◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 41 (Heal me O God); Isaiah 38:1-8 (Hezekiah is healed by God); Hebrews 12:7-13 (What is lame may be healed) (New Catholic Bible)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 41

Psalm 41^[a]

Trust in God in Sickness and Misfortune

¹For the director.^[b] A psalm of David.

²^[c]Blessed is he who has concern for the weak;
    in time of trouble the Lord will deliver him.
³The Lord will protect him and keep him alive;
    he will make him happy on earth
    and not abandon him to the will of his enemies.
⁴The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed
    and bring him back to health.
⁵Once I prayed, “O Lord, have mercy on me;
    heal me, for I have sinned^[d] against you.
⁶In their malice my enemies say of me,
    ‘When will he die and his name be forgotten?’
⁷When someone comes to visit me,
    he utters words without sincerity;
his heart^[e] harbors slander,
    and on departing he gives voice to it.
⁸“All my enemies whisper against me
    and conjure up the worst in my regard.
⁹‘He has a fatal disease,’ they say;
    ‘he will never rise up from his sickbed.’
¹⁰“Even my friend whom I trusted,
    the one who dined at my table,
    has risen up^[f] against me.
¹¹But you, O Lord, be merciful to me;
    make me well^[g] so that I may pay them back.”
¹²By this I know that you are pleased with me—
    that my enemy fails to triumph over me.
¹³Because of my innocence you uphold me
    and let me stand in your presence forever.
¹⁴Blessed^[h] be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    forever and forever.
    Amen and Amen.

Footnotes

Psalm 41:1 The psalmist is well aware that mercy is rarely given by human beings. In his illness, he received no mercy from others; instead his enemies gleefully engaged in malicious gossip about him and his coming death and even his friend betrayed him. However, the psalmist does not retaliate in kind; he turns to God for mercy, asking for a rich life with all his powers restored so that he can stand once again in the presence of the Lord.
In praying this psalm, we can recall that the entire psalm is applicable to Christ personally, with the exception of verse 5, which he can assume only in place of and in the role of his sinful members. Since Christ assures us of God’s complete solicitude, we can recite this supplication on our account amid our earthly trials.
Psalm 41:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation.
Psalm 41:2 The psalmist voices his confidence that the Lord will restore him to fullness of health and life because of the psalmist’s regard for the weak. Blessed . . . weak: other psalms use the same designation (“Blessed”) for those whom God favors (see Pss 32:1f; 34:9; 40:5; 65:5; see also note on Ps 1:1).
Psalm 41:5 Sinned: the psalmist acknowledges his sin and asks for forgiveness and healing—in keeping with the idea that sickness was a divine punishment for sin (see Ps 107:17; Job 32:3). In the cure of the man born blind, Jesus was to indicate that such was not the case (see Jn 9:2f).
Psalm 41:7 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8.
Psalm 41:10 This passage repeats a theme frequently developed (see Pss 31:12; 38:12; 55:15f; 88:9; Job 19:13; Jer 20:10; 38:22). It is cited by Jesus with reference to Judas (Jn 13:18) according to the sense of the Septuagint. Risen up: literally, “raised his heel.”
Psalm 41:11 Make me well: the fact that God heals the psalmist is in itself a judgment in his favor and against his adversaries, but paying them back is not part of God’s judgment.
Psalm 41:14 This doxology is not part of the psalm; it concludes the first of the five Books of the Psalter (see Pss 72:18f; 89:53; 106:48; 150). Blessed: see note on Ps 18:47.

Isaiah 38:1-8

Chapter 38

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery. ¹During that period, Hezekiah fell ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him and said, “Thus says the Lord: Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.”

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³“I beg you, O Lord, to remember how I have conducted myself faithfully in your presence and have always done what was pleasing to you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, ⁵“Go and say to Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David. I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Therefore, I have decided to heal you. In three days you will go up to the temple of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria and defend this city.”

⁷Isaiah replied, “This will be the sign to you from the Lord that he will do as he has promised. ⁸I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the stairway of Ahaz to turn back ten steps.” And the sun then retreated the ten steps it had previously advanced.

Hebrews 12:7-13

⁷Endure the trials you receive as a form of discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there who is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you have not received the discipline in which all share, then you are illegitimate and not true sons.

⁹In addition, we have all received discipline from our earthly fathers, and we respected them. Should we not then be even more willing to submit to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰They disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but he does so for our benefit so that we may share his holiness.

¹¹At the time that discipline is received, it always seems painful rather than pleasant, but afterward it yields a harvest of peace and uprightness to those who have been trained by it. ¹²Therefore, strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees, ¹³and make straight paths for your feet, so that your weakened limbs may not be disabled but rather may be healed.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)