SUNDAY BETWEEN 4 AND 10
SEPTEMBER YEAR B
PROPER 18
TRACK 1
FIRST READING Proverbs 22.1-2, 8-9, 22-23
A reading from the
book of Proverbs.
1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favour is better than silver or gold.
2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD
is the maker of them all.
8 Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the
rod of anger will fail.
9 Those who are generous are blessèd, for they
share their bread with the poor.
22 Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush
the afflicted at the gate;
23 for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life
those who despoil them.
PSALM Psalm 125
RR Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good.
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which
cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever.
2 The hills stand about Jerusalem; so does the Lord stand
round about his people, from this time forth for evermore. RR
3 The sceptre of the wicked shall not hold sway over
the land allotted to the just, so that the just shall not put
their hands to evil.
4 Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good and
to those who are true of heart. RR
5 As for those who turn aside to crooked ways, the Lord
will lead them away with the evildoers; but peace be upon Israel.
RR
Or TRACK 2
FIRST READING Isaiah 35.4-7a
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong,
do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with
terrible recompense. He will come and save you.'
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue
of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in
the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty
ground springs of water.
PSALM Psalm 146
RR You open wide your hand, O Lord, and satisfy our needs.
1 Alleluia! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise
the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while
I have my being. RR
2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth,
for there is no help in them.
3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish. RR
4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their
help! whose hope is in the Lord their God;
5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is
in them; who keeps his promise for ever;
6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food
to those who hunger. RR
7 The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the
eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
8 The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the
stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the
way of the wicked. RR
9 The Lord shall reign for ever, your God, O Zion, throughout
all generations. Alleluia! RR
SECOND READING James 2.1-10, (11-13), 14-17
A reading from the letter of James.
1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism
really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes
comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes
also comes in,
3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine
clothes and say, 'Have a seat here, please,' while to the one
who is poor you say, 'Stand there,' or, 'Sit at my feet,'
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and
become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God
chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs
of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich
who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?
7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that
was invoked over you?
8 You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according
to the scripture, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'
9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are
convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point
has become accountable for all of it.
[ 11 For the one who said, 'You shall not commit adultery,'
also said, 'You shall not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery
but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by
the law of liberty.
13 For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has
shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement. ]
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say
you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm
and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs,
what is the good of that?
17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
GOSPEL Mark 7.24-37
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
24 Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre.
He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.
Yet he could not escape notice,
25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit
immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his
feet.
26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin.
She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for
it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the
dogs.'
28 But she answered him, 'Sir, even the dogs under the
table eat the children's crumbs.'
29 Then he said to her, 'For saying that, you may go -
the demon has left your daughter.'
30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed,
and the demon gone.
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went
by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the
Decapolis.
32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment
in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd,
and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his
tongue.
34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him,
'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.'
35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was
released, and he spoke plainly.
36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more
he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, 'He has
done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute
to speak.'
