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
Sirach 6:5-17
Sweet words will multiply a man's friends. A gracious tongue will multiply courtesies. Let those that are at peace with you be many, but your advisers one of a thousand. If you want to gain a friend, get him in a time of testing, and don't be in a hurry to trust him. For there is a friend just for an occasion. He won't continue in the day of your affliction. And there is a friend who turns into an enemy. He will discover strife to your reproach. And there is a friend who is a companion at the table, but he won't continue in the day of your affliction. In your prosperity he will be as yourself, and will be bold over your servants. If you are brought low, he will be against you, and will hide himself from your face. Separate yourself from your enemies, and beware of your friends. A faithful friend is a strong defense. He who has found him has found a treasure. There is nothing that can be taken in exchange for a faithful friend. His excellency is beyond price. A faithful friend is a life-saving medicine. Those who fear the Lord will find him. He who fears the Lord directs his friendship properly; for as he is, so is his neighbor also.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34, 35
Blessed are you, LORD. Teach me your statutes. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. GIMEL Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law. Let me understand the teaching of your precepts! Then I will meditate on your wondrous works. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart. Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.
Gospel
Mark 10:1-12
He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them. Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
A question for your journal
What line from today's readings do you want to carry into one ordinary hour?
Scripture text: World English Bible Catholic Edition, public domain. Reading citations are prepared for Come Aside from MIT-licensed citation metadata.
Pray with the day
Keep the day with you.
Come Aside brings the daily readings, a short reflection, and a place to respond into one quiet rhythm on iPhone. Or receive the day by email after you confirm from your inbox.
