The readings meet you in the ordinary place where faith is practiced. Stay with what Jesus says or does here, and let it ask for one honest response.
Today’s readings
First Reading
Jeremiah 20:10-13
For I have heard the defaming of many: "Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!" say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. "Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him." But the LORD is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won't prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten. But the LORD of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you. Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's children. For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. Deliver me out of the mire, and don't let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Don't hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily! For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn't despise his captive people. Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein! For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.
Second Reading
Romans 5:12-15
Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren't like Adam's disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. But the free gift isn't like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
Gospel
Matthew 10:26-33
Therefore don't be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. "Aren't two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.
A question for your journal
Where might God be asking for one honest, unhurried response?
Scripture text: World English Bible Catholic Edition, public domain. Reading citations are prepared for Come Aside from MIT-licensed citation metadata.
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