 First Reading: (Hebrew 12:4-7, 11-15)
Responsorial Psalm: Â (Psalms 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18)
Gospel: (Mark 6:1-6)
First Reading: (Hebrew 12:4-7, 11-15)
In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of bloodshed. Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons?
My son, do not scorn correction from the Lord, do not resent his training, for the Lord trains those he loves, and chastises every son he accepts. Perseverance is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons.
Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him? Of course, any discipline is at the time a matter for grief, not joy; but later, in those who have undergone it, it bears fruit in peace and uprightness.
So steady all weary hands and trembling knees and make your crooked paths straight; then the injured limb will not be maimed, it will get better instead. Seek peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord.
Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a large number.
Responsorial Psalm: Â (Psalms 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18)
Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the depths of my being, his holy name;
bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all his acts of kindness.
As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats those who fear him;
he knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust.
But Yahweh’s faithful love for those who fear him is from eternity and for ever;
and his saving justice to their children’s children; as long as they keep his covenant, and carefully obey his precepts.
Gospel: (Mark 6:1-6)
Leaving that district, he went to his home town, and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and most of them were astonished when they heard him.
They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’
And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is despised only in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house’; and he could work no miracle there, except that he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith. He made a tour round the villages, teaching.
