Catholic Daily Reading 25 February 2020

Catholic Daily Reading 25 February 2020

Daily Reading for Tuesday February 25, 2020
Reading 1, James 4:1-10
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 55:7-8, 9-10, 10-11, 23
Gospel, Mark 9:30-37

Reading 1, James 4:1-10
1 Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?

2 You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive;

3 when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.

4 Adulterers! Do you not realise that love for the world is hatred for God? Anyone who chooses the world for a friend is constituted an enemy of God.

5 Can you not see the point of the saying in scripture, ‘The longing of the spirit he sent to dwell in us is a jealous longing.’?

6 But he has given us an even greater grace, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he accords his favour to the humble.

7 Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he will run away from you.

8 The nearer you go to God, the nearer God will come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clear your minds, you waverers.

9 Appreciate your wretchedness, and weep for it in misery. Your laughter must be turned to grief, your happiness to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.

Catholic Daily Reading 25 February 2020

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 55:7-8, 9-10, 10-11, 23
7 How far I would escape, and make a nest in the desert!

8 I would soon find a refuge from the storm of abuse, from the

9 destructive tempest, Lord, from the flood of their tongues. For I see violence and strife in the city,

10 day and night they make their rounds along the city walls, Inside live malice and mischief,

11 inside lives destruction, tyranny and treachery never absent from its central square.

23 You, God, will thrust them down to the abyss of destruction, men bloodthirsty and deceptive, before half their days are spent. For my part, I put my trust in you.

Gospel, Mark 9:30-37
30 After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know,

31 because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’

32 But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.

33 They came to Capernaum, and when he got into the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’

34 They said nothing, because on the road they had been arguing which of them was the greatest.

35 So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’

36 He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them,

37 ‘Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

Catholic Daily Reading & Devotional 25 February 2020

Topic: Moral Compass in Hand’

Scripture: Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. – James 4:10

Message: We stand here on the threshold of Lent, and St. James lays out a stinging examination of conscience to help set the tone for our penitential season. He calls us out on our double-mindedness and our persistent inclination to give in to our passions. Some might accuse him of being a killjoy for our Fat Tuesday. But keeping a realistic eye on our moral compass is essential, particularly when the wider culture glorifies indulgence and consumerism.

Jesus reminds those who would follow him that the cross is never far from view. That is why we need this season of self-denial. It is a time to put others first and an opportunity to re-orient ourselves around our Lord and his priorities. Have I prayed about how I can strengthen my relationship with Jesus this Lent? What things might be standing in the way?