DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

WEDNESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

FIRST READING

GENESIS 8:6-13, 20-22

6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, 7 and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; 9 but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more. 13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 115(116):12-15, 18-19

Response: To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.

What shall I render to the LORD
for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.

R. To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.

I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.

R. To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.

I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

R. To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL

The blind man was restored, and saw everything clearly

MARK 8:22-26

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24 And he looked up and said, "I see men; but they look like trees, walking." 25 Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

Through the divine word of Christ he received his sight, attributed to Pseudo-Chrysostom, 5th century A.D.

"[Jesus] spat indeed, and put his hand upon the blind man, because he wished to show that wonderful are the effects of the Divine word added to action; for the hand is the symbol of working, but the spittle, of the word proceeding out of the mouth. Again he asked him whether he could see any thing, which he had not done in the case of any whom he had healed, thus showing that by the weak faith of those who brought him, and of the blind man himself, his eyes could not altogether be opened. There follows: 'And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees walking;' because he was still under the influence of unfaithfulness, he said that he saw men obscurely. From the commencement, however, of the return of his senses, he leads him to apprehend things by faith, and thus makes him see perfectly. He then goes on to say, After that, he put his hands again upon his eyes, and he began to see, and afterwards he adds, And he was restored, and saw all things clearly; he was perfectly healed in his senses and his intellect."

(excerpt from a Commentary on Mark 8:22-25, attributed to Pseudo-Chrysostom today, an unknown early church father unknown today, but was ascribed for a time to John Chrysostom, 5th century AD)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.