"The Possessed Boy at the Foot of Mount Tabor" --by James Tissot |
Memorial
of Saint Clare, Virgin
FIRST
READING: Habakkuk
1: 12 - 2:
4
12
Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall
not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them as a judgment; and thou, O
Rock, hast established them for chastisement.
13
Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on
wrong, why dost thou look on faithless men, and art silent when the
wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
14
For thou makest men like the fish of the sea, like crawling things
that have no ruler.
15
He brings all of them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults.
16
Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his seine;
for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.
17
Is he then to keep on emptying his net, and mercilessly slaying
nations for ever?
1
I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower, and
look forth to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer
concerning my complaint.
2
And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain upon
tablets, so he may run who reads it.
3
For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end--it will
not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will
not delay.
4
Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the
righteous shall live by his faith.
PSALM:
Psalms 9:
8 - 13
8
and he judges the world with righteousness, he judges the peoples
with equity.
9
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of
trouble.
10
And those who know thy name put their trust in thee, for thou, O
LORD, hast not forsaken those who seek thee.
11
Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion! Tell among the peoples
his deeds!
12
For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the
cry of the afflicted.
13
Be gracious to me, O LORD! Behold what I suffer from those who hate
me, O thou who liftest me up from the gates of death.
GOSPEL:
Matthew 17:
14 - 20
14
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling
before him said,
15
"Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he
suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into
the water.
16
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him."
17
And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how
long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him
here to me."
18
And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was
cured instantly.
19
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could
we not cast it out?"
20
He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say
to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to
this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and
nothing will be impossible to you."