Daily Readings

1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying: 2 “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the atrium of the house of the Lord, and speak to all the cities of Judah, from which they come to adore in the house of the Lord, all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not choose to subtract any word. 3 So may they hear and be converted, each one from his evil way. And then I may repent of the evil that I plan to do to them because of the wickedness of their pursuits. 4 And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, so that you walk in my law, which I have given to you, 5 so that you listen to the words of my servants, the prophets, whom I have sent to you, who arise while it is still night, and though they give guidance, you do not listen, 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city into a curse for all the nations of the earth.” 7 And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8 And when Jeremiah had completed speaking all that the Lord had instructed him to speak to all the people, then the priests, and the prophets, and all the people apprehended him, saying: “You shall be put to death.” 9 “Why has he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: ‘Like Shiloh, so shall this house be,’ and, ‘This city shall be made desolate, even without an inhabitant?’ ” And all the people were gathered together against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

5 Those who hate me without cause have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head. My enemies, who persecuted me unjustly, have been strengthened. Then I was required to pay for what I did not take. 8 For because of you, I have endured reproach; confusion has covered my face. 9 I have become a stranger to my brothers and a sojourner to the sons of my mother. 10 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me. 14 But as for me, truly, my prayer is to you, O Lord. This time has pleased you well, O God. In the multitude of your mercy, in the truth of your salvation, hear me.

54 And arriving in his own country, he taught them in their synagogues, so much so that they wondered and said: “How can such wisdom and power be with this one? 55 Is this not the son of a workman? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Therefore, from where has this one obtained all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 And he did not work many miracles there, because of their unbelief.

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Rise up and descend into the house of the potter, and there you will hear my words.” 3 And I descended into the house of the potter, and behold, he was making a work on the wheel. 4 And the vessel, which he was making with his hands out of clay, broke. And turning away, he made another vessel, for it had been pleasing in his eyes to make it. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done, says the Lord? Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

1b Of Haggai and Zachariah. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord with my life. I will sing psalms to my God as long as I shall be. Do not trust in the leaders, 3 in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. 4 His spirit will depart, and he will return to his earth. In that day, all their thoughts will perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob: his hope is in the Lord God himself, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all the things that are in them.

19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, so as to console them over their brother. 20 Therefore, Martha, when she heard that Jesus was arriving, went out to meet him. But Mary was sitting at home. 21 And then Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now, I know that whatever you will request from God, God will give to you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he shall rise again, at the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, even though he has died, he shall live. 26 And everyone who lives and believes in me shall not die for eternity. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him: “Certainly, Lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, who has come into this world.”

10 “O my mother, woe to me! Why did you conceive me, a man of strife, a man of discord to all the earth? I have not lent money at interest, nor has anyone lent money at interest to me. Yet everyone is cursing me.” 16 I discovered your words and I consumed them. And your word became to me as the gladness and joy of my heart. For your name has been invoked over me, O Lord, the God of hosts. 17 I did not sit in the company of mockers, nor did I glorify myself before the presence of your hand. I sat alone, because you filled me with threats. 18 Why has my sorrow become never-ending, and why has my wound become so dire that it refuses to be cured? It has become for me like the deception of untrustworthy waters.” 19 Because of this, thus says the Lord: “If you will be converted, I will convert you. And you will stand before my face. And you will separate what is precious from what is vile. You will be my mouthpiece. They will be converted to you, but you will not be converted to them. 20 And I will present you to this people as a strong wall of brass. And they will fight against you, and they will not prevail. For I am with you, so as to save you and to rescue you, says the Lord. 21 And I will free you from hand of those who are most wicked, and I will redeem you from the hand of the powerful.”

2 Rescue me from my enemies, my God, and free me from those who rise up against me. 3 Rescue me from those who work iniquity, and save me from men of blood. 4 For behold, they have seized my soul. The strong have rushed upon me. 10 I will guard my strength toward you, for you are God, my supporter. 11 My God, his mercy will precede me. 17 But I will sing your strength, and I will extol your mercy, in the morning. For you have been my supporter and my refuge in the day of my tribulation. 18 To you, my helper, I will sing psalms. For you are God, my supporter. My God is my mercy.

