Daily Bible Readings for Monday December 12, 2011

Reading 1, Zec 2:14-17

14 Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion, for now I am coming to live among you -Yahweh declares!

15 And on that day many nations will be converted to Yahweh. Yes, they will become his people, and they will live among you. Then you will know that Yahweh Sabaoth has sent me to you!

16 Yahweh will take possession of Judah, his portion in the Holy Land, and again make Jerusalem his choice.

17 Let all people be silent before Yahweh, now that he is stirring from his holy Dwelling!

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

4 DIRECT me in your ways, Yahweh, and teach me your paths.

5 ENCOURAGE me to walk in your truth and teach me since you are the God who saves me. FOR my hope is in you all day long -- such is your generosity, Yahweh.

6 GOODNESS and faithful love have been yours for ever, Yahweh, do not forget them.

7 HOLD not my youthful sins against me, but remember me as your faithful love dictates.

Reading 1, Zec 2:14-17

14 Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion, for now I am coming to live among you -Yahweh declares!

15 And on that day many nations will be converted to Yahweh. Yes, they will become his people, and they will live among you. Then you will know that Yahweh Sabaoth has sent me to you!

16 Yahweh will take possession of Judah, his portion in the Holy Land, and again make Jerusalem his choice.

17 Let all people be silent before Yahweh, now that he is stirring from his holy Dwelling!

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

4 DIRECT me in your ways, Yahweh, and teach me your paths.

5 ENCOURAGE me to walk in your truth and teach me since you are the God who saves me. FOR my hope is in you all day long -- such is your generosity, Yahweh.

6 GOODNESS and faithful love have been yours for ever, Yahweh, do not forget them.

7 HOLD not my youthful sins against me, but remember me as your faithful love dictates.

8 INTEGRITY and generosity are marks of Yahweh for he brings sinners back to the path.

9 JUDICIOUSLY he guides the humble, instructing the poor in his way.

Gospel, Lk 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.'

29 She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean,

30 but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour.

31 Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.

32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David;

33 he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.'

34 Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?'

35 The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.

36 And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,

37 for nothing is impossible to God.'

38 Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her. 

Daily Bible Readings for Thursday October 06, 2011

Reading 1, Mal 3:13-20b

13 'You have said harsh things about me, says Yahweh. And yet you say, "What have we said against you?"

14 You have said, "It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands or of walking mournfully before Yahweh Sabaoth?

15 In fact, we now call the proud the happy ones; the evil-doers are the ones who prosper; they put God to the test, yet come to no harm!" '

16 Then those who feared Yahweh talked to one another about this, and Yahweh took note and listened; and a book of remembrance was written in his presence recording those who feared him and kept his name in mind.

17 'On the day when I act, says Yahweh Sabaoth, they will be my most prized possession, and I shall spare them in the way a man spares the son who serves him.

18 Then once again you will see the difference between the upright person and the wicked one, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.

19 'For look, the Day is coming, glowing like a furnace. All the proud and all the evil-doers will be the stubble, and the Day, when it comes, will set them ablaze, says Yahweh Sabaoth, leaving them neither root nor branch.

20 But for you who fear my name, the Sun of justice will rise with healing in his rays, and you will come out leaping like calves from the stall,

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6

1 How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread, nor a seat in company with cynics,

2 but who delights in the law of Yahweh and murmurs his law day and night.

3 Such a one is like a tree planted near streams; it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither, and every project succeeds.

4 How different the wicked, how different! Just like chaff blown around by the wind

6 For Yahweh watches over the path of the upright, but the path of the wicked is doomed.

Gospel, Lk 11:5-13

5 He also said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, "My friend, lend me three loaves,

6 because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him;"

7 and the man answers from inside the house, "Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you."

8 I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship's sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants.

9 'So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

10 For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.

11 What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake?

12 Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion?

13 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!'

Daily Bible Readings for Friday August 05, 2011

Reading 1, Dt 4:32-40

32 'Put this question, then, to the ages that are past, that have gone before you, from when God created the human race on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything like it ever heard?

