Daily Reading for Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Reading 1, Malachi 3:1-4

¹ 'Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple; yes, the angel of the covenant, for whom you long, is on his way, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

² Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like fullers' alkali.

³ He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they can make the offering to Yahweh with uprightness.

⁴ The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be acceptable to Yahweh as in former days, as in the years of old.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 24:7, 8, 9, 10

⁷ Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!

⁸ Who is he, this king of glory? It is Yahweh, strong and valiant, Yahweh valiant in battle.

⁹ Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!

¹⁰ Who is he, this king of glory? Yahweh Sabaoth, he is the king of glory.

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Gospel, Luke 2:22-40

²² And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord-

²³ observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord-

²⁴ and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

²⁵ Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested on him.

²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord.

²⁷ Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required,

²⁸ he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

²⁹ Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace as you promised;

³⁰ for my eyes have seen the salvation

³¹ which you have made ready in the sight of the nations;

³² a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel.

³³ As the child's father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about him,

³⁴ Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed-

³⁵ and a sword will pierce your soul too -- so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.'

³⁶ There was a prophetess, too, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years

³⁷ before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer.

³⁸ She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

³⁹ When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

⁴⁰ And as the child grew to maturity, he was filled with wisdom; and God's favour was with him.

Reading 2, Hebrews 2:14-18

¹⁴ Since all the children share the same human nature, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could set aside him who held the power of death, namely the devil,

¹⁵ and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.

¹⁶ For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself the line of Abraham.

¹⁷ It was essential that he should in this way be made completely like his brothers so that he could become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest for their relationship to God, able to expiate the sins of the people.

¹⁸ For the suffering he himself passed through while being put to the test enables him to help others when they are being put to the test.

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