Daily Readings for August 29, 2019

1st READING

Jeremiah reminds us to be ready for everything and anything as we follow the Lord. This is good advice since we cannot always prepare for what is to come. We first see the lay of the land before we decide what to do and how to do it. Other times, we prepare for one thing but we encounter something quite different.

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13 (or Jeremiah 1:17-19)

7 We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith. 8 For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 9 What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God? 10 Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith. 11 Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, 13 so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.

PSALM

Psalm 90:3-4, 12-13, 14, 17 (or Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17)

R: Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!

3 You turn man back to dust, saying, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. (R) 12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! (R) 14 Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. 17 And may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! (R)

GOSPEL

John the Baptist was ready for anything, even the task of correcting the most powerful leader in the city. He must have known that Herod would not take his correction lightly. But John is willing to do this because he knows that someone has to stand up for it. As Christians in a world that is forsaking many of its Christian roots, let us stand firm and speak the truth even at great cost.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Stay Awake! For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.

Mark 6:17-29 (or Matthew 24:42-51)

17 Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. 18 John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. 20 Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. 21 She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. 22 Herodias’s own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” 23 He even swore many things to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.” 24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 26 The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. 27 So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. 28 He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

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