33 Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you have heard it, and remain alive?

34 Has it ever been known before that any god took action himself to bring one nation out of another one, by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors -- all of which things Yahweh your God has done for you before your eyes in Egypt?

35 'This he showed you, so that you might know that Yahweh is the true God and that there is no other.

36 To instruct you, he made you hear his voice from heaven, and on earth he let you see his great fire, and from the heart of the fire you heard his words.

37 Because he loved your ancestors and, after them, chose their descendants, he has brought you out of Egypt, displaying his presence and mighty power,

38 dispossessing for you nations who were larger and stronger than you, to make way for you and to give you their country as your heritage, as it still is today.

39 'Hence, grasp this today and meditate on it carefully: Yahweh is the true God, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other.

40 Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and live long in the country that Yahweh your God is giving you for ever.'

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 77:12-13, 14-15, 16, 21

12 I reflect on all that you did, I ponder all your great deeds.

13 God, your ways are holy! What god is as great as our God?

14 You are the God who does marvellous deeds, brought nations to acknowledge your power,

15 with your own arm redeeming your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.Pause

16 When the waters saw you, God, when the waters saw you they writhed in anguish, the very depths shook with fear.

Gospel, Mt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

25 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

26 What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

27 'For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour.

28 In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.'

Daily Bible Readings for Friday July 15, 2011

Reading 1, Ex 11:10-12:14

10 Moses and Aaron worked all these wonders in Pharaoh's presence, but Yahweh made Pharaoh stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites leave his country.

1 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,

2 'This month must be the first of all the months for you, the first month of your year.

3 Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, "On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock for his family: one animal for each household.

4 If the household is too small for the animal, he must join with his neighbour nearest to his house, depending on the number of persons. When you choose the animal, you will take into account what each can eat.

5 It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may choose it either from the sheep or from the goats.

6 You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at twilight.

7 Some of the blood must then be taken and put on both door-posts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten.

8 That night, the flesh must be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with the head, feet and entrails.

10 You must not leave any of it over till the morning: whatever is left till morning you must burn.

11 This is how you must eat it: with a belt round your waist, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You must eat it hurriedly: it is a Passover in Yahweh's honour.

12 That night, I shall go through Egypt and strike down all the first-born in Egypt, man and beast alike, and shall execute justice on all the gods of Egypt, I, Yahweh!

13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood I shall pass over you, and you will escape the destructive plague when I strike Egypt.

14 This day must be commemorated by you, and you must keep it as a feast in Yahweh's honour. You must keep it as a feast-day for all generations; this is a decree for all t

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18

12 What return can I make to Yahweh for his generosity to me?

13 I shall take up the cup of salvation and call on the name of Yahweh.

15 Costly in Yahweh's sight is the death of his faithful.

16 I beg you, Yahweh! I am your servant, I am your servant and my mother was your servant; you have undone my fetters.

17 I shall offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh.

18 I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh, witnessed by all his people,

Gospel, Mt 12:1-8

1 At that time Jesus went through the cornfields one Sabbath day. His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them.

2 The Pharisees noticed it and said to him, 'Look, your disciples are doing something that is forbidden on the Sabbath.'

3 But he said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry-

4 how he went into the house of God and they ate the loaves of the offering although neither he nor his followers were permitted to eat them, but only the priests?

5 Or again, have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath day the Temple priests break the Sabbath without committing any fault?

6 Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple.

7 And if you had understood the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless.

8 For the Son of man is master of the Sabbath.' 

Daily Bible Readings for Tuesday July 12, 2011

Reading 1, Ex 2:1-15a

1 There was a man descended from Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife.

2 She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months.

3 When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the River's edge.

4 His sister took up position some distance away to see what would happen to him.

5 Now Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe in the river, while her maids walked along the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 She opened it and saw the child: the baby was crying. Feeling sorry for it, she said, 'This is one of the little Hebrews.'

