Reading 1, Genesis 1:20--2:4

²⁰ God said, 'Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let birds wing their way above the earth across the vault of heaven.' And so it was.

²¹ God created great sea-monsters and all the creatures that glide and teem in the waters in their own species, and winged birds in their own species. God saw that it was good.

²² God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply on land.'

²³ Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.

²⁴ God said, 'Let the earth produce every kind of living creature in its own species: cattle, creeping things and wild animals of all kinds.' And so it was.

²⁵ God made wild animals in their own species, and cattle in theirs, and every creature that crawls along the earth in its own species. God saw that it was good.

²⁶ God said, 'Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.'

²⁷ God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth.'

²⁹ God also said, 'Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this will be your food.

³⁰ And to all the wild animals, all the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that creep along the ground, I give all the foliage of the plants as their food.' And so it was.

³¹ God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.

¹ Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their array.

² On the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing.

³ God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he rested after all his work of creating.

⁴ Such was the story of heaven and earth as they were created. At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

⁴ what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him?

⁵ Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty,

⁶ made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet,

⁷ sheep and cattle, all of them, and even the wild beasts,

⁸ birds in the sky, fish in the sea, when he makes his way across the ocean.

⁹ Yahweh our Lord, how majestic your name throughout the world!

Gospel, Mark 7:1-13

¹ The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round him,

² and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

³ For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, keep the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow;

⁴ and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them to keep, concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes.

⁵ So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, 'Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?'

⁶ He answered, 'How rightly Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites in the passage of scripture: This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.

⁷ Their reverence of me is worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments.

⁸ You put aside the commandment of God to observe human traditions.'

⁹ And he said to them, 'How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition!

¹⁰ For Moses said: Honour your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death.

¹¹ But you say, "If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Korban (that is, dedicated to God),"

¹² then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.

¹³ In this way you make God's word ineffective for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.'

June 2013

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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