1ST READING
Thomas Aquinas teaches us that friendship endures for eternity. Our friendships will be sanctified and blessed infinitely when we meet in heaven. This is why it is important to test our friendships. You might regret investing a lot in someone in this life only to find that he did not make it to heaven. We should choose wisely the people we become friends with.
Sirach 6:5-17
5 A kind mouth multiplies friends and appeases enemies, and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings. 6 Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant. 7 When you gain a friend, first test him, and be not too ready to trust him. 8 For one sort of friend is a friend when it suits him, but he will not be with you in time of distress. 9 Another is a friend who becomes an enemy, and tells of the quarrel to your shame. 10 Another is a friend, a boon companion, who will not be with you when sorrow comes. 11 When things go well, he is your other self, and lords it over your servants; 12 but if you are brought low, he turns against you and avoids meeting you. 13 Keep away from your enemies; be on your guard with your friends. 14 A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. 15 A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. 16 A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; 17 for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.
P S A L M
Psalm 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34, 35
R: Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes. (R) 16 In your statutes I will delight; I will not forget your words. (R) 18 Open my eyes, that I may consider the wonders of your law. (R) 27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds. (R) 34 Give me discernment that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart. (R) 35 Lead me in the path of your commands, for in it I delight. (R)
GOSPEL
Marriage is a sacrament that is integral to the building of human society. If family relationships are unreliable, relationships in society will be unstable. This will make it very difficult to uphold a society. Marriage is one of the targets of the devil. Let us protect the sanctity and institution of marriage from destruction.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Your word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth.
Mark 10:1-12
1 Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. 2 The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. 3 He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They replied, “Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” 5 But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. 7 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” 10 In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
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