Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
376

FIRST READING

Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.

The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.

What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.

Cry aloud to the Lord!
O wall of the daughter of Zion!
Let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!

Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.

PSALM

Ps 74:1b-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21

Response: Forget not the life of your poor forever.

O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your congregation,
which you have purchased of old.

Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
Your foes have roared
in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.

They were like those
who swing axes in a forest of trees.
And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name.

Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land
are full of the habitations of violence.
Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.

GOSPEL

Mt 8:5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion came forward to him,
appealing to him,
“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home,
suffering terribly.”
And he said to him,
“I will come and heal him.”
But the centurion replied,
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof,
but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man under authority,
with soldiers under me.
And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes,
and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes,
and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him,
“Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I tell you, many will come from east and west
and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven,
while the sons of the kingdom
will be thrown into the outer darkness.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
And to the centurion Jesus said,
“Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.”
And the servant was healed at that very moment.

And when Jesus entered Peter’s house,
he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.
He touched her hand, and the fever left her,
and she rose and began to serve him.
That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons,
and he cast out the spirits with a word
and healed all who were sick.
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
“He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Daily Reflection

The book of Lamentations recounts the horror that followed in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is a poetic reflection of the utter and total decimation that Jerusalem underwent at the hands of the Babylonians, and was composed to serve the survivors of the catastrophe simply as an expression of the horror and grief that they felt. People best cope with a calamity not by repressing the grief and shock but by facing it and measuring its dimensions. One such dimension was guilt and Lamentations is a testimony to a people’s search for absolution.

What Lamentations confesses for the people, a centurion confesses of Jesus’ power and authority, whilst acknowledging his own unworthiness to have Jesus enter his house. Suffering and adversity are great tools to draw closer to God.

How do I treat my sufferings... as a burden or as an opportunity for growing in my relationship with God?