Saint Bridget of Sweden, Religious, Patron of Europe
Thursday • Feast
Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: I have remembered thee, pitying thy soul, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not sown.Israel is holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his increase: all they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord.And I brought you into the land of Carmel, to eat the fruit thereof, and the best things thereof: ad when ye entered in, you defiled my land, and made my inheritance an abomination.The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? and they that held the law knew me not, and the pastors transgressed against me: and the prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols.Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be very desolate, saith the Lord.For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Psalm 36:6-7ab, 8-9, 10-11
Matthew 13:10-17
And his disciples came and said to him: Why speakest thou to them in parables?Who answered and said to them: Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven: but to them it is not given.For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound: but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away that also which he hath.Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive.For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.For, amen, I say to you, many prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that you hear and have not heard them.
For Today
How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown of thorns?