Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time (II)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – 1 Kings 11.29-32; 12.19

Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem,
and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite
found him on the way.
Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new cloak;
and the two of them were alone in the field.
Ahijah took off his new cloak that he had on
and tore it in twelve pieces.

He said to Jeroboam:
“Take ten pieces;
for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,
‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom
out of the hand of Solomon,
and will give ten tribes to you.
He shall have one tribe,
for my servant David’s sake
and for Jerusalem’s sake,
the city which I have chosen
out of all the tribes of Israel.

So Israel has rebelled
against the house of David
even to this day.

Responsorial – Psalm 81.10-11ab, 12-13, 14-15 Resp. 11a+9a

R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!

There shall be no strange god among you,
nor shall you worship any foreign god.
I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!

My people did not listen to my voice.
Israel wanted nothing to do with me.
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts,
that they might walk in their own counsels.

R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!

Oh that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their adversaries.

R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!

Gospel – Mark 7.31-37

Jesus departed from
the borders of Tyre,
and came through Sidon
to the sea of Galilee,
in the middle of
the region of Decapolis.

They brought to him
a deaf man who had trouble speaking,
and they begged him to lay
his hand on him.

He took him by himself,
away from the crowd,
and put his fingers into his ears,
and he spat and touched his tongue.
Looking up into heaven,
he sighed, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
Immediately his ears were opened,
and the bond on his tongue was undone,
and he spoke clearly.
He commanded them that they should tell no one,
but the more he commanded them,
so much more widely they proclaimed it.
They were astonished beyond measure, saying,
“He has done all things beautifully.
He both makes the deaf hear and the unspeaking speak!”