DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

FEBRUARY 18, 2024

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

FIRST READING

GENESIS 9:8-15

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 25:4-9

Response: Thine ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep thy covenant.

Make me to know thy ways, O LORD;
teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,
for thou art the God of my salvation;
for thee I wait all the day long.

R. Thine ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep thy covenant.

Be mindful of thy mercy, O LORD, and of thy steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth, or my trangressions;
according to thy steadfast love remember me,
for thy goodness' sake, O LORD!

R. Thine ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep thy covenant.

Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.

R. Thine ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep thy covenant.
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SECOND READING

1 PETER 3:18-22

18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; 19vin which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL

Repent and Believe in the Gospel

MARK 1:12-15

12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

The call to repentance, by Chromatius (died 406 AD)

"The voice of the Lord urging the people to repentance - the Holy Spirit made it known to the people that they might take heed, saying, 'Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of testing in the wilderness' (Psalm 95:8). In the same psalm above, he made clear that he was urging the sinful people to repentance and showed the state of a repentant soul, saying, 'Come, let us fall down before him and lament before the Lord who made us, for he is our God' (Psalm 95:6-7). The Lord urges the people to repentance, and he promises to pardon their sins, according to Isaiah's words: 'I, even I, am the one who wipes out your iniquities, and I will not be mindful of your sins. But you be mindful, declare first your iniquities that you may be justified' (Isaiah 43:25-26). Rightly then does the Lord urge the people to repentance when he says, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,' so that through this confession of sins they may be made worthy to approach the kingdom of heaven."

(excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 15.3)

[Note: Chromatius was an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome described him as a "most learned and most holy man."]
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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.