1st Tuesday of Lent

Isaias 1:19-2:3

Thus says the Lord: If you are willing and will listen to me, you eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing, and will not listen to me, a sword devours you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this. How has faithful Sion, full of judgement, become a harlot city; in which justice once slept, but now murderers. You silver is worthless; your merchants mix wine with water; your rulers disobey, companions of thieves, loving bribes, running after reward, not judging for orphans, not giving judgement for widows. Because of this, thus says the Lord, the Master of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Woe to the strong in Jerusalem! For my wrath will not cease among my opponents; and I will execute judgement on my foes, and I will bring my hand upon you, and I will refine you into something pure; but the disobedient I will destroy, and remove all the lawless from you, and I will humble all the proud. And I will establish your judges as before, and your counsellors as from the beginning; and after this you shall be called a city of justice, mother city, faithful Sion; for with judgement will her captivity be saved, and with mercy. And the lawless will be crushed, and sinners as well, and those who have deserted the Lord will be utterly consumed. Therefore they will be shamed by their idols, which they wished for; and disgraced for their groves, which they desired. For they shall be a terebinth which has lost its leaves, and as a garden which has no water. And their strength will be a piece of tow and their works sparks of fire; and the lawless shall be burnt up, and sinners as well, and there shall be no one to quench the fire. The word which came from the Lord to Isaias, son of Amos, concerning Judea and Jerusalem: That in the last day the mountain of the Lord will be manifest, and the house of the Lord on the peaks of the mountains; and it will be exalted high above the hills, and all the nations will come to it, and many nations will journey and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will proclaim his way to us; and we shall walk in it. 

Genesis 1:14-23

God said: Let there be lamps in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth, and to make a separation between the day and the night; and let them exist for signs and for seasons and for days and for years; and let them exist to give light in the firmament of heaven, so as to shine on the earth; and it was so. And God made the two great lamps, the great lamp to rule the day, and the lesser lamp to rule the night and the stars. And God placed them in the firmament of heaven so as to shine on the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to make a separation between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. And god said: Let the waters bring forth reptiles of living souls, and winged creatures flying over the earth, under the firmament of heaven; and it was so. And God made the great whales, and every soul of living reptiles, which the waters brought forth according to their kind, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God saw that they were good; and God blessed them and said: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the winged creatures be multiplied upon the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 

Proverbs 1:20-33

Wisdom is praised in the streets, in the squares brings boldness. On the tops of the walls she is proclaimed, in the gates of the mighty she takes her seat; at the gates of the city she boldly declares: For as long as the innocent hold to justice, they will not be shamed; while the foolish, being ones who desire conceit, becoming ungodly, have hated perception, and have become subject to reproofs. See, I shall bring forth for you the utterance of my breath, while I shall teach you my word. Since I was calling and you did not obey, and I spoke at length and you paid no attention; but you made my counsels of no effect, you paid no attention to my reproofs; therefore I too shall laugh at your destruction; I shall rejoice when annihilation comes upon you, and disturbance arrives suddenly for you, while overthrow will come like a tempest, and when trouble and siege comes to us; or when annihilation comes to you; for it shall be, when you call upon me, that I shall not listen to you; the wicked will seek me, and not find me. For they hated wisdom, while they did not choose the word of the Lord, nor did they wish to attend to my counsels; but they derided my reproofs. Therefore they eat the fruits of their own way, and will be filled with their own ungodliness. For in return for their wronging infants, they will be slain, and examination will destroy the ungodly. While one who hears me will dwell in hope and will be still, with no fear of any evil.

Comments on the reading from Genesis

And God made the two great lamps. The sun and moon were objects of worship in many pagan religions, most notably Egypt where the Israelites had been held in bondage. To counter this idolatry, Moses here avoids using the names 'sun' and 'moon', calling them just two great lamps, in order to not personify them, stressing that they are creations of the One God and not deities worthy of the worship that belongs to Him alone.