Daily Reading for Saturday, February 19th, 2022

Reading 1, James 3:1-10

¹ Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that we shall receive a stricter judgement.

² For we all trip up in many ways. Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection and is able to keep the whole body on a tight rein.

³ Once we put a bit in the horse's mouth, to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control.

⁴ Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, they are directed by a tiny rudder wherever the whim of the helmsman decides.

⁵ So the tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its boasts are great. Think how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest;

⁶ The tongue is a flame too. Among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a whole wicked world: it infects the whole body; catching fire itself from hell, it sets fire to the whole wheel of creation.

⁷ Wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish of every kind can all be tamed, and have been tamed, by humans;

⁸ but nobody can tame the tongue -- it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison.

⁹ We use it to bless the Lord and Father, but we also use it to curse people who are made in God's image:

¹⁰ the blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers, this must be wrong-

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 12:2-3, 4-5, 7-8

² Friend tells lies to friend, and, smooth-tongued, speaks from an insincere heart.

³ May Yahweh cut away every smooth lip, every boastful tongue,

⁴ those who say, 'In our tongue lies our strength, our lips are our allies; who can master us?'

⁵ 'For the poor who are plundered, the needy who groan, now will I act,' says Yahweh, 'I will grant salvation to those who sigh for it.'

⁷ You, Yahweh, will watch over them, you will protect them from that brood for ever.

⁸ The wicked will scatter in every direction, as the height of depravity among the children of Adam.