Daily Readings

Deuteronomy 26: 16- 19

26:16 Today the Lord your God has instructed you to carry out these commandments and judgments, and to keep and fulfill them, with all your heart and with all your soul.

26:17 Today, you have chosen the Lord to be your God, so that you may walk in his ways, and keep his ceremonies and commandments and judgments, and obey his command.

26:18 Today, the Lord has chosen you, so that you may be his particular people, just as he has spoken to you, and so that you may keep all his precepts,

26:19 and so that he may cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which he has created, for the sake of his own praise and name and glory, in order that you may be a holy people for the Lord your God, just as he has spoken.”

Matthew 5: 43- 48

5:43	You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and you shall have hatred for your enemy.’
5:44	But I say to you: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who persecute and slander you.
5:45	In this way, you shall be sons of your Father, who is in heaven. He causes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and he causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust.
5:46	For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even tax collectors behave this way?
5:47	And if you greet only your brothers, what more have you done? Do not even the pagans behave this way?
5:48	Therefore, be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Ezekiel 18: 21- 28

18:21	But if the impious man does penance for all his sins which he has committed, and if he keeps all my precepts, and accomplishes judgment and justice, then he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.
18:22	I will not remember all his iniquities, which he has worked; by his justice, which he has worked, he shall live.
18:23	How could it be my will that an impious man should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways and live?
18:24	But if a just man turns himself away from his justice, and does iniquity in accord with all the abominations that the impious man so often does, why should he live? All his justices, which he has accomplished, shall not be remembered. By the transgression, in which he has transgressed, and by his sin, in which he has sinned, by these he shall die.
18:25	And you have said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Therefore, listen, O house of Israel. How could it be that my way is not fair? And is it not instead your ways that are perverse?
18:26	For when the just man turns himself away from his justice, and commits iniquity, he shall die by this; by the injustice that he has worked, he shall die.
18:27	And when the impious man turns himself away from his impiety, which he has done, and accomplishes judgment and justice, he shall cause his own soul to live.
18:28	For by considering and turning himself away from all his iniquities, which he has worked, he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.

Matthew 5: 20- 26

5:20	For I say to you, that unless your justice has surpassed that of the scribes and the Pharisees you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
5:21	You have heard that it was said to the ancients: ‘You shall not murder; whoever will have murdered shall be liable to judgment.’
5:22	But I say to you, that anyone who becomes angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment. But whoever will have called his brother, ‘Idiot,’ shall be liable to the council. Then, whoever will have called him, ‘Worthless,’ shall be liable to the fires of Hell.
5:23	Therefore, if you offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you,
5:24	leave your gift there, before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then you may approach and offer your gift.
5:25	Be reconciled with your adversary quickly, while you are still on the way with him, lest perhaps the adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown in prison.
5:26	Amen I say to you, that you shall not go forth from there, until you have repaid the last quarter.

Esther 8: 1- 5, 12- 13, 19

8:1	Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was imminent, fled to the Lord.
8:2	And when she had put aside her royal apparel, she took up garments suitable for weeping and mourning, and instead of various ointments, she covered her head with ashes from burnt dung, and she humbled her body with fasting, and all the aspects of her beauty, she covered with her torn hair.
8:3	And she begged the Lord God of Israel, saying, “My Lord, who alone is our King, help me, a solitary woman, for there is no other helper but you.
8:4	My peril is close at hand.
8:5	I have heard from my father that you, Lord, chose Israel from among all nations and our fathers from among all their former ancestors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and you have done for them just as you said.

8:12	Be mindful, Lord, and show yourself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me faith, Lord, King of gods and of every power.
8:13	Grant fitting words to my mouth in the sight of the lion, and transform his heart to hate our enemy, so that both he, and the others who conspire with him, may perish.

8:19	O God, whose strength is above all things, heed the voice of those who have no other hope, and free us from the hand of the wicked, and rescue me from my fear.”

Matthew 7: 7- 12

7:7	Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.
7:8	For everyone who asks, receives; and whoever seeks, finds; and to anyone who knocks, it will be opened.
7:9	Or what man is there among you, who, if his son were to ask him for bread, would offer him a stone;
7:10	or if he were to ask him for a fish, would offer him a snake?
7:11	Therefore, if you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your sons, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him?
7:12	Therefore, all things whatsoever that you wish that men would do to you, do so also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.