Today’s Readings – Saturday of Week 12 of Ordinary Time - First Reading

Commentary on Lamentations 2:2,10-14,18-19

Today’s reading is from the Book of Lamentations. We have come to the end of our readings about the history of the Kings, contained in the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings and the books of Chronicles. We began with Saul and finished with Zedekiah, a puppet king installed by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.

According to the Vatican II Missal:

"The Book of Lamentations contains five poems of sorrow over the destroyed Jerusalem. Written probably by an eyewitness, these words express a poignant grief that the chants of Tenebrae [in Holy Week] put to music."


Our reading today is taken from chapter 2 which speaks of the Lord’s anger against Zion, i.e. Jerusalem. In this chapter the author describes the wretched fa … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Friday of Week 12 of Ordinary Time - First Reading

Commentary on 2 Kings 25:1-12

Today we come to the end of the sad story of Israel’s degradation and humiliation—the second deportation. Yesterday we saw how Mattaniah, renamed Zedekiah, had been made a puppet or vassal king of Judah, the southern kingdom, by Nebuchadnezzar. He w … Continue