February 12, 2020

Reading

First Book of Kings   10: 1-10

10:1	Then, too, the queen of Sheba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the name of the Lord, arrived to test him with enigmas.
10:2	And entering into Jerusalem with a great retinue, and with riches, and with camels carrying aromatics, and with an exceedingly great quantity of gold and precious stones, she went to king Solomon. And she spoke to him all that she held in her heart.
10:3	And Solomon taught her, in all the words that she had proposed to him. There was not any word which was able to be hidden from the king, or which he did not answer for her.
10:4	Then, when the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
10:5	and the food of his table, and the dwelling places of his servants, and the rows of his ministers, and their apparel, and the cupbearers, and the holocausts that he was offering in the house of the Lord, she had no longer any spirit in her.
10:6	And she said to the king: “The word is true, which I have heard in my own land,
10:7	about your words and your wisdom. But I did not believe those who explained it to me, until I went myself and saw it with my own eyes. And I have discovered that the half of it has not been told to me: your wisdom and works are greater than the report that I have heard.
10:8	Blessed are your men, and blessed are your servants, who stand before you always, and who hear your wisdom.
10:9	Blessed is the Lord your God, whom you have greatly pleased, and who has placed you upon the throne of Israel. For the Lord loves Israel forever, and he has appointed you as king, so that you may accomplish judgment and justice.”
10:10	Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and an exceedingly great amount of aromatics and precious stones. No greater quantity of aromatics was ever again brought forth as these, which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

Gospel

Mark    7: 14-23

7:14	And again, calling the crowd to him, he said to them: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand.
7:15	There is nothing from outside a man which, by entering into him, is able to defile him. But the things which procede from a man, these are what pollute a man.
7:16	Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
7:17	And when he had entered into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable.
7:18	And he said to them: “So, are you also without prudence? Do you not understand that everything entering to a man from outside is not able to pollute him?
7:19	For it does not enter into his heart, but into the gut, and it exits into the sewer, purging all foods.”
7:20	“But,” he said “the things which go out from a man, these pollute a man.
7:21	For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
7:22	thefts, avarice, wickedness, deceitfulness, homosexuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, self-exaltation, foolishness.
7:23	All these evils procede from within and pollute a man.”