FIRST
READING: Lamentations
2: 2, 10 - 14, 18 -
19
2
Without pity Yahweh has shattered in Jacob every dwelling. He has
torn down in his anger the ramparts of Judah's daughter. He has
thrown her rulers and her king to the ground, dishonored.
10
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit in silence upon the ground,
their heads sprinkled with dust, their bodies wrapped in sackcloth,
while Jerusalem's young women bow their heads to the ground.
11
With weeping my eyes are spent; my soul is in torment because of the
downfall of the daughter of my people, because children and infants
faint in the open spaces of the town.
12
To their mothers they say, "Where is the bread and wine?"
as they faint like wounded men in the streets and public squares, as
their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms.
13
To what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? Who can save or
comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Deep as the sea is your
affliction, and who can possibly heal you?
14
Your prophets' visions were worthless and false. Had they warned of
your sins, your fate might have been averted. But what they gave you
instead were false, misleading signs.
18
Cry out to the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion! Oh, let your
tears flow day and night, like a river. Give yourself no relief;
grant your eyes no respite.
19
Get up, cry out in the night, as the evening watches start; pour out
your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.
Lift
up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint with
hunger at the corner of every street.
PSALM:
Psalms 74:
1 - 7, 20 - 21
1
O God, have you rejected us forever? Why vent your anger on the sheep
of your own fold?
2
Remember the people you have formed of old, the tribe you have
redeemed as your inheritance. Remember Mount Zion where you once
lived.
3
Climb and visit these hopeless ruins, the enemy has ravaged
everything in the sanctuary.
4
Your foes have roared triumphantly in the holy place, and set up
their banner of victory.
5
Like lumbermen felling trees,
6
they smashed the carved paneling with hatchets, hammers and axes.
7
They defiled your sanctuary and set aflame the dwelling place of your
name.
20
See how they keep your covenant in the dark caves of the land.
21
Do not let the oppressed be put to shame; may the poor and needy
praise your name.
GOSPEL:
Luke 2:
41 - 51
41
Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of
the Passover, as was customary.
42
And when Jesus was twelve years old, he went up with them according
to the custom for this feast.
43
After the festival was over, they returned, but the boy Jesus
remained in Jerusalem and his parents did not know it.
44
They thought he was in the company and after walking the whole day
they looked for him among their relatives and friends.
45
As they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem searching for
him,
46
and on the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting among the
teachers, listening to them and asking questions.
47
And all the people were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48
His parents were very surprised when they saw him and his mother said
to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I
were very worried while searching for you."
49
Then he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Do you not
know that I must be in my Father's house?"
50
But they did not understand this answer.
51
Jesus went down with them, returning to Nazareth, and he continued to
be subject to them. As for his mother, she kept all these things in
her heart.
