Daily Readings for August 5, 2019

1st READING 

Moses already feels the burden of leadership. He complains to God about his difficulties and asks to be relieved of the problem of lack of food as they travel through the desert. We should never be afraid to present our needs to the Lord and expect an answer. We may not get the answer we want, but God hears and responds to our prayers in His wisdom and in His perfect time. It is only later on that we will see His hand at work.

Numbers 11:4-15

4 The children of Israel lamented, “Would that we had meat for food! 5 We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.” 7 Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin. 8 When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, which tasted like cakes made with oil. 9 At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell. 10 When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the Lord became very angry, he was grieved. 11 “Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the Lord. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? 12 Was it I who conceived all this people? Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers? 13 Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, ‘Give us meat for our food.’ 14 I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. 15 If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress.”

PSALM

Psalm 81:12-13, 14-15, 16-17

R: Sing with joy to God our help.

12 “My people heard not my voice, and Israel obeyed me not; 13 so I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts; they walked according to their own counsels.” (R) 14 “If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, 15 quickly would I humble their enemies; against their foes I would turn my hand.” (R) 16 “Those who hated the Lord would seek to flatter me, but their fate would endure forever, 17 while Israel I would feed with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them.” (R) 

GOSPEL

We see God at work in us by committing to daily prayer and reflection. We may not immediately see His hand as an event unfolds, yet He is there. We recognize Him as we reflect and look closely. Coupled with an examination of conscience, this ensures that sins do not take hold in our lives and enables usto overcome them.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Matthew 14:13-21 (or Matthew 14:22-36)

13 When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. 14 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 He said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” 17 But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” 18 Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” 19 and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. 21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

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Daily Readings for August 4, 2019

1st READING

Following the will of God keeps us away from vanity. If we do this with the right spirit, we will avoid vanities and submit to God in all things. Nothing good comes of vanity. It leads us away from God and deceives us into thinking that we are the masters of our own destiny. Let us never fall into this trap and remain attentive to God’s will for us each day.

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23

2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! 2:21 Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune. 22 For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? 23 All his days sorrow and grief is his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity.

PSALM 

Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17

R: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

3 You turn man back to dust, saying, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. (R) 5 You make an end of them in their sleep; the next morning they are like the changing grass, 6 which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades. (R) 12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! (R) 14 Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. 17 And may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands!” (R)

2nd READING

Sin destroys God’s image and makes it impossible for others to see Him in us. Growing in His image and likeness entails making difficult decisions that lead to rejection of sin and temptation, a decision that we will have to make many times each day. Our challenge is to grow in holiness and we need all the help we can get— prayer, Scripture reading, receiving the sacraments, and others. Let us be mindful of the simple things of faith that can help us grow deeper in our love for God.

Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11

1 Brothers and sisters: If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. 9 Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.

GOSPEL

Greed and complacency kill the life of the Spirit. Let us be wary of the seductions of wealth and the ways of the world; otherwise, these will consume us. Unfortunately, the human tendency is to surrender to worldly ways and not to the life of holiness. We constantly battle against our lesser senses. Let us be vigilant and not allow these tendencies to control us.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 14 He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” 15 Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 17 He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ 18 And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods’ 19 and I shall say to myself, ‘Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!’’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ 21 Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

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Daily Readings for August 3, 2019

1st READING

Poverty among the Israelites may have been connected to their access to land that they worked on to support their families. Returning the land to its original owner every fifty years on a jubilee year seemed to address the problem of inequitable of distribution of wealth. This will work in a rural society but not in urbanized societies like ours today. The government should devise ways of caring for the poor and dispossessed while at the same time maintaining incentive for economic development. Let us pray for our civil leaders that they will address the issues of poverty.

Leviticus 25:1, 8-17

1 The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 8 “Seven weeks of years shall you count—seven times seven years—so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall reecho throughout your land. 10 This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property, every one to his own family estate. 11 In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee, you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines. 12 Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you, you may not eat of its produce, except as taken directly from the field. 13 In this year of jubilee, then, every one of you shall return to his own property. 14 Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly. 15 On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee shall you purchase the land from your neighbor; and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops, shall he sell it to you. 16 When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of crops that he sells you. 17 Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God. I, the Lord, am your God.”

PSALM

Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 7-8

R: O God, let all the nations praise you!

