FIRST
READING: Lamentations 2:
2, 10 - 14, 18 - 19
2
The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in
his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of
Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and
its rulers.
10
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they
have cast dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the maidens of
Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
11
My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is
poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my
people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city.
12
They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as
they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life
is poured out on their mothers' bosom.
13
What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of
Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can restore you?
14
Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they
have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have
seen for you oracles false and misleading.
18
Cry aloud to the Lord! O daughter of Zion! Let tears stream down like
a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
19
Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour
out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your
hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at
the head of every street.
PSALM:
Psalms 74: 1 - 7, 20 - 21
1
O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke
against the sheep of thy pasture?
2
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou
hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion,
where thou hast dwelt.
3
Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed
everything in the sanctuary!
4
Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place; they set up
their own signs for signs.
5
At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.
6
And then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and
hammers.
7
They set thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the
dwelling place of thy name.
20
Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are
full of the habitations of violence.
21
Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy
praise thy name.
GOSPEL:
Matthew 8: 5 - 17
5
As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him,
beseeching him
6
and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in
terrible distress."
7
And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8
But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have
you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be
healed.
9
For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to
one, `Go,' and he goes, and to another, `Come,' and he comes, and to
my slave, `Do this,' and he does it."
10
When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed
him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such
faith.
11
I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12
while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness;
there men will weep and gnash their teeth."
13
And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you
have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.
14
And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying
sick with a fever;
15
he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served
him.
16
That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons;
and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were
sick.
17
This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "He
took our infirmities and bore our diseases."
