6.17.2012

Today's Bible story

June 17, 2012

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

We hope that today is a good day.

Today's Bible story based on the calendar of the Catholic Church.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/calendar.php

Most of these contents are things of The World English Bible.
http://ebible.org/web/

We hope that everyone in the peace of the Lord.

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Saints: St. Albert Chmielowski

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+ First Reading: Ezekial 17:22-24

22 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain:

23 in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shade of its branches shall they dwell.

24 All the trees of the field shall know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish; I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.

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+ Psalm: Psalms 92:2-3, 13-15

1 It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh,
to sing praises to your name, Most High;

2 to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning,
and your faithfulness every night,

12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in Yahweh's house.
They will flourish in our God's courts.

14 They will still produce fruit in old age.
They will be full of sap and green,

15 to show that Yahweh is upright.
He is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in him.

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+ Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

8 We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

9 Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.

10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

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+ Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

26 He said, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,

27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn't know how.

28 For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

29 But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

30 He said, "How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?

31 It's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,

32 yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow."

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

34 Without a parable he didn't speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

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+ Today's Reading: Isaiah 44:21-45:3

21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel;
for you are my servant.
I have formed you.
You are my servant.
Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions,
and, as a cloud, your sins.
Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

23 Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth!
Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees,
for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob,
and will glorify himself in Israel.

24 Yahweh, your Redeemer,
and he who formed you from the womb says:
"I am Yahweh, who makes all things;
who alone stretches out the heavens;
who spreads out the earth by myself;

25 who frustrates the signs of the liars,
and makes diviners mad;
who turns wise men backward,
and makes their knowledge foolish;

26 who confirms the word of his servant,
and performs the counsel of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited;'
and of the cities of Judah, 'They will be built,'
and 'I will raise up its waste places;'

27 who says to the deep, 'Be dry,'
and 'I will dry up your rivers;'

28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,'
even saying of Jerusalem, 'She will be built;'
and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'"

45:1 Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

2 "I will go before you,
and make the rough places smooth.
I will break the doors of brass in pieces,
and cut apart the bars of iron.

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness,
and hidden riches of secret places,
that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name,
even the God of Israel.

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