January 17: Daily Readings & Quote

St. Anthony the Great

 

 If we do good to our neighbor, we do good to God; if we cause or neighbor to stumble, we sin against Christ.

-St. Anthony the Great

 

 

 

 

Today's readings are:

Genesis 40-42

Mark 6:30-56

1

Some time afterward, the royal cupbearer and baker gave offense to their lord, the king of Egypt.

2

Pharaoh was angry with his two courtiers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

3

and he put them in custody in the house of the chief steward (the same jail where Joseph was confined).

4

The chief steward assigned Joseph to them, and he became their attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,

5

the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the jail both had dreams on the same night, each dream with its own meaning.

6

When Joseph came to them in the morning, he noticed that they looked disturbed.

7

So he asked Pharaoh's courtiers who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why do you look so sad today?"

8

They answered him, "We have had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them for us." Joseph said to them, "Surely, interpretations come from God. Please tell the dreams to me."

9

Then the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. "In my dream," he said, "I saw a vine in front of me,

10

and on the vine were three branches. It had barely budded when its blossoms came out, and its clusters ripened into grapes.

11

Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes, pressed them out into his cup, and put it in Pharaoh's hand."

12

Joseph said to him: "This is what it means. The three branches are three days;

13

¹ within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your post. You will be handing Pharaoh his cup as you formerly used to do when you were his cupbearer.

14

So if you will still remember, when all is well with you, that I was here with you, please do me the favor of mentioning me to Pharaoh, to get me out of this place.

15

The truth is that I was kidnaped from the land of the Hebrews, and here I have not done anything for which I should have been put into a dungeon."

16

When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given this favorable interpretation, he said to him: "I too had a dream. In it I had three wicker baskets on my head;

17

in the top one were all kinds of bakery products for Pharaoh, but the birds were pecking at them out of the basket on my head."

18

Joseph said to him in reply: "This is what it means. The three baskets are three days;

19

within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and have you impaled on a stake, and the birds will be pecking the flesh from your body."

20

And in fact, on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, when he gave a banquet to all his staff, with his courtiers around him, he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and chief baker.

21

He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, so that he again handed the cup to Pharaoh;

22

but the chief baker he impaled-just as Joseph had told them in his interpretation.

23

Yet the chief cupbearer gave no thought to Joseph; he had forgotten him.

1

After a lapse of two years, Pharaoh had a dream. He saw himself standing by the Nile,

2

when up out of the Nile came seven cows, handsome and fat; they grazed in the reed grass.

3

Behind them seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile; and standing on the bank of the Nile beside the others,

4

the ugly, gaunt cows ate up the seven handsome, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

5

He fell asleep again and had another dream. He saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk.

6

Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, thin and blasted by the east wind;

7

and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven fat, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up, to find it was only a dream.

8

Next morning his spirit was agitated. So he summoned all the magicians and sages of Egypt and recounted his dreams to them; but no one could interpret his dreams for him.

9

Then the chief cupbearer spoke up and said to Pharaoh: "On this occasion I am reminded of my negligence.

10

Once, when Pharaoh was angry, he put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the chief steward.

11

Later, we both had dreams on the same night, and each of our dreams had its own meaning.

12

There with us was a Hebrew youth, a slave of the chief steward; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us and explained for each of us the meaning of his dream.

13

And it turned out just as he had told us: I was restored to my post, but the other man was impaled."

14

Pharaoh therefore had Joseph summoned, and they hurriedly brought him from the dungeon. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he came into Pharaoh's presence.

15

Pharaoh then said to him: "I had certain dreams that no one can interpret. But I hear it said of you that the moment you are told a dream you can interpret it."

16

"It is not I," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God who will give Pharaoh the right answer."

17

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: "In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

18

when up from the Nile came seven cows, fat and well-formed; they grazed in the reed grass.

19

Behind them came seven other cows, scrawny, most ill-formed and gaunt. Never have I seen such ugly specimens as these in all the land of Egypt!

20

The gaunt, ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows.

21

But when they had consumed them, no one could tell that they had done so, because they looked as ugly as before. Then I woke up.

22

In another dream I saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk.

23

Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, shriveled and thin and blasted by the east wind;

24

and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy ears. I have spoken to the magicians, but none of them can give me an explanation."

25

Joseph said to Pharaoh: "Both of Pharaoh's dreams have the same meaning. God has thus foretold to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

26

The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years--the same in each dream.

27

So also, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven thin, wind-blasted ears; they are seven years of famine.

28

It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

29

Seven years of great abundance are now coming throughout the land of Egypt;

30

but these will be followed by seven years of famine, when all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. When the famine has ravaged the land,

31

no trace of the abundance will be found in the land because of the famine that follows it--so utterly severe will that famine be.

32

That Pharaoh had the same dream twice means that the matter has been reaffirmed by God and that God will soon bring it about.

33

"Therefore, let Pharaoh seek out a wise and discerning man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

34

Pharaoh should also take action to appoint overseers, so as to regiment the land during the seven years of abundance.

35

They should husband all the food of the coming good years, collecting the grain under Pharaoh's authority, to be stored in the towns for food.

