Friday I
Friday morning
In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 99
1 Yahweh is king, the peoples tremble;
he is enthroned on the winged creatures,
the earth shivers;
2 Yahweh is great in Zion.
He is supreme over all nations;
3 let them praise your name,
great and awesome; holy is he
4 and mighty! You are a king who loves justice,
you established honesty, justice and uprightness;
in Jacob it is you who are active.
5 Exalt Yahweh our God,
bow down at his footstool; holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron are among his priests,
and Samuel, calling on his name;
they called on Yahweh and he answered them.
7 He spoke with them in the pillar of fire,
they obeyed his decrees, the Law he gave them.
8 Yahweh our God, you answered them,
you were a God of forgiveness to them,
but punished them for their sins.
9 Exalt Yahweh our God,
bow down at his holy mountain;
holy is Yahweh our God!
Gospel
Mark 4,26-34
26 He also said, 'This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the land.
27 Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know.
28 Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29 And when the crop is ready, at once he starts to reap because the harvest has come.'
30 He also said, 'What can we say that the kingdom is like? What parable can we find for it?
31 It is like a mustard seed which, at the time of its sowing, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.
32 Yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.'
33 Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it.
34 He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were by themselves.
Pray:
Holy Father, we come to you in the peace of the evening, so that you may renew your communion with us. Receive the prayers that Christians raise to you, participating in the prayer of your Son Jesus for the unity of those who believe in him, and hasten the re-establishment of full communion among all the Churches, in the midst of which you are confessed and blessed for all ages.
– Amen.