7 The child's sister then said to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?'

8 'Yes,' said Pharaoh's daughter, and the girl went and called the child's own mother.

9 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child away and nurse it for me. I shall pay you myself for doing so.' So the woman took the child away and nursed it.

10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses 'because', she said, 'I drew him out of the water.'

11 It happened one day, when Moses was grown up, that he went to see his kinsmen. While he was watching their forced labour he also saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen.

12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one in sight, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13 On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, 'What do you mean by hitting your kinsman?'

14 'And who appointed you', the man retorted, 'to be prince over us and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?' Moses was frightened. 'Clearly that business has come to light,' he thought.

15 When Pharaoh heard of the matter, he tried to put Moses to death, but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He went into Midianite territory and sat down beside a well.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34

3 I am exhausted with calling out, my throat is hoarse, my eyes are worn out with searching for my God.

14 Rescue me from the mire before I sink in; so I shall be saved from those who hate me, from the watery depths.

30 I will praise God's name in song, I will extol him by thanksgiving,

31 for this will please Yahweh more than an ox, than a bullock horned and hoofed.

33 For God listens to the poor, he has never scorned his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth and seas, and all that stirs in them, acclaim him!

Gospel, Mt 11:20-24

20 Then he began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.

21 'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 Still, I tell you that it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on Judgement Day than for you.

23 And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be raised as high as heaven? You shall be flung down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet.

24 Still, I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on Judgement Day than for you.' 

Daily Bible Readings for Sunday July 10, 2011

Reading 1, Is 55:10-11

10 For, as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return before having watered the earth, fertilising it and making it germinate to provide seed for the sower and food to eat,

11 so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14

10 you water its furrows abundantly, level its ridges, soften it with showers and bless its shoots.

11 You crown the year with your generosity, richness seeps from your tracks,

12 the pastures of the desert grow moist, the hillsides are wrapped in joy,

13 the meadows are covered with flocks, the valleys clothed with wheat; they shout and sing for joy.

Gospel, Mt 13:1-23

1 That same day, Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside,

2 but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the shore,

3 and he told them many things in parables. He said, 'Listen, a sower went out to sow.

4 As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up.

5 Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up at once, because there was no depth of earth;

6 but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away.

7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

8 Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

9 Anyone who has ears should listen!'

10 Then the disciples went up to him and asked, 'Why do you talk to them in parables?'

11 In answer, he said, 'Because to you is granted to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not granted.

12 Anyone who has will be given more and will have more than enough; but anyone who has not will be deprived even of what he has.

13 The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding.

14 So in their case what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah is being fulfilled: Listen and listen, but never understand! Look and look, but never perceive!

15 This people's heart has grown coarse, their ears dulled, they have shut their eyes tight to avoid using their eyes to see, their ears to hear, their heart to understand, changing their ways and being healed by me.

16 'But blessed are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!

17 In truth I tell you, many prophets and upright people longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.

18 'So pay attention to the parable of the sower.

19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the Evil One comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the seed sown on the edge of the path.

20 The seed sown on patches of rock is someone who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy.

21 But such a person has no root deep down and does not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, at once he falls away.

22 The seed sown in thorns is someone who hears the word, but the worry of the world and the lure of riches choke the word and so it produces nothing.

23 And the seed sown in rich soil is someone who hears the word and understands it; this is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.'

Reading 2, Rom 8:18-23

18 In my estimation, all that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us,

19 for the whole creation is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed.

20 It was not for its own purposes that creation had frustration imposed on it, but for the purposes of him who imposed it-

21 with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God.

22 We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains.

23 And not only that: we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with eagerness for our bodies to be set free.

Daily Bible Readings for Monday July 04, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 28:10-22a

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

11 When he had reached a certain place, he stopped there for the night, since the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he made it his pillow and lay down where he was.

12 He had a dream: there was a ladder, planted on the ground with its top reaching to heaven; and God's angels were going up and down on it.

