for you,no repose for your eyes.Rise up, shrill in the night,at the beginning of every watch;Pour out your heart like waterin the presence of the Lord;Lift up your hands to himfor the lives of your little onesWho faint from hungerat the corner of every street.

R. (19b) Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?Remember your flock which you built up of old,the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance,Mount Zion, where you took up your abode.R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;they have set up their tokens of victory.They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees. R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary.They set your sanctuary on fire;the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned. R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.Look to your covenant,for the hiding places in the land and the plains are full of violence.May the humble not retire in confusion;may the afflicted and the poor praise your name.R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Christ took away our infirmitiesand bore our diseases.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

When Jesus entered Capernaum,a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”The centurion said in reply,“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;only say the word and my servant will be healed.For I too am a man subject to authority,with soldiers subject to me.And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes;and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobat the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,but the children of the Kingdomwill be driven out into the outer darkness,where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”And Jesus said to the centurion,“You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”And at that very hour his servant was healed. Jesus entered the house of Peter,and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.He touched her hand, the fever left her,and she rose and waited on him. When it was evening, they brought him manywho were possessed by demons,and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases. 

In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign,on the tenth day of the month,Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole armyadvanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it,and built siege walls on every side.The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah.On the ninth day of the fourth month,when famine had gripped the city,and the people had no more bread,the city walls were breached.Then the king and all the soldiers left the city by nightthrough the gate between the two wallsthat was near the king’s garden.Since the Chaldeans had the city surrounded,they went in the direction of the Arabah.But the Chaldean army pursued the kingand overtook him in the desert near Jericho,abandoned by his whole army.

The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblahto the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him.He had Zedekiah’s sons slain before his eyes.Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters,and had him brought to Babylon.On the seventh day of the fifth month(this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar,king of Babylon),Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard,came to Jerusalem as the representativeof the king of Babylon.He burned the house of the Lord,the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem;every large building was destroyed by fire.Then the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guardtore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,led into exile the last of the people remaining in the city,and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon,and the last of the artisans.But some of the country’s poor, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,left behind as vinedressers and farmers.

R. (6ab)  Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!By the streams of Babylonwe sat and weptwhen we remembered Zion.On the aspens of that landwe hung up our harps.R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!Though there our captors asked of usthe lyrics of our songs,And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!How could we sing a song of the Lordin a foreign land?If I forget you, Jerusalem,may my right hand be forgotten!R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!May my tongue cleave to my palateif I remember you not,If I place not Jerusalemahead of my joy.R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Christ took away our infirmitiesand bore our diseases.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,“I will do it.  Be made clean.”His leprosy was cleansed immediately.Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,but go show yourself to the priest,and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;that will be proof for them.”