Tuesday, week 5 in Ordinary Time

When he created the heavens and the earth,
God said again:
“Let the waters swarm
with a multitude of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth,
under the dome of the sky.”
God created, according to their kind,
the great sea monsters,
all living creatures that move and swarm
in the waters,
and also, according to their kind,
all flying birds.
And God saw that it was good.
God blessed them with these words:
“Be fruitful and multiply,
fill the seas,
and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
Evening came, and morning followed:
the fifth day.

And God said:
“Let the earth bring forth living creatures
according to their kind,
cattle, creeping things, and wild animals
according to their kind.”
And so it was.
God made the wild animals according to their kind,
the cattle according to their kind,
and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kind.
And God saw that it was good.

God said:
“Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky,
the cattle, all the wild animals,
and all the creatures
that move along the earth.”
God created man in his image,
in the image of God he created him,
he created them male and female.
God blessed them and said to them:
“Be fruitful and multiply,
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion
over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky,
and all the living things that move along the earth.”
God also said:
“I give you every seed-bearing plant
on the entire surface of the earth,
and every tree whose fruit bears seed:
this shall be your food.
And to all the animals of the earth,
to all the birds of the air,
to everything that moves along the earth
and has the breath of life,
I give every green plant for food.”
And so it was.
And God saw all that he had made;
and indeed: it was very good.
Evening came, and morning followed:
the sixth day.

Thus were completed the heavens and the earth,
and all their array.
On the seventh day,
God had finished the work he had done.
He rested on the seventh day,
from all the work he had done.
And God blessed the seventh day:
he made it holy
since, on that day, he rested
from all the work of creation he had done.

Such was the origin of the heavens and the earth
when they were created.

– The word of the Lord.

When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

You made him little less than a god,
crowning him with glory and honor;
you made him ruler over the works of your hands,
you put all things under his feet.

The herds of oxen and sheep,
and even the wild beasts,
the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
everything that moves along the waters.

At that time,
the Pharisees and some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
and saw some of his disciples eating their meal
with defiled hands, that is, unwashed.
– For the Pharisees, and in fact all the Jews,
always wash their hands thoroughly before eating,
out of adherence to the tradition of the elders;
and on returning from the marketplace,
they do not eat until they have sprinkled themselves with water,
and they also observe many other traditions:
washing of cups, pitchers, and dishes.
So the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus:
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders?
They eat their meals with defiled hands.”
Jesus replied:
“Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
In vain do they worship me;
the doctrines they teach are but human precepts.
You too set aside the commandment of God,
to cling to the tradition of men.”
He went on to say to them:
“You set aside God’s commandment
in order to establish your own tradition.
For Moses said:
Honor your father and your mother.
And also:
Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.
But you, you say:
Suppose a man says to his father or mother:
‘The resources by which I could have helped you
are korban, that is, a gift dedicated to God,’
then you no longer allow him to do anything
for his father or mother.
In this way you nullify the word of God
by the tradition you have handed down.
And you do many things like that.”

– Let us acclaim the Word of God.