FIRST READING
The Lord removed Israel out of his sight, none was left but the tribe of Judah only.
A reading from the second Book of Kings (2 Kings 17:5-8.13-15a.18)
In those days: Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this was so, because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced. Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.
The word of the Lord
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm60:3.4-5.12-14 (R. 7a)
R/. With your right hand, Lord, grant salvation, and give answer
O God, you have rejected us, and broken us.
You have been angry; come back to us. R/.
You have made the earth quake, torn it open.
Repair what is shattered, for it sways.
You have inflicted hardships on your people,
made us drink a wine that dazed us. R/.
R/. With your right hand, Lord, grant salvation, and give answer.
Have you, O God, rejected us?
Will you march with our armies no longer?
Give us help against the foe,
for human help is vain.
With God, we shall do bravely,
and he will trample down our foes. R/.
ALLELUIA Hebrews 4:12
Alleluia. The word of the Lord is living and active, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Alleluia
GOSPEL
“First take the log out of your own eye.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 7: 1-5)
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
The Gospel of the Lord
TODAY’S REFLECTION
We are all on a journey to the world described in today’s Gospel reading – a world free from prejudice, a world where we are not quick to label and judge, and a world where we respect one another as brothers and sisters. How we judge others reveals a great deal about ourselves and our view of God. The Promised Land is not a piece of real estate but the condition of our soul. Like Abraham, we are promised marvelous things if we leave our old ways. We are promised intimacy with God, life without end and the capacity to channel God’s life to others