January 22, 2004. Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.

A reading from the second book of Samuel.

All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said,

Here we are, your bone and your flesh. In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back. And the Lord said to you, you shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel. When all the elders of Israel came to David

in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the Lord, and they anointed him,

King of Israel. David was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 40 years, seven years and six

months in Hebron over Judah, and 33 years in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah.

Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.

David was told, you cannot enter here. The blind and the lame will drive you away,

which was their way of saying, David cannot enter here. But David did take the stronghold of Zion,

which is the city of David. David grew steadily more powerful, for the Lord of hosts was with him. The word of the Lord. The response

orial Psalm. The response is, My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. Once you spoke in a vision,

and to your faithful ones you said, on a champion I have placed a crown over the people I have set a youth.

My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. I have found David, my servant, with my holy oil I have anointed

him, that my hand may be always with him, and that my arm may make him strong. My faithfulness and my

mercy shall be with him. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and through my name shall his horn be exalted.

I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers.

My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,

He is possessed by Beelzebub and by the prince of demons he drives out demons.

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables.

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