1ST READING
One of the dangers a person of faith faces is having hardness of heart. This happens when we tolerate sin in our lives. This is the way sin normally works — the devil has a foot in the door with a small sin and then the whole door is forced open with a bigger sin. Let us keep our hearts and minds in love with God so that the devil will never have the opportunity to tear us from our faith.
Hebrews 3:7-14
7 The Holy Spirit says: Oh, that today you would hear his voice, 8 “Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works 10 for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter into my rest.’” 12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. 13 Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. 14 We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.
P S AL M
Psalm 95:6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. 7 For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. (R) Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 8 “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” (R) 10 Forty years I was wearied of that generation; I said: This people’s heart goes astray, they do not know my ways. 11 Therefore I swore in my anger: “They shall not enter into my rest.” (R)
GOSPEL
God wants the best for us. However, His best is not always that easy to discern because we are clouded by the pressures of the world and inordinate desires. We need to be careful that we do not desire that which would not be good for us in the long term. We should trust that God knows and desires the best for us. Let us try to work with His will and not just our own.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people.
Mark 1:40-45
40 A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” 42 The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. 43 Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. 44 Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 45 The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
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