Catholic daily readings

Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Saturday, August 8, 2026 · Ordinary Time - Week 18

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

Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

Aren't you from everlasting, LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. LORD, you have appointed them for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them? He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious and his food is good. Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy? I will stand at my watch and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. The LORD answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it, because it will surely come. It won't delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13

He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness. The LORD will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble. Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done. For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted. Have mercy on me, LORD. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death,

Gospel

Matthew 17:14-20

When they came to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him." Jesus answered, "Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me." Jesus rebuked the demon, and it went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, "Why weren't we able to cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

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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