A Catholic guide for saints, prayer, and practical devotional reading.
Friday of the 2nd week of Lent. Lent. A clean reading layout for church, prayer, or preparation.
The Roman Catholic readings for this date are shown below on-site. Use plain reading mode if you want clearer modern wording, or switch back to the original Douay-Rheims wording at any time.
On-site scripture text: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition. Plain mode is a built-in reading aid that modernizes older wording for easier understanding while keeping the same Roman Catholic reading references for the day.
Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Read this as the first big movement of the day. Notice what God is doing, who is speaking, and what part of the story or teaching should stay with you.
3Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours.
4And his brothers and sisters seeing that he was loved by his father, more than all his sons, hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
The psalm is meant to be prayed, not rushed. If the wording feels older, focus on the main movement of the prayer: trust, praise, sorrow, gratitude, or hope.
16And he called a famine upon the land: and he broke in pieces all the support of bread.
17He sent a man before them: Joseph, who was sold for a slave.
18They humbled his feet in fetters: the iron pierced his soul,
19until his word came. The word of the Lord inflamed him.
20The king sent, and he released him: the ruler of the people, and he set him at liberty.
21He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possession.
Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
The Gospel is the center of the reading set. Pay close attention to what Jesus says, what Jesus does, and what response he is asking for.
33Hear you another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen; and went into a strange country.
34And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof.
35And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner.
37And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son.
38But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir: come, let us kill him, and we shall have his gift.
39And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?
41They say to him: He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season.
42Jesus says to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.
43Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof.
45And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them.
46And seeking to lay hands on him, they feared the crowds: because they held him as a prophet.
This page uses the Catholic Readings API for the day's references and liturgical celebration data, while the on-site scripture text is rendered from the public-domain Douay-Rheims Bible distributed through the Open Bibles project.