2 May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us. 3 So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation. (R) 5 May the nations be glad and exult because you rule the peoples in equity; the nations on the earth you guide. (R) 7 The earth has yielded its fruits; God, our God, has blessed us. 8 May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him! (R)

GOSPEL

Herod is a conflicted person—he wants to do the right thing, yet he also desires to be a people-pleaser. He ends up doing something he knows as unjust—imprisoning John the Baptist and having him executed to please the people. May we always do what is right instead of what is pleasing to others.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 14:1-12

1 Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” 3 Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, 4 for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. 6 But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod 7 so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, 10 and he had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

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Daily Readings for August 2, 2019

1st READING 

Our human psyche seems to enjoy the regularity of a process. For example, we usually have a “ritual” upon waking up in the morning. It may change a bit from day to day but ultimately the basics remain the same. The faithful practice of religion is ritualistic but not confined to rituals. The rituals—prayer and the celebration of the sacraments and festivals of the Church calendar—provide the framework on which our service for God’s Kingdom is built.

Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34-37

1 The Lord said to Moses, 4 “These, are the festivals of the Lord which you shall celebrate at their proper time with a sacred assembly. 5 The Passover of the Lord falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the evening twilight. 6 The fifteenth day of this month is the Lord’s feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first of these days, you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work. 8 On each of the seven days, you shall offer an oblation to the Lord. Then on the seventh day, you shall again hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work.” 9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel and tell them: when you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap your harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 who shall wave the sheaf before the Lord that it may be acceptable for you. On the day after the sabbath the priest shall do this. 15 “Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the wave-offering sheaf, you shall count seven full weeks, 16 and then on the day after the seventh week, the fiftieth day, you shall present the new cereal offering to the Lord. 27 “The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement, when you shall hold a sacred assembly and mortify yourselves and offer an oblation to the Lord. 34 “The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Lord’s feast of Booths, which shall continue for seven days. 35 On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly, and you shall do no sort of work. 36 For seven days, you shall offer an oblation to the Lord, and on the eighth day, you shall again hold a sacred assembly and offer an oblation to the Lord. On that solemn closing, you shall do no sort of work. 37 “These, therefore, are the festivals of the Lord on which you shall proclaim a sacred assembly, and offer as an oblation to the Lord burnt offerings and cereal offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day.”

PSALM

Psalm 81:3-4, 5-6, 10-11

R: Sing with joy to God our help.

3 Take up a melody, and sound the timbrel, the pleasant harp and the lyre. 4 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast. (R) 5 For it is a statute in Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, 6 who made it a decree for Joseph when he came forth from the land of Egypt. (R) 10 There shall be no strange god among you nor shall you worship any alien god. 11 I, the Lord, am your God who led you forth from the land of Egypt. (R)

GOSPEL

The people in Jesus’ hometown are astonished by His homecoming. Maybe the reaction is rooted in their familiarity with how simple Jesus’ growing up years in Nazareth were. But now, He returns as a famous preacher of the Good News. The people must have found this unbelievable. Those closest to us find it difficult to accept the changes they see in us.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

The word of the Lord remains forever; this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.

Matthew 13:54-58

54 Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? 55 Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? 56 Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.” 58 And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

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Daily Readings for August 1, 2019

1st READING

Today is the feast day of the founder of the Redemptorist Order, Alphonsus Ligouri. He established the Redemptorists to address the lack of priestly service in the rural areas of Italy. The Redemptorists launched parish missions that focused on conversion of the heart and encouraged people into a committed parish life. Let us pray for the Redemptorists today as they continue to live out their charism in the service of the Church.

Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38

16 Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded him. 17 On the first day of the first month of the second year the Dwelling was erected. 18 It was Moses who erected the Dwelling. He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its columns. 19 He spread the tent over the Dwelling and put the covering on top of the tent, as the Lord had commanded him. 20 He took the commandments and put them in the ark; he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it. 21 He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil, thus screening off the ark of the commandments, as the Lord had commanded him. 34 Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling. 35 Moses could not enter the meeting tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling. 36 Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the children of Israel would set out on their journey. 37 But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward. 38 In the daytime the cloud of the Lord was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey.

PSALM

Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6, 8, 11

R: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

3 My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (R) 4 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young—Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God! (R) 5 Blessed they who dwell in your house! Continually they praise you. 6 Blessed the men whose strength you are! 8 They go from strength to strength. (R) 11 I had rather one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. (R) 

GOSPEL

When serving a community, a leader must be ready to respond to different needs. There is a need to prioritize especially with limited resources. There will be difficult decisions to be made. However, the best decisions can be made with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that our leaders decide what is best for everyone.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.

Matthew 13:47-53

47 Jesus said to the disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. 48 When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 51 Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” 53 When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

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