January 23: Daily Readings & Quote

St. John the Almoner 

If we are able to enter the church day and night and implore God to hear our prayers' how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our neighbor in need.

 

 

-St. John the Almoner

 

 

 

 

 Today's readings are:

Exodus 6:28-8:28

Mark 9:14-29

 

 28

On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt

29

he said, "I am the LORD. Repeat to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I tell you."

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But Moses protested to the LORD, "Since I am a poor speaker, how can it be that Pharaoh will listen to me?"

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¹ The LORD answered him, "See! I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall act as your prophet.

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You shall tell him all that I command you. In turn, your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave his land.

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Yet I will make Pharaoh so obstinate that, despite the many signs and wonders that I will work in the land of Egypt,

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he will not listen to you. Therefore I will lay my hand on Egypt and by great acts of judgment I will bring the hosts of my people, the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt,

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so that the Egyptians may learn that I am the LORD, as I stretch out my hand against Egypt and lead the Israelites out of their midst."

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Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded them.

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Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

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The LORD told Moses and Aaron,

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"If Pharaoh demands that you work a sign or wonder, you shall say to Aaron: Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will be changed into a snake."

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Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it was changed into a snake.

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Pharaoh, in turn, summoned wise men and sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did likewise by their magic arts.

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Each one threw down his staff, and it was changed into a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs.

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Pharaoh, however, was obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.

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² Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh is obdurate in refusing to let the people go.

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Tomorrow morning, when he sets out for the water, go and present yourself by the river bank, holding in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.

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Say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with the message: Let my people go to worship me in the desert. But as yet you have not listened.

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The LORD now says: This is how you shall know that I am the LORD. I will strike the water of the river with the staff I hold, and it shall be changed into blood.

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The fish in the river shall die, and the river itself shall become so polluted that the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water."

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The LORD then said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt--their streams and canals and pools, all their supplies of water--that they may become blood. Throughout the land of Egypt there shall be blood, even in the wooden pails and stone jars."

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Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters of the river in full view of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water of the river was changed into blood.

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The fish in the river died, and the river itself became so polluted that the Egyptians could not drink its water. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

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But the Egyptian magicians did the same by their magic arts. So Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had foretold.

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He turned away and went into his house, with no concern even for this.

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All the Egyptians had to dig in the neighborhood of the river for drinking water, since they could not drink the river water.

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Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the river.

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³ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him: Thus says the LORD: Let my people go to worship me.

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If you refuse to let them go, I warn you, I will send a plague of frogs over all your territory.

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The river will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and into your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your servants, too, and your subjects, even into your ovens and your kneading bowls.

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The frogs will swarm all over you and your subjects and your servants."

1

The LORD then told Moses, "Say to Aaron: Stretch out your hand and your staff over the streams and canals and pools, to make frogs overrun the land of Egypt."

2

Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

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But the magicians did the same by their magic arts. They, too, made frogs overrun the land of Egypt.

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Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray the LORD to remove the frogs from me and my subjects, and I will let the people go to offer sacrifice to the LORD."

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Moses answered Pharaoh, "Do me the favor of appointing the time when I am to pray for you and your servants and your subjects, that the frogs may be taken away from you and your houses and be left only in the river."

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"Tomorrow," said Pharaoh. Then Moses replied, "It shall be as you have said, so that you may learn that there is none like the LORD, our God.

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The frogs shall leave you and your houses, your servants and your subjects; only in the river shall they be left."

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After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh's presence, Moses implored the LORD to fulfill the promise he had made to Pharaoh about the frogs;

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¹ and the LORD did as Moses had asked. The frogs in the houses and courtyards and fields died off.

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Heaps and heaps of them were gathered up, and there was a stench in the land.

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But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he became obdurate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.

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² Thereupon the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may be turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt."

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They did so. Aaron stretched out his hand, and with his staff he struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came upon man and beast. The dust of the earth was turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

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Though the magicians tried to bring forth gnats by their magic arts, they could not do so. As the gnats infested man and beast,

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³ the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." Yet Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.

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Again the LORD told Moses, "Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh when he goes forth to the water, and say to him: Thus says the LORD: Let my people go to worship me.

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If you will not let my people go, I warn you, I will loose swarms of flies upon you and your servants and your subjects and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and the very ground on which they stand shall be filled with swarms of flies.

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But on that day I will make an exception of the land of Goshen: there shall be no flies where my people dwell, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.

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I will make this distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall take place tomorrow."

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This the LORD did. Thick swarms of flies entered the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants; throughout Egypt the land was infested with flies.

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Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "Go and offer sacrifice to your God in this land."

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⁴ But Moses replied, "It is not right to do so, for the sacrifices we offer to the LORD, our God, are an abomination to the Egyptians. If before their very eyes we offer sacrifices which are an abomination to them, will not the Egyptians stone us?

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We must go a three days' journey in the desert to offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God, as he commands us."

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"Well, then," said Pharaoh, "I will let you go to offer sacrifice to the LORD, your God, in the desert, provided that you do not go too far away and that you pray for me."

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Moses answered, "As soon as I leave your presence I will pray to the LORD that the flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh and his servants and his subjects. Pharaoh, however, must not play false again by refusing to let the people go to offer sacrifice to the LORD."

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When Moses left Pharaoh's presence, he prayed to the LORD;

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and the LORD did as Moses had asked. He removed the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and subjects. Not one remained.

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But once more Pharaoh became obdurate and would not let the people go.

14

⁶ When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.

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Immediately on seeing him, the whole crowd was utterly amazed. They ran up to him and greeted him.

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He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"

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Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.

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Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so."

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He said to them in reply, "O faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him to me."

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They brought the boy to him. And when he saw him, the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions. As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around and foam at the mouth.

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Then he questioned his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He replied, "Since childhood.

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It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."

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Jesus said to him, " 'If you can!' Everything is possible to one who has faith."

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Then the boy's father cried out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!"

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Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, "Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again!"

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Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out. He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, "He is dead!"

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But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

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When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private, "Why could we not drive it out?"

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⁷ He said to them, "This kind can only come out through prayer."