Daily Bible Readings for Monday May 16, 2011

Reading 1, Acts 11:1-18

1 The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that gentiles too had accepted the word of God,

2 and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers protested to him

3 and said, 'So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them!'

4 Peter in reply gave them the details point by point,

5 'One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,' he began, 'I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. This sheet came right down beside me.

6 I looked carefully into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of heaven.

7 Then I heard a voice that said to me, "Now, Peter, kill and eat!"

8 But I answered, "Certainly not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips."

9 And a second time the voice spoke from heaven, "What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane."

10 This was repeated three times, before the whole of it was drawn up to heaven again.

11 'Just at that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me,

12 and the Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as well, and we entered the man's house.

13 He told us he had seen an angel standing in his house who said, "Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter;

14 he has a message for you that will save you and your entire household."

15 'I had scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way as it came on us at the beginning,

16 and I remembered that the Lord had said, "John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit."

17 I realised then that God was giving them the identical gift he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God's way?'

18 This account satisfied them, and they gave glory to God, saying, 'God has clearly granted to the gentiles too the repentance that leads to life.'

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 42:2-3; 43:3, 4

2 I thirst for God, the living God; when shall I go to see the face of God?

3 I have no food but tears day and night, as all day long I am taunted, 'Where is your God?'

3 Send out your light and your truth; they shall be my guide, to lead me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell.

4 Then I shall go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy. I will rejoice and praise you on the harp, O God, my God.

Gospel, Jn 10:11-18

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

12 The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;

13 he runs away because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,

15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.

16 And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and I must lead these too. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, one shepherd.

17 The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

18 No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as I have power to lay it down, so I have power to take it up again; and this is the command I have received from my Father.

Daily Bible Readings for Sunday May 08, 2011

Reading 1, Acts 2:14, 22-33

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice: 'Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say.

22 'Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you know.

23 This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified and killed by men outside the Law.

24 But God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since,

25 as David says of him: I kept the Lord before my sight always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.

26 So my heart rejoiced my tongue delighted; my body, too, will rest secure,

27 for you will not abandon me to Hades or allow your holy one to see corruption.

28 You have taught me the way of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence.

29 'Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us.

30 But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne,

31 he spoke with foreknowledge about the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not see corruption.

32 God raised this man Jesus to life, and of that we are all witnesses.

33 Now raised to the heights by God's right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

1 [In a quiet voice Of David] Protect me, O God, in you is my refuge.

2 To Yahweh I say, 'You are my Lord, my happiness is in none

5 My birthright, my cup is Yahweh; you, you alone, hold my lot secure.

7 I bless Yahweh who is my counsellor, even at night my heart instructs me.

8 I keep Yahweh before me always, for with him at my right hand, nothing can shake me.

9 So my heart rejoices, my soul delights, my body too will rest secure,

10 for you will not abandon me to Sheol, you cannot allow your faithful servant to see the abyss.

11 You will teach me the path of life, unbounded joy in your presence, at your right hand delight for ever.

Gospel, Lk 24:13-35

13 Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem,

14 and they were talking together about all that had happened.

15 And it happened that as they were talking together and discussing it, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side;

16 but their eyes were prevented from recognising him.

17 He said to them, 'What are all these things that you are discussing as you walk along?' They stopped, their faces downcast.

18 Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, 'You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.'

19 He asked, 'What things?' They answered, 'All about Jesus of Nazareth, who showed himself a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people;

20 and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified.

21 Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have now gone by since it all happened;

22 and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning,

23 and when they could not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive.

24 Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.'

25 Then he said to them, 'You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said!

26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?'

27 Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.

28 When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on;

29 but they pressed him to stay with them saying, 'It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.' So he went in to stay with them.

30 Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them.

31 And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight.

32 Then they said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?'

33 They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions,

34 who said to them, 'The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon.'

35 Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.

Reading 2, 1 Pt 1:17-21

17 And if you address as Father him who judges without favouritism according to each individual's deeds, live out the time of your exile here in reverent awe.

18 For you know that the price of your ransom from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors was paid, not in anything perishable like silver or gold,

19 but in precious blood as of a blameless and spotless lamb, Christ.

