Sunday, March 3, 2024
Liturgical Season: 
VII The Season of Sleebo
Special Significance: 
Knanoitho Sunday (Curing the Daughter of Cananite woman)
IV Sunday of the Great Fast

Mk 7:24-30

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith. 24h From that place he went off to the district of Tyre.* He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. 25Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. 26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.i 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.* For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 28She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Ex 16:1-12

The Wilderness of Sin. 1Having set out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month* after their departure from the land of Egypt. 2Here in the wilderness the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our kettles of meat and ate our fill of bread! But you have led us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of famine!”

The Quail and the Manna. 4Then the LORD said to Moses:a I am going to rain down bread from heaven* for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. 5On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days. 6So Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites,b “At evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, when he hears your grumbling against him. But who are we that you should grumble against us?” 8And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning your fill of bread, and hears the grumbling you utter against him, who then are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the LORD.”

9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole Israelite community: Approach the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.” 10But while Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they turned in the direction of the wilderness, and there the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud! 11The LORD said to Moses: 12I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread, and then you will know that I, the LORD, am your God.

1 Sm 7:10-17

10While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near for battle with Israel. That day, however, the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines, and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.f 11Thereupon the Israelites rushed out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, striking them down even beyond Beth-car. 12Samuel then took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Jeshanah; he named it Ebenezer,* explaining, “As far as this place the LORD has been our help.” 13Thus were the Philistines subdued, never again to enter the territory of Israel, for the hand of the LORD was against them as long as Samuel lived.g 14The cities from Ekron to Gath which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to them. Israel also freed the territory of these cities from Philistine domination. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.*

15Samuel judged Israel as long as he lived. 16He made a yearly circuit, passing through Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah* and judging Israel at each of these places. 17Then he used to return to Ramah, for that was his home. There, too, he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.h

Sir 10:6-18

6No matter what the wrong, never harm your neighbor

or go the way of arrogance.d

7Odious to the Lord and to mortals is pride,

and for both oppression is a crime.

8Sovereignty is transferred from one people to another

because of the lawlessness of the proud.

9Why are dust and ashes proud?*

Even during life the body decays.

10A slight illness—the doctor jests;

a king today—tomorrow he is dead.

11When a people die,

they inherit corruption and worms, gnats and maggots.e

12The beginning of pride is stubbornness

in withdrawing the heart from one’s Maker.

13For sin is a reservoir of insolence,

a source which runs over with vice;

Because of it God sends unheard-of afflictions

and strikes people with utter ruin.f

14God overturns the thrones of the proud

and enthrones the lowly in their place.

15God plucks up the roots of the proud,

and plants the lowly in their place.

16The Lord lays waste the lands of the nations,

and destroys them to the very foundations of the earth.

17He removes them from the earth, destroying them,

erasing their memory from the world.

18Insolence does not befit mortals,

nor impudent anger those born of women.

Is 56:1-7

1* Thus says the LORD:

Observe what is right, do what is just,

for my salvation is about to come,

my justice, about to be revealed.a

2Happy is the one who does this,

whoever holds fast to it:

Keeping the sabbath without profaning it,

keeping one’s hand from doing any evil.b

3* The foreigner joined to the LORD should not say,

“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people”;

Nor should the eunuch say,

“See, I am a dry tree.”c

4For thus says the LORD:

To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,

who choose what pleases me,

and who hold fast to my covenant,d

5I will give them, in my house

and within my walls, a monument and a name*

Better than sons and daughters;

an eternal name, which shall not be cut off, will I give them.

6And foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,

to minister to him,

To love the name of the LORD,

to become his servants—

All who keep the sabbath without profaning it

and hold fast to my covenant,

7* Them I will bring to my holy mountain

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be acceptable on my altar,

For my house shall be called

a house of prayer for all peoples.e

Acts 20:22-32

22But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, 23except that in one city after another the holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me.e 24Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.f

25“But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. 26And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God. 28g Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers,* in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood. 29I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock.h 30And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them.i 31So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears.j 32And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.

Rom 7:13-25

Sin and Death.* 13Did the good, then, become death for me? Of course not! Sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, worked death in me through the good, so that sin might become sinful beyond measure through the commandment.i 14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin.j 15What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.k 19For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. 20Now if [I] do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. 22For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, 23l but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.* 24Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.m

Mt 15:21-28

The Canaanite Woman’s Faith.* 21i Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” 24* He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25j But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children* and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” 28k Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith!* Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.