Daily Readings for June 9, 2017

1ST READING

Tobit did his best to live righteously and in the end, God restored his sight and healed him. Like Tobit, let us form our consciences well and act on its judgments. This is essential for a holy life. Let us take responsibility for our actions. It is by our choices that people will know our response to God.

Tobit 11:5-17

5 Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come. 6 When she saw him coming, she exclaimed to his father, “Tobit, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!” 7 Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father: “I am certain that his eyes will be opened. 8 Smear the fish gall on them. This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes; then your father will again be able to see the light of day.” 9 Then Anna ran up to her son, threw her arms around him, and said to him, “Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!” And she sobbed aloud. 10 Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate. Tobiah went up to him 11 with the fish gall in his hand, and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes. “Courage, father,” he said. 12 Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, 13 and it made them smart. Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit’s eyes, Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts. When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him 14 and wept. He exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he said: “Blessed be God, and praised be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels. May his holy name be praised throughout all the ages, 15 Because it was He who scourged me, and it is he who has had mercy on me. Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!” Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice for everything that had happened. Tobiah told his father that the Lord God had granted him a successful journey; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, who would arrive shortly, for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh. 16 Tobit and Anna rejoiced and went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet their daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw Tobit walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed. 17 Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes. When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he greeted her: “Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed is your father and blessed is my son Tobiah, and blessed are you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!” That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.

P S A L M

Psalm 146:1-2, 6-7, 8-9, 9-10

R: Praise the Lord, my soul!

1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; 2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live. (R) 6 The Lord keeps faith forever, 7 secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets captives free. (R) 8 The Lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord raises up those that were bowed down; the Lord loves the just. 9 The Lord protects strangers. (R) The fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts. 10 The Lord shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia! (R)

GOSPEL

The interpretation of individual texts in the Old Testament can be tricky. The argument of Jesus used in today’s Gospel is unknown, but the crowd loved it. When we read the Old Testament, we must be careful to understand it within the context of when it was written and read it with the eyes of faith. These texts were written by ordinary men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so there is a bit of the mundane and human, as well as the inspirational and divine, in them.  

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.

Mark 12:35-37

35 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ 37 David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.