Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time – Year A
First Reading – 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
So the king said to Jo′ab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Be′er- she′ba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” And Jo′ab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand. But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan to Be′er- she′ba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented of the evil, and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Arau′nah the Jeb′usite. Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, be against me and against my father’s house.”
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7
℟ Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
℟ Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; then you forgave the guilt of my sin.
℟ Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Therefore let every one who is godly offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, p in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
℟ Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
You are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with deliverance.
℟ Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
Alleluia – John 10:27
℟ Alleluia!
He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?”
℟ Alleluia!
Gospel – Mark 6:1-6
He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him. And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense r at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.
Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, Ignatius Press, Copyright ⓒ 2006.