July 9, 2014

The Book of the Prophet Hosea    11:1-4, 8-9

11:1Just as the morning passes, so has the king of Israel passed by. For Israel was a child and I loved him; and out of Egypt I called my son.
11:2They called them, and so they departed before their face. They offered victims to the Baals, and they sacrificed to graven images.
11:3And I was like a foster father to Ephraim. I carried them in my arms. And they did not know that I healed them.
11:4I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love. And I will be to them like one who raises the yoke over their jaws. And I will reach down to him so that he may eat.
11:8How will I provide for you, Ephraim; how will I protect you, Israel? How will I provide for you as for Adam; will I set you like Zeboiim? My heart has changed within me; together with my regret, it has been stirred up.
11:9I will not act on the fury of my wrath. I will not turn back to utterly destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Divine in your midst, and I will not advance upon the city.

The Holy Gospel According to Matthew   10: 1-7

10:1And rising up, he went from there into the area of Judea beyond the Jordan. And again, the crowd came together before him. And just as he was accustomed to do, again he taught them.
10:2And approaching, the Pharisees questioned him, testing him: “Is it lawful for a man to dismiss his wife?”
10:3But in response, he said to them, “What did Moses instruct you?”
10:4And they said, “Moses gave permission to write a bill of divorce and to dismiss her.”
10:5But Jesus responded by saying: “It was due to the hardness of your heart that he wrote that precept for you.
10:6But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
10:7Because of this, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife.