Daily Reading

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 wear
and 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 have works.”
Demonstrate your faith to me without works,
and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
You believe that God is one. 
You do well.
Even the demons believe that and tremble.
Do you want proof, you ignoramus,
that faith without works is useless?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
You see that faith was active along with his works,
and faith was completed by the works.
Thus the Scripture was fulfilled that says,
Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God.
See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
For just as a body without a spirit is dead,
so also faith without works is dead.

R.        (see 1b)  Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
            who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
            the upright generation shall be blessed. 
R.        Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house;
            his generosity shall endure forever.
Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
            he is gracious and merciful and just. 
R.        Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
            who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
            the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance. 
R.        Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.

R.        Alleluia, alleluia.
I call you my friends, says the Lord,
for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.
R.        Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
in this faithless and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of
when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

He also said to them,
“Amen, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death
until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”

My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as 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 clothes
and say, “Sit here, please,”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” 
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?

Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?
But you dishonored the poor.
Are not the rich oppressing you?
And do they themselves not haul you off to court?
Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?
However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
But if you show partiality, you commit sin,
and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 

R.        (7a) The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
            his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
            the lowly will hear me and be glad. 
R.        The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Glorify the LORD with me,
            let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
            and delivered me from all my fears. 
R.        The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
            and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
            and from all his distress he saved him.
R.        The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

R.        Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R.        Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” 

Know this, my dear brothers and sisters:
everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger
for anger does not accomplish
the righteousness of God.
Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess
and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and 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 sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets
what he looked like.
But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres,
and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts;
such a one shall be blessed in what he does.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue
but deceives his heart, his religion is vain.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

R.        (1b)  Who shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord?
He who walks blamelessly and does justice;
            who thinks the truth in his heart
            and slanders not with his tongue. 
R.        Who shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord?
Who harms not his fellow man,
            nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
By whom the reprobate is despised,
            while he honors those who fear the Lord. 
R.        Who shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord?
Who lends not his money at usury
            and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
            shall never be disturbed. 
R.        Who shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord?

R.        Alleluia, alleluia.
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to his call.
R.        Alleluia, alleluia.

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”

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 sisters:
all good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
He willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

R.        (12a) Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
Blessed the man whom you instruct, O LORD,
            whom by your law you teach,
Giving him rest from evil days. 
R.        Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
            nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
            and all the upright of heart shall follow it. 
R.        Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
When I say, “My foot is slipping,
            your mercy, O LORD, sustains me;
When cares abound within me,
            your comfort gladdens my soul. 
R.        Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord;
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.” 
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
 

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 who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed about by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.

The brother in lowly circumstances  
should take pride in high standing,
and the rich one in his lowliness,  
for he will pass away “like the flower of the field.”
For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass,
its flower droops, and the beauty of its appearance vanishes.
So will the rich person fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

R.        (77a)  Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
            but now I hold to your promise. 
R.        Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.
You are good and bountiful;
            teach me your statutes. 
R.        Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
            that I may learn your statutes. 
R.        Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
            than thousands of gold and silver pieces. 
R.        Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.
I know, O LORD, that your ordinances are just,
            and in your faithfulness you have afflicted me. 
R.        Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.
Let your kindness comfort me
            according to your promise to your servants. 
R.        Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.