Daily Readings

The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people,“This man deserves death;he has prophesied against this city,as you have heard with your own ears.”Jeremiah gave this answer to the princes and all the people:“It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this house and cityall that you have heard.Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds;listen to the voice of the LORD your God,so that the LORD will repent of the evil with which he threatens you.As for me, I am in your hands; do with me what you think good and right.But mark well: if you put me to death,it is innocent blood you bring on yourselves,on this city and its citizens.For in truth it was the LORD who sent me to you,to speak all these things for you to hear.”Thereupon the princes and all the peoplesaid to the priests and the prophets,“This man does not deserve death;it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.” So Ahikam, son of Shaphan, protected Jeremiah,so that he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

R.(14c)  Lord, in your great love, answer me.Rescue me out of the mire; may I not sink!may I be rescued from my foes,and from the watery depths.Let not the flood-waters overwhelm me,nor the abyss swallow me up,nor the pit close its mouth over me.R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.But I am afflicted and in pain;let your saving help, O God, protect me.I will praise the name of God in song,and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.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.”R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousnessfor theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesusand said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist.He has been raised from the dead;that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prisonon account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,for John had said to him,“It is not lawful for you to have her.”Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,for they regarded him as a prophet.But at a birthday celebration for Herod,the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guestsand delighted Herod so muchthat he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.Prompted by her mother, she said,“Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”The king was distressed,but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,who took it to her mother.His disciples came and took away the corpseand buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim,son of Josiah, king of Judah,this message came from the LORD:  Thus says the LORD:Stand in the court of the house of the LORDand speak to the people of all the cities of Judahwho come to worship in the house of the LORD;whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from his evil way,so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon themfor their evil deeds.Say to them:  Thus says the LORD: If you disobey me,not living according to the law I placed before youand not listening to the words of my servants the prophets,whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them,I will treat this house like Shiloh,and make this the city to which all the nations of the earthshall refer when cursing another.Now the priests, the prophets, and all the peopleheard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.When Jeremiah finished speakingall that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,“You must be put to death! Why do you prophesy in the name of the LORD:‘This house shall be like Shiloh,’ and‘This city shall be desolate and deserted’?”And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

R.  (14c)  Lord, in your great love, answer me.Those outnumber the hairs of my headwho hate me without cause.Too many for my strengthare they who wrongfully are my enemies.Must I restore what I did not steal?R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.Since 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 sons,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.But I pray to you, O LORD,for the time of your favor, O God!In your great kindness answer mewith your constant help.R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.The word of the Lord remains forever;this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.They were astonished and said,“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?Is he not the carpenter’s son?Is not his mother named Maryand his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?Are not his sisters all with us?Where did this man get all this?”And they took offense at him.But Jesus said to them,“A prophet is not without honor except in his native placeand in his own house.”And he did not work many mighty deeds therebecause of their lack of faith.

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;there I will give you my message.I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel.Whenever the object of clay which he was makingturned out badly in his hand, he tried again,making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.Then the word of the LORD came to me:Can I not do to you, house of Israel,as this potter has done? says the LORD.Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

R. (5a)  Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.or:R. Alleluia.Praise the LORD, O my soul;I will praise the LORD all my life;I will sing praise to my God while I live.R.  Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.or:R. Alleluia.Put not your trust in princes,in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;on that day his plans perish.R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.or:R. Alleluia.Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,whose hope is in the LORD, his God.Who made heaven and earth,the sea and all that is in them.R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.or:R. Alleluia.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Open our heart, O Lord,to listen to the words of your Son.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus said to the disciples:“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,which collects fish of every kind.When it is full they haul it ashoreand sit down to put what is good into buckets.What is bad they throw away.Thus it will be at the end of the age.The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteousand throw them into the fiery furnace,where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”“Do you understand all these things?”They answered, “Yes.”And he replied,“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heavenis like the head of a household who brings from his storeroomboth the new and the old.”When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.