July 27, 2004, Saturday of the 16th week in ordinary time.

A reading from the book of the prophet, Jeremiah.

The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord.

Stand at the gate of the house of a Lord and there proclaim this message.

Hear the word of a Lord, oh you of Judah, who enter these gates to worship the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, reform your ways and your deed so that I may remain

with you in this place.

Put not your trust in the deceitful words, this is the temple of a Lord, the Temple of

a Lord, the Temple of the Lord.

Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds, if each of you deals justly with his

neighbor, if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow, if you no

longer shed innocent blood in this place or foul strange gods to your own harm, will I remain

with you in this place in the land I gave your fathers

long ago and forever?

But here you are putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss.

Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Ba'al, go after

strange gods that you know not, and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears

my name and say, We are safe, we can commit all these abominations again.

Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves?

I too see what is being done, says the Lord.

The Word of the Lord. The word of the Lord. The responsorial Psalm. The response is,

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God. My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the

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