1st READING
Ezekiel reminds the people of Israel how they have forsaken the Lord for worldly acclaim and pleasures. This displeases the Lord and He allows the people to experience the consequences of their actions – defeat in battle followed by exile. This is the result of ignoring God’s grace and relying on their own faulty wisdom. Let us trust in the Lord to direct and guide us in all things.
Ezekiel 16:59-63 (or Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63)
59 Thus says the Lord: I will deal with you according to what you have done, you who despised your oath, breaking a covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you shall remember your conduct and be ashamed when I take your sisters, those older and younger than you, and give them to you as daughters, even though I am not bound by my covenant with you. 62 For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord God.
P S A L M
Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
R: You have turned from your anger.
2 God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the Lord, and he has been my savior. 3 With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation. (R) 4 Give thanks to the Lord, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name. (R) 5 Sing praise to the Lord for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth. 6 Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel! (R)
GOSPEL
The sanctity of marriage is an essential aspect of the Church’s moral teaching. The Church teaches us to take responsibility for our sexuality and all that stems from it. Children have a right to a mother and father — they are blessings from the Lord. Our sexuality is just like any other human appetite — eating, drinking, playing, working, etc. We need to be responsible in our expression of our sexuality and honor the gift that it is, and not treat it like a commodity to be bought and sold.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Receive the word of God, not as the word of men, but, as it truly is, the word of God.
Matthew 19:3-12
3 Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” 4 He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female 5 and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” 7 They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” 8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” 10 His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. 12 Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment