Sunday, July 10, 2016
Liturgical Season: 
V The Season of Pentecost
Special Significance: 
VIII Sunday after Pentecost

Mt 12:43-45

The Return of the Unclean Spirit.* 43w “When an unclean spirit goes out of a person it roams through arid regions searching for rest but finds none. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order. 45Then it goes and brings back with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and dwell there; and the last condition of that person is worse than the first. Thus it will be with this evil generation.”

Lv 26:3-13

3* c If you live in accordance with my statutes and are careful to observe my commandments, 4I will give you your rains in due season, so that the land will yield its crops, and the trees their fruit;d 5your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will eat your fill of food, and live securely in your land.e 6I will establish peace in the land, and you will lie down to rest with no one to cause you anxiety. I will rid the country of ravenous beasts, and no sword shall sweep across your land. 7You will rout your enemies, and they shall fall before your sword. 8Five of you will put a hundred of your foes to flight, and a hundred of you will put to flight ten thousand, till your enemies fall before your sword.f 9I will look with favor upon you, and make you fruitful and numerous,g as I carry out my covenant with you. 10You shall eat the oldest stored harvest, and have to discard it to make room for the new.h 11i I will set my tabernacle in your midst, and will not loathe you. 12Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will be my people; 13I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be their slaves no more, breaking the bars of your yoke and making you walk erect.j

2 Sm 2:1-7

David Is Anointed King. 1After this, David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?” The LORD replied to him: Go up. Then David asked, “Where shall I go?” He replied: To Hebron. 2So David went up there, with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel.a 3David also brought up his men with their families, and they dwelt in the towns of Hebron. 4Then the men of Judah came there and anointed David king over the house of Judah.

A report reached David that the people of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul.b 5So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh-gilead and said to them: “May you be blessed by the LORD for having done this kindness to your lord Saul in burying him. 6And now may the LORD show you kindness and fidelity. For my part, I will show generosity to you for having done this. 7So take courage and prove yourselves valiant, for though your lord Saul is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ps 89:1-5

1A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

2I will sing of your mercy forever, LORDa

proclaim your faithfulness through all ages.

3*For I said, “My mercy is established forever;

my faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.

4I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have sworn to David my servant:

5I will make your dynasty stand forever

and establish your throne through all ages.”b

Selah

Is 57:14-21

14And I say:

Build up, build up, prepare the way,

remove every obstacle from my people’s way.* d

15* For thus says the high and lofty One,

the One who dwells forever, whose name is holy:

I dwell in a high and holy place,

but also with the contrite and lowly of spirit,

To revive the spirit of the lowly,

to revive the heart of the crushed.

16For I will not accuse forever,

nor always be angry;

For without me their spirit fails,

the life breath that I have given.e

17Because of their wicked avarice I grew angry;

I struck them, hiding myself from them in wrath.

But they turned back, following the way

of their own heart.f

18I saw their ways,

but I will heal them.

I will lead them and restore full comfort to them

and to those who mourn for them,g

19creating words of comfort.*

Peace! Peace to those who are far and near,

says the LORD; and I will heal them.

20But the wicked are like the tossing sea

which cannot be still,

Its waters cast up mire and mud.h

21There is no peace for the wicked!

says my God.i

Acts 4:23-31

Prayer of the Community. 23After their release they went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them. 24And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, 25you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant:

‘Why did the Gentiles rageg

and the peoples entertain folly?

26The kings of the earth took their stand

and the princes gathered together

against the Lord and against his anointed.’

27Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod* and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,h 28to do what your hand and [your] will had long ago planned to take place. 29And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30as you stretch forth [your] hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31* As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.i

1 Cor 7:1-7

Advice to the Married.* 1Now in regard to the matters about which you wrote: “It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman,”* 2but because of cases of immorality every man should have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his duty toward his wife, and likewise the wife toward her husband. 4A wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather her husband, and similarly a husband does not have authority over his own body, but rather his wife. 5Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control. 6This I say by way of concession,* however, not as a command. 7Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God,* one of one kind and one of another.a

Mt 19:1-12

Marriage and Divorce. 1* When Jesus* finished these words,* he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan. 2Great crowds followed him, and he cured them there. 3a Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him,* saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” 4* b He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ 5c and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” 7* d They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss [her]?” 8He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9e I say to you,* whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” 10[His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word,* but only those to whom that is granted. 12Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage* for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”