Daily Mass Readings for Monday, January 16, 2012

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 15: 16 - 23

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16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night." And he said to him, "Say on."

17 And Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.

18 And the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, `Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amal'ekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'

19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

20 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am'alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal'ekites.

21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."

22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

PSALM: Psalms 50: 8 - 9, 16 - 17, 21, 23

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8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9 I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds.

16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?

17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"

GOSPEL: Mark 2: 18 - 22

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18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

20 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins."

Daily Mass Readings for Sunday, January 15, 2012

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 3: 3 - 10, 19

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3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down within the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.

4 Then the LORD called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!"

5 and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down.

6 And the LORD called again, "Samuel!" And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy.

9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, `Speak, LORD, for thy servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 And the LORD came and stood forth, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for thy servant hears."

19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

PSALM: Psalms 40: 2, 4, 7 - 10

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2 He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods!

7 Then I said, "Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me;

8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart."

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; lo, I have not restrained my lips, as thou knowest, O LORD.

10 I have not hid thy saving help within my heart, I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness from the great congregation.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 6: 13 - 15, 17 - 20

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13 "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" -- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

17 But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

18 Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body.

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;

20 you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

GOSPEL: John 1: 35 - 42

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35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples;

36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

41 He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).

42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). 

Daily Mass Readings for Saturday, January 14, 2012

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 9: 1 - 4, 17 - 19 ; 1 Samuel 10: 1

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1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abi'el, son of Zeror, son of Beco'rath, son of Aphi'ah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth;

2 and he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; from his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

3 Now the asses of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, "Take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the asses."

4 And they passed through the hill country of E'phraim and passed through the land of Shal'ishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Sha'alim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, "Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall rule over my people."

18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate, and said, "Tell me where is the house of the seer?"

19 Samuel answered Saul, "I am the seer; go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind.

1 Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said, "Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their enemies round about. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.

PSALM: Psalms 21: 2 - 7

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2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withheld the request of his lips. [Selah]

3 For thou dost meet him with goodly blessings; thou dost set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

4 He asked life of thee; thou gavest it to him, length of days for ever and ever.

5 His glory is great through thy help; splendor and majesty thou dost bestow upon him.

6 Yea, thou dost make him most blessed for ever; thou dost make him glad with the joy of thy presence.

7 For the king trusts in the LORD; and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

GOSPEL: Mark 2: 13 - 17

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13 He went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them.

14 And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him.

15 And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him.

16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Daily Mass Readings for Friday, January 13, 2012

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 8: 4 - 7, 10 - 22

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4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah,

5 and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations."

6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD.

7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking a king from him.

11 He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots;

12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.

14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.

15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.

16 He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them to his work.

17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day."

19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No! but we will have a king over us,

20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles."

21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD.

22 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken to their voice, and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city."

PSALM: Psalms 89: 16 - 19

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16 who exult in thy name all the day, and extol thy righteousness.

17 For thou art the glory of their strength; by thy favor our horn is exalted.

18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Of old thou didst speak in a vision to thy faithful one, and say: "I have set the crown upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people.

GOSPEL: Mark 2: 1 - 12

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1 And when he returned to Caper'na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.

3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.

5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

7 "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts?

9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk'?

10 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic --

11 "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home."

12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"