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EIGHTH WEEK
OF ORDINARY TIME
CYCLE II
THURSDAY
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FIRST READING
1 PETER 2:2-5.9-12
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A READING FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER
(YOU ARE A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A PEOPLE SET APART TO SING THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO CALLED YOU.)
You are new born, and, like babies, you should be hungry for nothing but milk
– the spiritual honesty which will help you to grow up to Salvation –
now that you have tasted the goodness of the Lord.
He is the living stone, rejected by men
but chosen by God and precious to him;
set yourselves close to him so that you too,
the holy priesthood that offers
the spiritual sacrifices,
which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God,
may be living stones making a spiritual house.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a consecrated nation, a people set apart
to sing the praises of God
who called you out of the darkness into the wonderful light.
Once you were not a people at all
and now you are the People of God;
once you were outside the mercy
and now you have been given mercy.
I urge you, my dear people,
while you are visitors and pilgrims
to keep yourselves free from the selfish passion
that attack the soul.
Always behave honourably among pagans
so that they can see your good works for themselves and,
when the day of reckoning comes,
give thanks to God for the things
which now make them denounce you as criminals.
The word of the Lord.
R.) Thanks be to God.
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responsorialpsalmcatholic 