20 He was marked out before the world was made, and was revealed at the final point of time for your sake.

21 Through him you now have faith in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory for this very purpose -- that your faith and hope should be in God.

Daily Bible Readings for Tuesday May 03, 2011

Reading 1, 1 Cor 15:1-8

1 I want to make quite clear to you, brothers, what the message of the gospel that I preached to you is; you accepted it and took your stand on it,

2 and you are saved by it, if you keep to the message I preached to you; otherwise your coming to believe was in vain.

3 The tradition I handed on to you in the first place, a tradition which I had myself received, was that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures,

4 and that he was buried; and that on the third day, he was raised to life, in accordance with the scriptures;

5 and that he appeared to Cephas; and later to the Twelve;

6 and next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep;

7 then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.

8 Last of all he appeared to me too, as though I was a child born abnormally.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 19:2-3, 4-5

2 day discourses of it to day, night to night hands on the knowledge.

3 No utterance at all, no speech, not a sound to be heard,

4 but from the entire earth the design stands out, this message reaches the whole world. High above, he pitched a tent for the sun,

5 who comes forth from his pavilion like a bridegroom, delights like a champion in the course to be run.

Gospel, Jn 14:6-14

6 Jesus said: I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

7 If you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.

8 Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him,

9 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"?

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works.

11 You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works.

12 In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.

13 Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 

Daily Bible Readings for Wednesday February 23, 2011

Reading 1, Ecclesiasticus / Sirach 4:11-19

11 Wisdom brings up her own children and cares for those who seek her.

12 Whoever loves her loves life, those who seek her early will be filled with joy.

13 Whoever possesses her will inherit honour, and wherever he walks the Lord will bless him.

14 Those who serve her minister to the Holy One, and the Lord loves those who love her.

15 Whoever obeys her rules the nations, whoever pays attention to her dwells secure.

16 If he trusts himself to her he will inherit her, and his descendants will remain in possession of her;

17 for though she takes him at first through winding ways, bringing fear and faintness on him, trying him out with her discipline till she can trust him, and testing him with her ordeals,

18 she then comes back to him on the straight road, makes him happy and reveals her secrets to him.

19 If he goes astray, however, she abandons him and leaves him to his own destruction.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 119:165, 168, 171, 172, 174, 175

165 Great peace for those who love your Law; no stumbling-blocks for them!

168 I observe your precepts, your judgements, for all my ways are before you.

171 May my lips proclaim your praise, for you teach me your will.

172 May my tongue recite your promise, for all your commandments are upright.

174 I long for your salvation, Yahweh, your Law is my delight.

175 May I live only to praise you, may your judgements be my help.

Gospel, Mk 9:38-40

38 John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.'

39 But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.

40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 

Daily Bible Readings for Tuesday February 22, 2011

Reading 1, 1 Pt 5:1-4

1 I urge the elders among you, as a fellow-elder myself and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and as one who is to have a share in the glory that is to be revealed:

2 give a shepherd's care to the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, as God wants; not for sordid money, but because you are eager to do it.

3 Do not lord it over the group which is in your charge, but be an example for the flock.

4 When the chief shepherd appears, you will be given the unfading crown of glory.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

1 [Psalm Of David] Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me

3 to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.

4 Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.

5 You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.

6 Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

1 [Psalm Of David] Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me

3 to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.

4 Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.

5 You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.

6 Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come. 

Daily Bible Readings for Friday February 18, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 11:1-9

1 The whole world spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary.

2 Now, as people moved eastwards they found a valley in the land of Shinar where they settled.

3 They said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.' For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen.

4 'Come,' they said, 'let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we do not get scattered all over the world.'

5 Now Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.

6 'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said Yahweh. 'This is only the start of their undertakings! Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.

7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another.'

8 Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city.

9 That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confused the language of the whole world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 33:10-11, 12-13, 14-15

10 Yahweh thwarts the plans of nations, frustrates the counsels of peoples;

11 but Yahweh's own plan stands firm for ever, his heart's counsel from age to age.

