FIRST READING Isaiah 40:21-31, p. 654
21 Have
you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the
beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22
It is he who sits above the circle of
the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the
heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; 23
who brings princes to naught, and makes
the rulers of the earth as nothing. 24 Scarcely
are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the
earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them
off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal, says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out
their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in
strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and
speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded
by my God”? 28 Have
you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD
is the everlasting God, the Creator of
the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is
unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and
strengthens the powerless. 30 Even
youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31
but those who wait for the LORD
shall renew their strength, they shall
mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not faint.
GOSPEL READING Mark 1:29-39, p. 911
29 As
soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew,
with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was
in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31
He came and took her by the hand and
lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That
evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with
demons. 33 And
the whole city was gathered around the door. 34
And he cured many who were sick with
various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons
to speak, because they knew him.