January 8: Daily Readings & Quotes

However great may be the temptation, if we know how to use the weapon of prayer well we shall come off conquerors at last, for prayer is more powerful than all the devils.

- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Today's readings are:

Genesis Chapters 16-18

Mark 3:1-12

1

¹ Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

2

Sarai said to Abram: "The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her." Abram heeded Sarai's request.

3

Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his concubine.

4

He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. When she became aware of her pregnancy, she looked on her mistress with disdain.

5

So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the LORD decide between you and me!"

6

Abram told Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you please." Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.

7

² The LORD'S messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,

8

and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai."

9

But the LORD'S messenger told her: "Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment.

10

I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD'S messenger, "that they will be too many to count.

11

³ Besides," the LORD'S messenger said to her: "You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heard you, God has answered you.

12

He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In opposition to all his kin shall he encamp."

13

⁴ To the LORD who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, "You are the God of Vision"; she meant, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after my vision?"

14

⁵ That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

15

Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.

16

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

1

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.

2

Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly."

3

When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him:

4

"My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.

5

² No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations.

6

I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you.

7

I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

8

I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."

9

God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.

10

This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.

11

Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.

12

Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your blood.

13

Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting pact.

14

If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

15

³ God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah.

16

I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."

17

⁴ Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?"

18

Then Abraham said to God, "Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!"

19

God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.

20

As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.

21

But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year."

22

When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.

23

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or acquired with his money--every male among the members of Abraham's household--and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do.

24

Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,

25

and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.

26

Thus, on that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised;

27

and all the male members of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

1

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.

2

Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground,

3

¹ he said: "Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant.

4

Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree.

5

Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way." "Very well," they replied, "do as you have said."

6

² Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls."

7

He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.

8

³ Then he got some curds and milk, as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.

9

"Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There in the tent," he replied.

10

⁴ One of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him.

11

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having her womanly periods.

12

⁵ So Sarah laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am so withered and my husband is so old, am I still to have sexual pleasure?"

13

But the LORD said to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?'

14

Is anything too marvelous for the LORD to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son."

15

Because she was afraid, Sarah dissembled, saying, "I didn't laugh." But he said, "Yes you did."

16

The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom; Abraham was walking with them, to see them on their way.

17

The LORD reflected: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,

18

now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?

19

Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD may carry into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him."

20

⁶ Then the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave,

21

that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out."

22

While the two men walked on farther toward Sodom, the LORD remained standing before Abraham.

23

Then Abraham drew nearer to him and said: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?

24

Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?

25

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"

26

The LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

27

Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!

28

What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "if I find forty-five there."

29

But Abraham persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it for the sake of the forty."

30

Then he said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there."

31

Still he went on, "Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "for the sake of the twenty."

32

But he still persisted: "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?" "For the sake of those ten," he replied, "I will not destroy it."

33

The LORD departed as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.

1

¹ Again he entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand.

2

They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him.

3

He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us."

4

Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent.

5

Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored.

6

² The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

7

³ Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people (followed) from Galilee and from Judea.

8

Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.

9

He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him.

10

He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.

11

⁴ And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, "You are the Son of God."

12

He warned them sternly not to make him known.