Daily Reading for Tuesday, February 26th, 2019

Reading 1, Sirach 2:1-11

¹ I thought to myself, 'Very well, I will try pleasure and see what enjoyment has to offer.' And this was futile too.

² This laughter, I reflected, is a madness, this pleasure no use at all.

³ I decided to hand my body over to drinking wine, my mind still guiding me in wisdom; I resolved to embrace folly, to discover the best way for people to spend their days under the sun.

⁴ I worked on a grand scale: built myself palaces, planted vineyards;

⁵ made myself gardens and orchards, planting every kind of fruit tree in them;

⁶ had pools made for watering the young trees of my plantations.

⁷ I bought slaves, male and female, had home-born slaves as well; herds and flocks I had too, more than anyone in Jerusalem before me.

⁸ I amassed silver and gold, the treasures of kings and provinces; acquired singers, men and women, and every human luxury, chest upon chest of it.

⁹ So I grew great, greater than anyone in Jerusalem before me; nor did my wisdom leave me.

¹⁰ I denied my eyes nothing that they desired, refused my heart no pleasure, for I found all my hard work a pleasure, such was the return for all my efforts.

¹¹ I then reflected on all that my hands had achieved and all the effort I had put into its achieving. What futility it all was, what chasing after the wind! There is nothing to be gained under the sun.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40

³ Put your trust in Yahweh and do right, make your home in the land and live secure.

⁴ Make Yahweh your joy and he will give you your heart's desires.

¹⁸ The lives of the just are in Yahweh's care, their birthright will endure for ever;

¹⁹ they will not be put to shame when bad times come, in time of famine they will have plenty.

²⁷ Turn your back on evil and do good, you will have a home for ever,

²⁸ for Yahweh loves justice and will not forsake his faithful. Evil-doers will perish eternally, the descendants of the wicked be annihilated,

³⁹ The upright have Yahweh for their Saviour, their refuge in times of trouble;

⁴⁰ Yahweh helps them and rescues them, he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them because they take refuge in him.

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