Sunday, June 25, 2017
Liturgical Season: 
V The Season of Pentecost
Special Significance: 
III Sunday after Pentecost

Mk 6:4-13

4* c Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” 5So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,* apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. 6He was amazed at their lack of faith.

The Mission of the Twelve. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching. 7d He summoned the Twelve* and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. 8* He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. 9They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. 10* He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. 11Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” 12So they went off and preached repentance. 13* They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sicke and cured them.

Gn 42:18-25

18On the third day Joseph said to them: “Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man. 19If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in this prison, while the rest of you go and take home grain for your starving families. 20But you must bring me your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die.” To this they agreed.f 21To one another, however, they said: “Truly we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen. That is why this anguish has now come upon us.”g 22Then Reuben responded, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do no wrong to the boy’? But you would not listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”h 23They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. 24But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. 25Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one’s sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them,

Jgs 6:1-10

The Call of Gideon. 1The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, who therefore delivered them into the power of Midian for seven years, 2so that Midian held Israel subject. From fear of Midian the Israelites made dens in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds.a 3For it used to be that whenever the Israelites had completed sowing their crops, Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites* would come up, 4encamp against them, and lay waste the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock, and their tents would appear as thick as locusts. They would be too many to count when they came into the land to lay it waste. 6b Israel was reduced to utter poverty by Midian, and so the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

7When Israel cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 8c the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I am the one who brought you up from Egypt; I brought you out of the house of slavery. 9I rescued you from the power of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10And I said to you: I, the LORD, am your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But you did not listen to me.

Dn 6:1-10

1And Darius the Mede* succeeded to the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

The Lions’ Den. 2Darius decided to appoint over his entire kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps. 3These were accountable to three ministers, one of whom was Daniel; the satraps reported to them, so that the king should suffer no loss. 4Daniel outshone all the ministers and satraps because an extraordinary spirit was in him, and the king considered setting him over the entire kingdom. 5Then the ministers and satraps tried to find grounds for accusation against Daniel regarding the kingdom. But they could not accuse him of any corruption. Because he was trustworthy, no fault or corruption was to be found in him. 6Then these men said to themselves, “We shall find no grounds for accusation against this Daniel except in connection with the law of his God.” 7So these ministers and satraps stormed in to the king and said to him, “King Darius, live forever! 8* a All the ministers of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors agree that the following prohibition ought to be put in force by royal decree: for thirty days, whoever makes a petition to anyone, divine or human, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions. 9Now, O king, let the prohibition be issued over your signature, immutable and irrevocable* according to the law of the Medes and Persians.” 10So King Darius signed the prohibition into law.

Ps 79:1-10

1A psalm of Asaph.

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;

they have defiled your holy temple;

they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.a

2They have left the corpses of your servants

as food for the birds of the sky,

the flesh of those devoted to you for the beasts of the earth.b

3They have poured out their blood like water

all around Jerusalem,

and no one is left to do the burying.c

4We have become the reproach of our neighbors,

the scorn and derision of those around us.d

5How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealous anger keep burning like fire?e

6Pour out your wrath on nations that do not recognize you,

on kingdoms that do not call on your name,f

7For they have devoured Jacob,

laid waste his dwelling place.

8Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers;

let your compassion move quickly ahead of us,

for we have been brought very low.g

9Help us, God our savior,

on account of the glory of your name.

Deliver us, pardon our sins

for your name’s sake.h

10Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”i

Before our eyes make known to the nations

that you avenge the blood of your servants which has been poured out.j

Acts 2:37-42

37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?”t 38Peter [said] to them, “Repent and be baptized,* every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit.u 39For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”v 40He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”w 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.x

Communal Life.* 42y They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.z

1 Cor 9:11-18

11If we have sown spiritual seed for you, is it a great thing that we reap a material harvest from you?f 12If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?g

Reason for Not Using His Rights. Yet we have not used this right.* On the contrary, we endure everything so as not to place an obstacle to the gospel of Christ. 13* Do you not know that those who perform the temple services eat [what] belongs to the temple, and those who minister at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?h 14In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.i

15* I have not used any of these rights, however, nor do I write this that it be done so in my case. I would rather die. Certainly no one is going to nullify my boast.j 16If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it!k 17If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.l 18What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.m

Jn 6:35-46

35* Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.q 36But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe.r 37Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, 38because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.s 39And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.t 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.”u

41The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”v 43Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring* among yourselves.w 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets:

‘They shall all be taught by God.’

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.x 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.y