January 4: Daily Readings & Quotes

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

The little daily lesson:

to keep soberly and quietly in His presence, trying to turn every little action on His will, and to praise and love through cloud and sunshine---this is all my care and study.

- St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today's readings are:

Genesis Chapters 7-8

Mark 1:40-45

1

Then the LORD said to Noah: "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.

2

Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate;

3

likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female. Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.

4

Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made."

5

Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him.

6

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters came upon the earth.

7

Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.

8

Of the clean animals and the unclean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,

9

(two by two) male and female entered the ark with Noah, just as the LORD had commanded him.

10

As soon as the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

11

¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: it was on that day that All the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

12

For forty days and forty nights heavy rain poured down on the earth.

13

On the precise day named, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of Noah's sons had entered the ark,

14

together with every kind of wild beast, every kind of domestic animal, every kind of creeping thing of the earth, and every kind of bird.

15

Pairs of all creatures in which there was the breath of life entered the ark with Noah.

16

Those that entered were male and female, and of all species they came, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

17

The flood continued upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth.

18

The swelling waters increased greatly, but the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

19

Higher and higher above the earth rose the waters, until all the highest mountains everywhere were submerged,

20

the crest rising fifteen cubits higher than the submerged mountains.

21

All creatures that stirred on earth perished: birds, cattle, wild animals, and all that swarmed on the earth, as well as all mankind.

22

Everything on dry land with the faintest breath of life in its nostrils died out.

23

The LORD wiped out every living thing on earth: man and cattle, the creeping things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.

24

The waters maintained their crest over the earth for one hundred and fifty days,

1

and then God remembered Noah and all the animals, wild and tame, that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind sweep over the earth, and the waters began to subside.

2

The fountains of the abyss and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the downpour from the sky was held back.

3

Gradually the waters receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days, the waters had so diminished

4

¹ that, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

5

The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.

6

² At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,

7

and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.

8

Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.

9

But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark.

10

He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark.

11

In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth.

12

He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back.

13

In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.

14

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15

Then God said to Noah:

16

"Go out of the ark, together with your wife and your sons and your sons' wives.

17

Bring out with you every living thing that is with you--all bodily creatures, be they birds or animals or creeping things of the earth-and let them abound on the earth, breeding and multiplying on it."

18

So Noah came out, together with his wife and his sons and his sons' wives;

19

and all the animals, wild and tame, all the birds, and all the creeping creatures of the earth left the ark, one kind after another.

20

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar.

21

³ When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself: "Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man's heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.

22

As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

40

A leper ¹⁴ came to him (and kneeling down) begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean."

41

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean."

42

The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.

43

Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.

44

Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."

45

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.