Tuesday of the Eighteenth week in Ordinary Time

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. For the Lord says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. The Lord says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach to me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me?” says the Lord. “You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust. So the nations will fear the Lord’s name; all the kings of the earth your glory. For the Lord has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory. He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise the Lord. For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the Lord saw the earth; But you are the same. Your years will have no end. to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death; that men may declare the Lord’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.” He summoned the multitude, and said to them, “Hear, and understand. That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” Then the disciples came, and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying?” But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted. Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”