June 27, 2006, Saturday of the 12th week in ordinary time.

A reading from the book of Lamentations.

The Lord has consumed without pity all the dwellings of Jacob.

He has torn down in his anger the fortresses of daughter Judah.

He has brought to the ground in dishonor, her kings,

and her princes. On the ground in silence, sit the old men of daughter Zion. They strew dust on their

heads and gird themselves with sackcloth. The maidens of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground. Worn out from weeping are my eyes. Within me,

all is infirment. My gall is poured out on the ground because of the downfall of the daughter of my

people, as child and infant faint away in the open spaces of the town. In vain they ask their mothers,

where is the grain? As they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city and breathe

their last in their mother's arms. To what can I liken or compare you, O daughter Jerusalem?

What example can I show you for your comfort, Virgin daughter Zion?

For great as the sea is your downfall.

Who can heal you?

Your prophets had for you false and specious visions.

They did not lay bare your guilt to avert your fate.

They beheld for you in vision, false, and misleading portents. Cry out to the Lord. Mone, O daughter Zion. Let your tears flow like a torrent

day and night. Let there be no respite for you, no repose for your eyes. Rise up, shrill in the

night at the beginning of every watch. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.

Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your little ones who faint from hunger at the corner of every street.

The word of the Lord.

The responsorial psalm, the response is,

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