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February 28, 2014Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 5:9-12 Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another,that you may not be judged.Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters,the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered.You have heard of the perseverance of Job,and you have seen the purpose of the Lord,because the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear,either by heaven or by earth or...

February 27, 2014Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,your gold and silver have corroded,and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;it will devour your flesh like a fire.You have stored up treasure for the last days.Behold, the wages you withheld from the workerswho harvested your fields are crying aloud;and the cries of the harvestershave reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;you have fattened...

February 26, 2014Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 4:13-17 Beloved:Come now, you who say,“Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town,spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”–you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.Instead you should say,“If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”But now you are boasting in your arrogance.All such boasting is evil.So for one who knows the right thing to doand does not do...

February 25, 2014Tuesday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Jas 4:1-10 Beloved:Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?You covet but do not possess.You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;you fight and wage war.You do not possess because you do not ask.You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly,to spend it on your passions.Adulterers!Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God?Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of...

February 24, 2014Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 3:13-18 Beloved:Who among you is wise and understanding?Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom.But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts,do not boast and be false to the truth.Wisdom of this kind does not come down from abovebut is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,there is disorder and every foul practice.But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,then peaceable, gentle, compliant,full of mercy and good fruits,without inconstancy...

February 23, 2014Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Lv 19:1-2, 17-18 The LORD said to Moses,“Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them:Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy. “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart.Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen,do not incur sin because of him.Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people.You shall love your neighbor as yourself.I am the LORD.” Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 R/ (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.Bless the...

February 22, 2014Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle    Reading 1 1 Pt 5:1-4 Beloved:I exhort the presbyters among you,as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christand one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.Tend the flock of God in your midst,overseeing not by constraint but willingly,as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.Do not lord it over those assigned to you,but be examples to the flock.And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Responsorial Psalm Ps 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6 R....

February 21, 2014Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 2:14-24, 26 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?If a brother or sister has nothing to wearand has no food for the day,and one of you says to them,“Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,”but you do not give them the necessities of the body,what good is it?So also faith of itself,if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I...

February 20, 2014Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 2:1-9 My brothers and sisters, show no partialityas you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly,and a poor person with shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothesand say, “Sit here, please,”while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselvesand become judges with evil designs? Listen, my beloved brothers...

February 19, 2014Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jas 1:19-27 Know this, my dear brothers and sisters:everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to angerfor anger does not accomplishthe righteousness of God.Therefore, put away all filth and evil excessand humbly welcome the word that has been planted in youand is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.He...

February 18, 2014Tuesday of the sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 1:12-18 Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation,for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.No one experiencing temptation should say,“I am being tempted by God”;for God is not subject to temptation to evil,and he himself tempts no one.Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and...

February 17, 2014Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jas 1:1-11 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters,when you encounter various trials,for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.And let perseverance be perfect,so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.But if any of you lacks wisdom,he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,and he will be given it.But he should ask in faith, not doubting,for the one...

February 16, 2014Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Sir 15:15-20 If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;if you trust in God, you too shall live;he has set before you fire and waterto whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.Before man are life and death, good and evil,whichever he chooses shall be given him.Immense is the wisdom of the Lord;he is mighty in power, and all-seeing.The eyes of God are on those who fear him;he understands man’s every deed.No one does he command to act unjustly,to none does he give license to sin....

 February 15, 2014Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34 Jeroboam thought to himself:“The kingdom will return to David’s house.If now this people go up to offer sacrificesin the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem,the hearts of this people will return to their master,Rehoboam, king of Judah,and they will kill me.”After taking counsel, the king made two calves of goldand said to the people:“You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough.Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”And he put one in Bethel, the other...

February 14, 2014Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop    Reading 1 1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19 Jeroboam left Jerusalem,and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road.The two were alone in the area,and the prophet was wearing a new cloak.Ahijah took off his new cloak,tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself;the LORD, the God of Israel, says:‘I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s graspand will give you ten of the tribes.One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant,and of Jerusalem,the city I have...

February 13, 2014Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Kgs 11:4-13 When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,as the heart of his father David had been.By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians,and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD;he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab,and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites,on the hill...

February 12, 2014Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Kgs 10:1-10 The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon’s fame,came to test him with subtle questions.She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue,and with camels bearing spices,a large amount of gold, and precious stones.She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subjectin which she was interested.King Solomon explained everything she asked about,and there remained nothing hidden from himthat he could not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom,the palace he had built, the food at his table,the...

February 11, 2014Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORDin the presence of the whole community of Israel,and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,he said, “LORD, God of Israel,there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below;you keep your covenant of mercy with your servantswho are faithful to you with their whole heart. “Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,how much less this temple which I have built! Look...

February 10, 2014Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin    Reading 1 1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13 The elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes,the princes in the ancestral houses of the children of Israel,came to King Solomon in Jerusalem,to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenantfrom the City of David, which is Zion.All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomonduring the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).When all the elders of Israel had arrived,the priests took up the ark;they carried the ark of the LORDand the meeting tent with all the sacred vesselsthat...

February 9, 2014Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 is 58:7-10 Thus says the LORD:Share your bread with the hungry,shelter the oppressed and the homeless;clothe the naked when you see them,and do not turn your back on your own.Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,and your wound shall quickly be healed;your vindication shall go before you,and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!If you remove from your midstoppression, false accusation and malicious speech;if you...