13 And there was Yahweh, standing beside him and saying, 'I, Yahweh, am the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The ground on which you are lying I shall give to you and your descendants.

14 Your descendants will be as plentiful as the dust on the ground; you will spread out to west and east, to north and south, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you and your descendants.

15 Be sure, I am with you; I shall keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you back to this country, for I shall never desert you until I have done what I have promised you.'

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Truly, Yahweh is in this place and I did not know!'

17 He was afraid and said, 'How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than the abode of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'

18 Early next morning, Jacob took the stone he had used for his pillow, and set it up as a pillar, pouring oil over the top of it.

19 He named the place Bethel, but before that the town had been called Luz.

20 Jacob then made this vow, 'If God remains with me and keeps me safe on this journey I am making, if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,

21 and if I come home safe to my father's home, then Yahweh shall be my God.

22 This stone I have set up as a pillar is to be a house of God, and I shall faithfully pay you a tenth part of everything you give me.'

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 91:1-2, 3-4, 14-15

1 You who live in the secret place of Elyon, spend your nights in the shelter of Shaddai,

2 saying to Yahweh, 'My refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust!'

3 He rescues you from the snare of the fowler set on destruction;

4 he covers you with his pinions, you find shelter under his wings. His constancy is shield and protection.

14 'Since he clings to me I rescue him, I raise him high, since he acknowledges my name.

15 He calls to me and I answer him: in distress I am at his side, I rescue him and bring him honour.

Gospel, Mt 9:18-26

18 While he was speaking to them, suddenly one of the officials came up, who bowed low in front of him and said, 'My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.'

19 Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him.

20 Then suddenly from behind him came a woman, who had been suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak,

21 for she was thinking, 'If only I can touch his cloak I shall be saved.'

22 Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, 'Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.' And from that moment the woman was saved.

23 When Jesus reached the official's house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion, he said,

24 'Get out of here; the little girl is not dead; she is asleep.' And they ridiculed him.

25 But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took her by the hand; and she stood up.

26 And the news of this spread all round the countryside. 

Daily Bible Readings for Tuesday June 21, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 13:2, 5-18

2 Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold.

5 Lot, who was travelling with Abram, had flocks and cattle of his own, and tents too.

6 The land was not sufficient to accommodate them both at once, for they had too many possessions to be able to live together.

7 Dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot. (The Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the country at the time.)

8 Accordingly Abram said to Lot, 'We do not want discord between us or between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen.

9 Is not the whole land open before you? Go in the opposite direction to me: if you take the left, I shall go right; if you take the right, I shall go left.'

10 Looking round, Lot saw all the Jordan plain, irrigated everywhere -- this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah-like the garden of Yahweh or the land of Egypt, as far as Zoar.

11 So Lot chose all the Jordan plain for himself and moved off eastwards. Thus they parted company:

12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan; Lot settled among the cities of the plain, pitching his tents on the outskirts of Sodom.

13 Now the people of Sodom were vicious and great sinners against Yahweh.

14 Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had parted company from him, 'Look all round from where you are, to north and south, to east and west,

15 for all the land within sight I shall give to you and your descendants for ever.

16 I shall make your descendants like the dust on the ground; when people succeed in counting the specks of dust on the ground, then they will be able to count your descendants too!

17 On your feet! Travel the length and breadth of the country, for I mean to give it to you.'

18 So Abram moved his tent and went to settle at the Oak of Mamre, at Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 5

2 Whoever lives blamelessly, who acts uprightly, who speaks the truth from the heart,

3 who keeps the tongue under control, who does not wrong a comrade, who casts no discredit on a neighbour,

4 who looks with scorn on the vile, but honours those who fear Yahweh, who stands by an oath at any cost,

5 who asks no interest on loans, who takes no bribe to harm the innocent. No one who so acts can ever be shaken.

Gospel, Mt 7:6, 12-14

6 'Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs, or they may trample them and then turn on you and tear you to pieces.

12 'So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.

13 'Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it;

14 but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.