Daily Readings for August 27, 2019

1st READING 

When we proclaim the Gospel , there is no need to dress it up in special phrases and stories. Because it the truth of God’s love for us, it has its own power. It only needs to be spoken for it to take effect. His love compels a response from those who hear and experience it.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

1 You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not without effect. 2 Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle. 3 Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception. 4 But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please men, but rather God, who judges our hearts. 5 Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know, or with a pretext for greed—God is witness—6 nor did we seek praise from men, either from you or from others, 7 although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. 8 With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.

PSALM

Psalm 139:1-3, 4-6

R: You have searched me and you know me, Lord.

1 O Lord, you have probed me and you know me; 2 you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. 3 My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. (R) 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know the whole of it. 5 Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain. (R)

GOSPEL

Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine, was a persistent woman. She interceded for more than fifteen years for her son’s conversion and she wept many tears of grief. She did not give up and trusted that the Lord would hear her prayer. As a result, Augustine’s conversion won for the Church a great theologian in history.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. 

Matthew 23:23-26

23 Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. 24 Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

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