Daily Readings for Thursday February 22,2018
Season of Lent
Do not swear.
Reading 3, Rom 3: 1-8 : Justice and fidelity of God.
| 1 | Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? |
| 2 | Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God. |
| 3 | What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? |
| 4 | By no means! Let God be true though every man be false, as it is written, "That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and prevail when thou art judged." |
| 5 | But if our wickedness serves to show the justice of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) |
| 6 | By no means! For then how could God judge the world? |
| 7 | But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? |
| 8 | And why not do evil that good may come? -- as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. |
Gospel, Mt 5: 33-37 : Do not swear.
| 33 | "Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' |
| 34 | But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, |
| 35 | or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. |
| 36 | And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. |
| 37 | Let what you say be simply `Yes' or `No'; anything more than this comes from evil. |
