January 7: Daily Readings & Quote

St. Raymond of Penafort

How do we distinguish the fasting of our God and King from the fasting of that tyrant devil? Clearly by its moderation. Everything that is extreme is destructive.

-St. Syncletica

Today's readings are:

Genesis Chapters 13-15

Mark 2:18-28

1

From Egypt Abram went up to the Negeb with his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot accompanied him.

2

Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

3

From the Negeb he traveled by stages toward Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly stood,

4

the site where he had first built the altar; and there he invoked the LORD by name.

5

Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,

6

so that the land could not support them if they stayed together; their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

7

There were quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's. (At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were occupying the land.)

8

So Abram said to Lot: "Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen.

9

Is not the whole land at your disposal? Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left."

10

Lot looked about and saw how well watered the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar, like the LORD'S own garden, or like Egypt. (This was before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

11

Lot, therefore, chose for himself the whole Jordan Plain and set out eastward. Thus they separated from each other;

12

Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near Sodom.

13

Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in the sins they committed against the LORD.

14

After Lot had left, the LORD said to Abram: "Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south, east and west;

15

all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.

16

I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too might be counted.

17

Set forth and walk about in the land, through its length and breadth, for to you I will give it."

18

Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built an altar to the LORD.

1

¹ In the days of. . . , Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim

2

made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

3

² All the latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

4

For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5

³ In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

6

and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as Elparan, close by the wilderness.

7

They then turned back and came to Enmishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they subdued the whole country both of the Amalekites and of the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

8

Thereupon the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out, and in the Valley of Siddim they went into battle against them:

9

against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar-four kings against five.

10

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these, while the rest fled to the mountains.

11

The victors seized all the possessions and food supplies of Sodom and Gomorrah and then went their way,

12

taking with them Abram's nephew Lot, who had been living in Sodom, as well as his possessions.

13

⁴ A fugitive came and brought the news to Abram the Hebrew, who was camping at the terebinth of Mamre the Amorite, a kinsman of Eshcol and Aner; these were in league with Abram.

14

When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he mustered three hundred and eighteen of his retainers, born in his house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

15

He and his party deployed against them at night, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

16

He recovered all the possessions, besides bringing back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, along with the women and the other captives.

17

When Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and the kings who were allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

18

⁵ Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:

19

⁶ Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth;

20

⁷ And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

21

The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people; the goods you may keep."

22

⁸ But Abram replied to the king of Sodom: "I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth,

23

that I would not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap from anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I made Abram rich.'

24

Nothing for me except what my servants have used up and the share that is due to the men who joined me--Aner, Eshcol and Mamre; let them take their share."

1

Some time after these events, this word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great."

2

But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"

3

Abram continued, "See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."

4

Then the word of the LORD came to him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir."

5

He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."

6

¹ Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

7

He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession."

8

"O Lord GOD," he asked, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?"

9

² He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."

10

He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.

11

Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them.

12

As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

13

Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

14

But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.

15

You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.

16

³ In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."

17

⁴ When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.

18

⁵ It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates),

19

the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

20

the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

21

the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

18

¹² The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

19

Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast ¹³ while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

20

But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

21

No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.

22

Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."

23

¹⁴ As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.

24

At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?"

25

He said to them, "Have you never read what David did ¹⁵ when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?

26

How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?"

27

Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, ¹⁶ not man for the sabbath.

28

¹⁷ That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."