Thursday of the 8th week of Ordinary Time

2Like newborn infants, desire the milk of reasonableness without guile, so that by this you may increase unto salvation, 3if it is true that you have tasted that the Lord is sweet. 4And approaching him as if he were a living stone, rejected by men, certainly, but elect and honored by God, 5be also yourselves like living stones, built upon him, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, so as to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

…

9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, an acquired people, so that you may announce the virtues of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10Though in past times you were not a people, yet now you are the people of God. Though you had not obtained mercy, yet now you have obtained mercy. 11Most beloved, I beg you, as new arrivals and sojourners, to abstain from carnal desires, which battle against the soul. 12Keep your behavior among the Gentiles to what is good, so that, when they slander you as if you were evildoers, they may, by the good works that are seen in you, glorify God on the day of visitation.

2Shout joyfully to God, all the earth. Serve the Lord with rejoicing. Enter into his sight in exultation.

3Know that the Lord himself is God. He made us, and we ourselves did not. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter his gates with confession, his courts with hymns, and acknowledge him. Praise his name.

5For the Lord is sweet, his mercy is in eternity, and his truth is from generation to generation.

46And they went to Jericho. And as he was setting out from Jericho with his disciples and a very numerous multitude, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind man, sat begging beside the way. 47And when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and to say, “Jesus, Son of David, take pity on me.” 48And many admonished him to be quiet. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, take pity on me.” 49And Jesus, standing still, instructed him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying to him: “Be at peace. Arise. He is calling you.” 50And casting aside his garment, he leapt up and went to him. 51And in response, Jesus said to him, “What do you want, that I should do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Master, that I may see.” 52Then Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has made you whole.” And immediately he saw, and he followed him on the way.