Tuesday, February 10
Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
First Reading – 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing mercy to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day; that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer which your servant offers toward this place. And hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; yes, hear in heaven your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive."
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11
℟ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
℟ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!
℟ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Blessed are the men whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
℟ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.
℟ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Alleluia – Psalm 119:36, 29
℟ Alleluia!
Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to gain!
Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me your law!
℟ Alleluia!
Gospel – Mark 7:1-13
Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God) – then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”
Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, Ignatius Press, Copyright ⓒ 2006.
