Bible reading January 22
Reading 1 Jon 3:1-5, 10
The Word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying:
“Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’S bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, ”
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
He repented of the evil that He had threatened to do to them;
He did not carry it out.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. Teach me Your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me Your paths,
Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are God my Savior.
R. Teach me Your ways, O Lord.
Remember that Your compassion, O LORD,
and Your love are from of old.
In Your kindness remember me,
because of Your goodness, O LORD.
R. Teach me Your ways, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus He shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble His way.
R. Teach me Your ways, O Lord.
Reading 2 1 Cor 7:29-31
I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.
From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
those weeping as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing,
those buying as not owning,
those using the world as not using it fully.
For the world in its present form is passing away.
Gospel Mk 1:14-20
After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
As He passed by the Sea of Galilee,
He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they abandoned their nets and followed Him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then He called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed Him.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Reading 1 Dt 18:15-20
Moses spoke to all the people, saying:
“A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to Him you shall listen.
This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb
on the day of the assembly, when you said,
‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God,
nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin,
and will put my words into His mouth;
He shall tell them all that I command Him.
Whoever will not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name,
I myself will make him answer for it.
But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name
an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak,
or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.'”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to Him.
R. If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted Me;
they tested me though they had seen My works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 2 1 Cor 7:32-35
Brothers and sisters:
I should like you to be free of anxieties.
An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord,
how he may please the Lord.
But a married man is anxious about the things of the world,
how he may please his wife, and he is divided.
An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord,
so that she may be holy in both body and spirit.
A married woman, on the other hand,
is anxious about the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.
I am telling you this for your own benefit,
not to impose a restraint upon you,
but for the sake of propriety
and adherence to the Lord without distraction.
Gospel Mk 1:21-28
Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at His teaching,
for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know Who You are, the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said,
“Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
Catholic Fundamentalism Interpretation:
Moses publicly predicted to the people that The Loving Programmer would bring them a Prophet, like them, descended from Judah/Israel.
He foretold that they would listen (some would follow) Him.
That, after all, is what they requested (just as they would later be granted the king for whom they asked) at Horeb.
There, they preferred not to deal directly with God, Whose power was scaring them to death.
The Loving Programmer told Moses that He appreciated their concern, and promised to raise up a Prophet to Whom they were related. This prophet would pass on His Word, and He will be perfectly obedient to My wishes.
Anyone who chooses not to listen to Him will have to answer to Me for not doing so.
“If any prophet claims to speak in My Name something which I haven’t told Him to say, or if he speaks in the name demons, he will die (forever).”
R. If you hear The Loving Programmer downloading within you, be open to His Operating Instructions.
Come, let us praise He who saves us. Let us come into His presence (in Church & prayer), filled with thanksgiving for all that He has given us. Let us sing His praises.
R. If you hear The Loving Programmer downloading within you, be open to His Operating Instructions.
Publicly show that you recognize His superiority to you. He is The One who wrote and downloaded our individual programs, which makes Him God. We are the people He loves, guides, and takes care of.
R. If you hear The Loving Programmer downloading within you, be open to His Operating Instructions.
I wish that right now, today, you would hear His Voice, and not harden your hearts as your ancestors did at Meribah, as in Massah’s day in the desert where your ancestors tempted me, testing Me, though they’d seen My powerful programming.”
R. If you hear The Loving Programmer downloading within you, be open to His Operating Instructions.
Fellow Believers:
I want your individual programs to be free from internal errors that make you think about less important things.
It is true that the best priests are celibate, worried more about obeying The Loving Programmer’s Operating Instructions than about pleasing people and lesser concerns. I don’t want your programs to operate with conflicting operating systems.
The same thing is true of women: if they focus on serving The Loving Programmer, rather than being concerned with the programmed entities, human and otherwise, around them, women will better serve The Loving programmer.
I’m only telling you this to help, not to constrain you, but it’s better this way because it lets your own program better download the fullness of The Program (Jesus Christ, the Fullness of The Program Who came to earth in perfect, obedient, human form).
On the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum, and taught.
People were astonished at what He told them, they realized that He had real authority, given to Him by The Loving Programmer, and that He was sharing the real Operating Instructions with them, not like the “professionals”, who were teaching that which benefited hem.
In the synagogue was a man whose operating system was taken over by a virus. He cried out, “What do You have to do with us (viruses), You, Program in human form? Are you here to erase us viruses? I know Who You are, O Program Who has taken human form!”
The Program showed His power over the spiritual viruses, by saying: “Keep quiet. Come out of that human program!”
The virus contracted man’s muscles, and, with a loud, anguished cry, obeyed The Program.
All the people (and the viruses!) were amazed, and asked each other, “What is this? A new set of operating instructions with power over corrupting viruses? He can make even evil viruses obey Him.”
Jesus’s fame spread everywhere in Galilee.
Today’s Bible Reading January 22 was brought to you by Catholic Fundamentalism