36

This food will serve as a reserve for the country against the seven years of famine that are to follow in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine."

37

This advice pleased Pharaoh and all his officials.

38

"Could we find another like him," Pharaoh asked his officials, "a man so endowed with the spirit of God?"

39

So Pharaoh said to Joseph: "Since God has made all this known to you, no one can be as wise and discerning as you are.

40

You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people shall dart at your command. Only in respect to the throne shall I outrank you.

41

Herewith," Pharaoh told Joseph, "I place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

42

¹ With that, Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He had him dressed in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.

43

² He then had him ride in the chariot of his vizier, and they shouted "Abrek!" before him. Thus was Joseph installed over the whole land of Egypt.

44

"I, Pharaoh, proclaim," he told Joseph, "that without your approval no one shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."

45

³ Pharaoh also bestowed the name of Zaphnath-paneah on Joseph, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.

46

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. After Joseph left Pharaoh's presence, he traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

47

During the seven years of plenty, when the land produced abundant crops,

48

he husbanded all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the towns, placing in each town the crops of the fields around it.

49

Joseph garnered grain in quantities like the sands of the sea, so vast that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

50

Before the famine years set in, Joseph became the father of two sons, borne to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.

51

⁴ He named his first-born Manasseh, meaning, "God has made me forget entirely the sufferings I endured at the hands of my family";

52

⁵ and the second he named Ephraim, meaning, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

53

When the seven years of abundance enjoyed by the land of Egypt came to an end,

54

the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had predicted. Although there was famine in all the other countries, food was available throughout the land of Egypt.

55

When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them.

56

When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.

57

In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.

1

When Jacob learned that grain rations were available in Egypt, he said to his sons: "Why do you keep gaping at one another?

2

I hear," he went on, "that rations of grain are available in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive rather than die of hunger."

3

So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy an emergency supply of grain from Egypt.

4

It was only Joseph's full brother Benjamin that Jacob did not send with the rest, for he thought some disaster might befall him.

5

Thus, since there was famine in the land of Canaan also, the sons of Israel were among those who came to procure rations.

6

It was Joseph, as governor of the country, who dispensed the rations to all the people. When Joseph's brothers came and knelt down before him with their faces to the ground,

7

he recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke sternly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked them. They answered, "From the land of Canaan, to procure food."

8

When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him,

9

¹ he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: "You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

10

"No, my lord," they replied. "On the contrary, your servants have come to procure food.

11

All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies."

12

But he answered them: "Not so! You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

13

"We your servants," they said, "were twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is gone."

14

"It is just as I said," Joseph persisted; "you are spies.

15

This is how you shall be tested: unless your youngest brother comes here, I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here.

16

So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus shall your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

17

With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.

18

On the third day Joseph said to them: "Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man.

19

If you have been honest, only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison, while the rest of you may go and take home provisions for your starving families.

20

But you must come back to me with your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die." To this they agreed.

21

To one another, however, they said: "Alas, we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed; that is why this anguish has now come upon us."

22

"Didn't I tell you," broke in Reuben, "not to do wrong to the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood."

23

They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter.

24

But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.

25

Then 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,

26

they loaded their donkeys with the rations and departed.

27

² At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he was surprised to see his money in the mouth of his bag.

28

"My money has been returned!" he cried out to his brothers. "Here it is in my bag!" At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, "What is this that God has done to us?"

29

When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them.

30

"The man who is lord of the country," they said, "spoke to us sternly and put us in custody as if we were spying on the land.

31

But we said to him: 'We are honest men; we have never been spies.

32

There were twelve of us brothers, sons of the same father; but one is gone, and the youngest one is at present with our father in the land of Canaan.'

33

Then the man who is lord of the country said to us: 'This is how I shall know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, while the rest of you go home with rations for your starving families.

34

When you come back to me with your youngest brother, and I know that you are honest men and not spies, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.'"

35

When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one's sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were dismayed.

36

Their father Jacob said to them: "Must you make me childless? Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take away Benjamin! Why must such things always happen to me?"

37

Then Reuben told his father: "Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you. You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you."

38

But Jacob replied: "My son shall not go down with you. Now that his full brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to the nether world in grief."

30

The apostles ¹⁴ gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.

31

¹⁵ He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.

32

So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

33

People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.

34

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

35

¹⁶ By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it is already very late.

36

Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37

He said to them in reply, "Give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Are we to buy two hundred days' wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?"

38

He asked them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out they said, "Five loaves and two fish."

39

So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.

40

¹⁷ The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.

41

Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to (his) disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. ¹⁸

42

They all ate and were satisfied.

43

And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish.

44

Those who ate (of the loaves) were five thousand men.

45

¹⁹ Then he made his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida, ²⁰ while he dismissed the crowd.

46

²¹ And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray.

47

When it was evening, the boat was far out on the sea and he was alone on shore.

48

Then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. ²² He meant to pass by them.

49

But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out.

50

²³ They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!"

51

He got into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were (completely) astounded.

52

They had not understood the incident of the loaves. ²⁴ On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.

53

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there.

54

As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.

55

They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

56

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.