44 The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man finds it, he hides it, and, because of his joy, he goes and sells everything that he has, and he buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls. 46 Having found one pearl of great value, he went away and sold all that he had, and he bought it.

17 And you shall speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed tears throughout the night and day, and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed by a great affliction, by a very grievous wound.” 18 “If I go out into the fields: behold, those slain by the sword. And if I enter into the city: behold, those weakened by famine. Likewise, the prophet, too, and the priest, have gone into a land that they did not know. 19 Could you have utterly cast out Judah? Or has your soul abhorred Zion? Then why have you struck us, so much so that there is no health for us? We have waited for peace, but there is nothing good, and for the time of healing, and behold, trouble. 20 O Lord, we acknowledge our impieties, the iniquities of our fathers, that we have sinned against you. 21 For the sake of your name, do not give us over into disgrace. And do not dishonor in us the throne of your glory. Remember, do not make void, your covenant with us. 22 Could any of the graven images of the Gentiles send rain? Or are the heavens able to give showers? Have we not hoped in you, the Lord our God? For you have made all these things.”

8 Do not remember our iniquities of the past. May your mercies quickly intercept us, for we have become exceedingly poor. 9 Help us, O God, our Savior. And free us, Lord, for the glory of your name. And forgive us our sins for the sake of your name. 11 may the groans of the shackled enter before you. According to the greatness of your arm, take possession of the sons of those who have been killed. 13 But we are your people and the sheep of your pasture: we will give thanks to you in all ages. From generation to generation, we will announce your praise.

36 Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. And his disciples drew near to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 Responding, he said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of man. 38 Now the field is the world. And the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. But the weeds are the sons of wickedness. 39 So the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And truly, the harvest is the consummation of the age; while the reapers are the Angels. 40 Therefore, just as weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the consummation of the age. 41 The Son of man shall send out his Angels, and they shall gather from his kingdom all who lead astray and those who work iniquity. 42 And he shall cast them into the furnace of fire, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the just ones shall shine like the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

1 Thus says the Lord to me: “Go, and obtain for yourself a linen waistcloth. And you shall place it over your loins, and you shall not put it into water.” 2 And so I obtained a waistcloth, according to the word of the Lord, and I placed it around my loins. 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: 4 “Take the waistcloth, which you obtained, which is around your loins, and, rising up, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in an opening of the rock.” 5 And so I went, and I hid it by the Euphrates, just as the Lord had instructed me. 6 And it happened that, after many days, the Lord said to me: “Rise up, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the waistcloth, which I instructed you to hide there.” 7 And so I went to the Euphrates, and I dug up and took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth had rotted, so that it was not fit for any use. 8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 9 “Thus says the Lord: In the same way, I will cause the arrogance of Judah and the arrogance of Jerusalem to rot. 10 This most wicked people, they are not willing to listen to my words, for they walk in the depravity of their own heart, and they have gone after strange gods, so as to serve them and to adore them. And so, they will become like this waistcloth, which is not fit for any use. 11 For just as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so have I brought close to me the entire house of Israel and the entire house of Judah, says the Lord, so that they would be to me: a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory. But they did not listen.

18 You have forsaken the God who conceived you, and you have forgotten the Lord who created you. 19 The Lord saw, and he was stirred to anger. For his own sons and daughters provoked him. 20 And he said: ‘I will hide my face from them, and I will consider their very end. For this is a perverse generation, and they are unfaithful sons. 21 They have provoked me with that which was not God, and they have angered me with their emptiness. And so, I will provoke them with that which is not a people, and I will anger them with a foolish nation.

