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July 8, 2016 Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Hos 14:2-10 Thus says the LORD:Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;you have collapsed through your guilt.Take with you words,and return to the LORD;Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls.Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount;We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’to the work of our hands;for in you the orphan finds compassion.”I will heal their defection, says the LORD,I will love them freely;for my wrath is turned...

July 7, 2016 Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Hos 11:1-4, 8e-9 Thus says the LORD:When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son.The more I called them,the farther they went from me,Sacrificing to the Baalsand burning incense to idols.Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,who took them in my arms;I drew them with human cords,with bands of love;I fostered them like onewho raises an infant to his cheeks;Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,they did not know that I was their healer. My heart is...

July 6, 2016 Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Hos 10:1-3, 7-8, 12 Israel is a luxuriant vinewhose fruit matches its growth.The more abundant his fruit,the more altars he built;The more productive his land,the more sacred pillars he set up.Their heart is false,now they pay for their guilt;God shall break down their altarsand destroy their sacred pillars.If they would say,“We have no king”—Since they do not fear the LORD,what can the king do for them? The king of Samaria shall disappear,like foam upon the waters.The high places of Aven shall be destroyed,the sin of Israel;thorns...

July 5, 2016 Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Hos 8:4-7, 11-13 Thus says the LORD:They made kings in Israel, but not by my authority;they established princes, but without my approval.With their silver and gold they madeidols for themselves, to their own destruction.Cast away your calf, O Samaria!my wrath is kindled against them;How long will they be unable to attaininnocence in Israel?The work of an artisan,no god at all,Destined for the flames—such is the calf of Samaria! When they sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind;The stalk of grain that forms no earcan yield...

July 3, 2016 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Is 66:10-14c Thus says the LORD:Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,all you who love her;exult, exult with her,all you who were mourning over her!Oh, that you may suck fullyof the milk of her comfort,that you may nurse with delightat her abundant breasts!For thus says the LORD:Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,and fondled in her lap;as a mother comforts her child,so will I comfort you;in Jerusalem...

July 2, 2016 Saturday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time Reading 1 Am 9:11-15 Thus says the LORD:On that day I will raise upthe fallen hut of David;I will wall up its breaches,raise up its ruins,and rebuild it as in the days of old,That they may conquer what is left of Edomand all the nations that shall bear my name,say I, the LORD, who will do this.Yes, days are coming,says the LORD,When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,and the vintager, him who sows the seed;The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains,and all the hills shall run...

July 1, 2016 Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Am 8:4-6, 9-12 Hear this, you who trample upon the needyand destroy the poor of the land!“When will the new moon be over,” you ask,“that we may sell our grain,and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?”We will diminish the containers for measuring,add to the weights,and fix our scales for cheating!We will buy the lowly man for silver,and the poor man for a pair of sandals;even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!” On that day, says the Lord GOD,I will make the sun...

June 30, 2016 Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Am 7:10-17 Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam,king of Israel:“Amos has conspired against you here within Israel;the country cannot endure all his words.For this is what Amos says:Jeroboam shall die by the sword,and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.” To Amos, Amaziah said:“Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!There earn your bread by prophesying,but never again prophesy in Bethel;for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet,nor have I belonged to...

June 29, 2016 Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul - Mass during the Day Reading 1 Acts 12:1-11 In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them.He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword,and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jewshe proceeded to arrest Peter also.–It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.–He had him taken into custody and put in prisonunder the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.He intended to bring him before the people after Passover.Peter thus was being kept in prison,but prayer...

June 28, 2016 Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr Reading 1 Am 3:1-8; 4:11-12 Hear this word, O children of Israel, that the LORD pronounces over you,over the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt: You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth;Therefore I will punish youfor all your crimes. Do two walk togetherunless they have agreed?Does a lion roar in the forestwhen it has no prey?Does a young lion cry out from its denunless it has seized something?Is a bird brought to earth by a snarewhen there is no...

June 27, 2016 Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Am 2:6-10, 13-16 Thus says the LORD:For three crimes of Israel, and for four,I will not revoke my word;Because they sell the just man for silver,and the poor man for a pair of sandals.They trample the heads of the weakinto the dust of the earth,and force the lowly out of the way.Son and father go to the same prostitute,profaning my holy name.Upon garments taken in pledgethey recline beside any altar;And the wine of those who have been finedthey drink in the house of their god. Yet...

June 26, 2016 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21 The LORD said to Elijah:“You shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah,as prophet to succeed you.” Elijah set out and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;he was following the twelfth.Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,“Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,and I will follow you.”Elijah answered, “Go back!Have I done anything to you?”Elisha left him, and taking the yoke of oxen,...

June 25, 2016 Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19 The Lord has consumed without pityall the dwellings of Jacob;He has torn down in his angerthe fortresses of daughter Judah;He has brought to the ground in dishonorher king and her princes. On the ground in silence sitthe old men of daughter Zion;They strew dust on their headsand gird themselves with sackcloth;The maidens of Jerusalembow their heads to the ground. Worn out from weeping are my eyes,within me all is in ferment;My gall is poured out on the groundbecause of the downfall of...

June 24, 2016 Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist - Mass during the Day Reading 1 Is 49:1-6 Hear me, O coastlands,listen, O distant peoples.The LORD called me from birth,from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.He made of me a sharp-edged swordand concealed me in the shadow of his arm.He made me a polished arrow,in his quiver he hid me.You are my servant, he said to me,Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain,and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,yet my reward is with the LORD,my recompense...

June 23, 2016 Thursday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 24:8-17 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign,and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta,daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD,just as his forebears had done. At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,himself arrived at the citywhile his servants were besieging it.Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother,his ministers, officers, and functionaries,surrendered to the king of...

June 22, 2016 Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 22:8-13; 23:1-3 The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan,“I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD.”Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.Then the scribe Shaphan went to the king and reported,“Your servants have smelted down the metals available in the templeand have consigned them to the master workmenin the temple of the LORD.”The scribe Shaphan also informed the kingthat the priest Hilkiah had given him a book,and then read it aloud to the king.When the...

June 21, 2016 Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious Reading 1 2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiahwith this message: “Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah:‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive youby saying that Jerusalem will not be handed overto the king of Assyria.You have heard what the kings of Assyria have doneto all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved?’” Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it;then he went up to the temple of the...

June 20, 2016 Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole landand attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israelthe king of Assyria took Samaria,and deported the children of Israel to Assyria,setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan,and the cities of the Medes. This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD,their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt,from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of...

June 19, 2016 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Zec 12:10-11; 13:1 Thus says the LORD:I will pour out on the house of Davidand on the inhabitants of Jerusalema spirit of grace and petition;and they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son,and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem shall be as greatas the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. On that day there shall be open to the house of...

June 18, 2016 Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Chr 24:17-25 After the death of Jehoiada,the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash,and the king then listened to them.They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers,and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols;and because of this crime of theirs,wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD,the people would not listen to their warnings.Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah,son of Jehoiada the priest.He took his stand...