12 How blessed the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people he has chosen as his heritage.

13 From heaven Yahweh looks down, he sees all the children of Adam,

14 from the place where he sits he watches all who dwell on the earth;

15 he alone moulds their hearts, he understands all they do.

Gospel, Mk 8:34-9:1

34 He called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

35 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

36 What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life?

37 And indeed what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

38 For if anyone in this sinful and adulterous generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.'

1 And he said to them, 'In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.' 

Daily Bible Readings for Thursday February 17, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 9:1-13

1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Breed, multiply and fill the earth.

2 Be the terror and the dread of all the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, of everything that moves on land and all the fish of the sea; they are placed in your hands.

3 Every living thing that moves will be yours to eat, no less than the foliage of the plants. I give you everything,

4 with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood, in it.

5 And I shall demand account of your life-blood, too. I shall demand it of every animal, and of man. Of man as regards his fellow-man, I shall demand account for human life.

6 He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God was man created.

7 Be fruitful then and multiply, teem over the earth and subdue it!'

8 God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons,

9 'I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come,

10 and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth.

11 And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.'

12 'And this', God said, 'is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come:

13 I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 102:16-18, 19-21, 29, 22-23

16 when Yahweh builds Zion anew, he will be seen in his glory;

17 he will turn to hear the prayer of the destitute, and will not treat their prayer with scorn.

18 This shall be put on record for a future generation, and a people yet to be born shall praise God:

19 Yahweh has leaned down from the heights of his sanctuary, has looked down from heaven to earth,

20 to listen to the sighing of the captive, and set free those condemned to death,

21 to proclaim the name of Yahweh in Zion, his praise in Jerusalem;

22 nations will gather together, and kingdoms to worship Yahweh.

23 In my journeying my strength has failed on the way;

Gospel, Mk 8:27-33

27 Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say I am?'

28 And they told him, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah, others again, one of the prophets.'

29 'But you,' he asked them, 'who do you say I am?' Peter spoke up and said to him, 'You are the Christ.'

30 And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was destined to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again;

32 and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter tried to rebuke him.

33 But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do.' 

Daily Readings for Tuesday February 15, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10

5 Yahweh saw that human wickedness was great on earth and that human hearts contrived nothing but wicked schemes all day long.

6 Yahweh regretted having made human beings on earth and was grieved at heart.

7 And Yahweh said, 'I shall rid the surface of the earth of the human beings whom I created -- human and animal, the creeping things and the birds of heaven -- for I regret having made them.'

8 But Noah won Yahweh's favour.

1 Yahweh said to Noah, 'Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone of your contemporaries do I see before me as an upright man.

2 Of every clean animal you must take seven pairs, a male and its female; of the unclean animals you must take one pair, a male and its female

3 (and of the birds of heaven, seven pairs, a male and its female), to preserve their species throughout the earth.

4 For in seven days' time I shall make it rain on earth for forty days and forty nights, and I shall wipe every creature I have made off the face of the earth.'

5 Noah did exactly as Yahweh commanded him.

10 Seven days later the waters of the flood appeared on earth.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 29:1-2, 3-4, 8, 9-10

1 [Psalm Of David] Give Yahweh his due, sons of God, give Yahweh his due of glory and strength,

2 give Yahweh the glory due to his name, adore Yahweh in the splendour of holiness.

3 Yahweh's voice over the waters, the God of glory thunders; Yahweh over countless waters,

4 Yahweh's voice in power, Yahweh's voice in splendour;

8 Yahweh's voice convulses the desert, Yahweh convulses the desert of Kadesh,

9 Yahweh's voice convulses terebinths, strips forests bare. In his palace all cry, 'Glory!'

10 Yahweh was enthroned for the flood, Yahweh is enthroned as king for ever.

Gospel, Mk 8:14-21

14 The disciples had forgotten to take any bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

15 Then he gave them this warning, 'Keep your eyes open; look out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.'

16 And they said to one another, 'It is because we have no bread.'

17 And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, 'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not understand, still not realise? Are your minds closed?

18 Have you eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear? Or do you not remember?

19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?' They answered, 'Twelve.'

20 'And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?' And they answered, 'Seven.'

21 Then he said to them, 'Do you still not realise?'