Third Week of Lent
07th March 2024 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 3
Reading of the Day
| First Reading | Jeremiah 7:23-28 |
| Response | O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts. |
| Gospel | Luke 11:14-23 |
First Reading
Jeremiah 7:23-28
Thus says the Lord: “This command I gave my people: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backwards and not forwards. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7abc, 7d-9 (R. 7d-8a)
R/. O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts.
Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come into his presence, giving thanks;
let us hail him with a song of praise. R/.
O come; let us bow and bend low.
Let us kneel before the God who made us,
for he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand. R/.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your forebears put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work. R/.
Verse Before The Gospel
See Joel 2:12-13
V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
V/. Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, for I am gracious and merciful.
R/.Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel
Luke 11:14-23
At that time: Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marvelled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
