Readings: Friday, July 20, 2012

First Reading

 

First Reading: Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8

When Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz,
came and said to him: “Thus says the LORD: Put your house in
order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah
turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
“O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I
conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing
to you!” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: “Go, tell
Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David:
I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you:
in three days you shall go up to the LORD’s temple; I will add
fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from
the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city.”
Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied
to the boil, that he might recover. Then Hezekiah asked,
“What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?”
Isaiah answered: “This will be the sign for you from the
LORD that he will do what he has promised: See, I will make
the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of
Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced.” So the sun came
back the ten steps it had advanced.

Responsorial Psalm

 

Responsorial Psalm: Is 38:10,11,12,16

R./ You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

Once I said,
“In the noontime of life I must depart!
To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned
for the rest of my years.”
R./ You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

I said, “I shall see the LORD no more
in the land of the living.
No longer shall I behold my fellow men
among those who dwell in the world.”
R./ You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent,
is struck down and borne away from me;
You have folded up my life, like a weaver
who severs the last thread.
R./ You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

Those live whom the LORD protects;
yours is the life of my spirit.
You have given me health and life.
R./ You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

Holy Gospel

 

Gospel Reading: Matthew 12:1-8

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. 
His disciples were hungry 
          and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. 
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, 
          "See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath." 
He said to the them, "Have you not read what David did 
          when he and his companions were hungry, 
          how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, 
          which neither he nor his companions 
          but only the priests could lawfully eat? 
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath 
          the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath 
          and are innocent? 
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. 
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, 
          you would not have condemned these innocent men. 
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."