31 He proposed another parable to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is, indeed, the least of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is greater than all the plants, and it becomes a tree, so much so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches.” 33 He spoke another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of fine wheat flour, until it was entirely leavened.” 34 All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds. And he did not speak to them apart from parables, 35 in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying: “I will open my mouth in parables. I will proclaim what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

20 And so the Lord said, “The outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied, and their sin has become exceedingly grievous. 21 I will descend and see whether they have fulfilled the work of the outcry that has reached me, or whether it is not so, in order that I may know.” 22 And they turned themselves from there, and they went toward Sodom. Yet in truth, Abraham still stood in the sight of the Lord. 23 And as they drew near, he said: “Will you destroy the just with the impious? 24 If there were fifty of the just in the city, will they perish with the rest? And will you not spare that place for the sake of fifty of the just, if they were in it? 25 Far be it from you to do this thing, and to kill the just with the impious, and for the just to be treated like the impious. No, this is not like you. You judge all the earth; you would never make such a judgment.” 26 And the Lord said to him, “If I find in Sodom fifty of the just in the midst of the city, I will release the entire place because of them.” 27 And Abraham responded by saying: “Since now I have begun, I will speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. 28 What if there were five less than fifty of the just? Would you, despite the forty-five, eliminate the entire city?” And he said, “I will not eliminate it, if I find forty-five there.” 29 And again he said to him, “But if forty were found there, what would you do?” He said, “I will not strike, for the sake of the forty.” 30 “I ask you,” he said, “not to be angry, Lord, if I speak. What if thirty were found there?” He responded, “I will not act, if I find thirty there.” 31 “Since now I have begun,” he said, “I will speak to my Lord. What if twenty were found there?” He said, “I will not put to death, for the sake of the twenty.” 32 “I beg you,” he said, “not to be angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more. What if ten were found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

1 Of David himself. O Lord, I will confess to you with my whole heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth. I will sing psalms to you in the sight of the Angels. 2 I will adore before your holy temple, and I will confess your name: it is above your mercy and your truth. For you have magnified your holy name above all. 3 On whatever day that I will call upon you: hear me. You will multiply virtue in my soul. 6 For the Lord is exalted, and he looks with favor on the humble. But the lofty he knows from a distance. 7 If I wander into the midst of tribulation, you will revive me. For you extended your hand against the wrath of my enemies. And your right hand has accomplished my salvation. 8 The Lord will provide retribution on my behalf. O Lord, your mercy is forever. Do not disdain the works of your hands.

12 You have been buried with him in baptism. In him also, you have risen again through faith, by the work of God, who raised him up from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he enlivened you, together with him, forgiving you of all transgressions, 14 and wiping away the handwriting of the decree which was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken this away from your midst, affixing it to the Cross.

1 And it happened that, while he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them: “When you are praying, say: Father, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come. 3 Give us this day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, since we also forgive all who are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” 5 And he said to them: “Which of you will have a friend and will go to him in the middle of the night, and will say to him: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 because a friend of mine has arrived from a journey to me, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ 7 And from within, he would answer by saying: ‘Do not disturb me. The door is closed now, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give it to you.’ 8 Yet if he will persevere in knocking, I tell you that, even though he would not get up and give it to him because he is a friend, yet due to his continued insistence, he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 9 And so I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. And whoever seeks, finds. And whoever knocks, it shall be opened to him. 11 So then, who among you, if he asks his father for bread, he would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he would give him a serpent, instead of a fish? 12 Or if he will ask for an egg, he would offer to him a scorpion? 13 Therefore, if you, being evil, know how to give good things to your sons, how much more will your Father give, from heaven, a spirit of goodness to those who ask him?”

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Stand at the gate to the house of the Lord, and preach this word there, and say: Listen to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter through these gates to adore the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Make your ways and your intentions good, and I will live with you in this place. 4 Do not choose to trust in lying words, saying: ‘This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!’ 5 For if you direct your ways and your intentions well, if you exercise judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not act with deceit toward the new arrival, the orphan, and the widow, and if you do not pour out innocent blood in this place, and if you do not walk after strange gods, which is to your own harm, 7 then I will live with you in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from the beginning and even forever. 8 Behold, you trust in false words, which will not benefit you, 9 so as to steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer libations to Baal, and to go after strange gods, which you do not know. 10 And you arrived and stood before me in this house, where my name is invoked, and you said: ‘We have been freed because we carried out all these abominations.’ 11 So then, has this house, where my name has been invoked, become a den of robbers in your eyes? It is I, I am, I have seen, says the Lord.