Daily Reading for Friday, September 9th, 2022

Reading 1, 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22B-27

¹⁶ In fact, preaching the gospel gives me nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion and I should be in trouble if I failed to do it.

¹⁷ If I did it on my own initiative I would deserve a reward; but if I do it under compulsion I am simply accepting a task entrusted to me.

¹⁸ What reward do I have, then? That in my preaching I offer the gospel free of charge to avoid using the rights which the gospel allows me.

¹⁹ So though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people, to win as many as I could.

²² To the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak. I accommodated myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation.

²³ All this I do for the sake of the gospel, that I may share its benefits with others.

²⁴ Do you not realise that, though all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, only one of them gets the prize? Run like that -- to win.

²⁵ Every athlete concentrates completely on training, and this is to win a wreath that will wither, whereas ours will never wither.

²⁶ So that is how I run, not without a clear goal; and how I box, not wasting blows on air.

²⁷ I punish my body and bring it under control, to avoid any risk that, having acted as herald for others, I myself may be disqualified.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12

³ Even the sparrow has found a home, the swallow a nest to place its young: your altars, Yahweh Sabaoth, my King and my God.

⁴ How blessed are those who live in your house; they shall praise you continually.

⁵ Blessed those who find their strength in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

⁶ As they pass through the Valley of the Balsam, they make there a water-hole, and -- a further blessing -- early rain fills it.

¹² Yahweh Sabaoth, blessed is he who trusts in you.

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