ESPAñOL
July 13, 2024
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 388
Reading 1
Is 6:1-8
In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces,
with two they veiled their feet,
and with two they hovered aloft.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Alleluia
1 Pt 4:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 10:24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!
“Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Comment:
Fr. Josep LAPLANA OSB Monk of Montserrat (Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain)
"You will be hated by all because of my name"
Today, the Gospel highlights the difficulties and contradictions that the Christian will have to suffer for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, and how he will have to resist and persevere to the end. Jesus promised us: "I am with you always until the end of the world" (Mt 28:20); But he has not promised his people an easy path, on the contrary, he told them: "You will be hated by everyone because of my name" (Mt 10:22).
The Church and the world are two realities of “difficult” coexistence. The world, which the Church must convert to Jesus Christ, is not a neutral reality, as if it were virgin wax that only awaits the seal that gives it shape. This would have been so only if there had not been a history of sin between the creation of man and his redemption. The world, as a structure separated from God, obeys another lord, who the Gospel of Saint John calls "the lord of this world", the enemy of the soul, to whom the Christian has sworn an oath - on the day of his baptism - of disobedience, of standing up to it, to belong only to the Lord and to the Mother Church that has engendered him in Jesus Christ.
But the baptized continues to live in this world and not in another, he does not renounce the citizenship of this world nor deny its honest contribution to sustain it and improve it; the duties of civic citizenship are also Christian duties; Paying taxes is a duty of justice for the Christian. Jesus said that his followers are in the world, but we are not of the world (cf. Jn 17:14-15). We do not belong to the world unconditionally, we only belong completely to Jesus Christ and the Church, a true spiritual homeland, which is here on earth and which crosses the barrier of space and time to disembark us in the definitive homeland of heaven.
This dual citizenship inevitably collides with the forces of sin and domination that move worldly mechanisms. Reviewing the history of the Church, Newman said that "persecution is the mark of the Church and perhaps the most enduring of all."
Thoughts for today's Gospel
«The athlete does not win when he takes off his clothes, because he leaves the clothes to start fighting. He only receives the crown of victor after having fought as he should »(Saint Paulinus of Nola)
«Jesus tells us: 'I command you like sheep in the midst of wolves.' The Christian, rather, must be prudent, sometimes even astute: these are the virtues accepted by evangelical logic. But violence never" (Francis)
«We can, therefore, expect the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In all circumstances, each one must hope, with the grace of God, 'to persevere to the end' (...)" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1,821)
Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
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Go to Top Page Click to read in ==> ESPAñOL
July 13, 2024
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 388
Reading 1
Is 6:1-8
In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces,
with two they veiled their feet,
and with two they hovered aloft.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Alleluia
1 Pt 4:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 10:24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!
“Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Comment:
Fr. Josep LAPLANA OSB Monk of Montserrat (Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain)
"You will be hated by all because of my name"
Today, the Gospel highlights the difficulties and contradictions that the Christian will have to suffer for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, and how he will have to resist and persevere to the end. Jesus promised us: "I am with you always until the end of the world" (Mt 28:20); But he has not promised his people an easy path, on the contrary, he told them: "You will be hated by everyone because of my name" (Mt 10:22).
The Church and the world are two realities of “difficult” coexistence. The world, which the Church must convert to Jesus Christ, is not a neutral reality, as if it were virgin wax that only awaits the seal that gives it shape. This would have been so only if there had not been a history of sin between the creation of man and his redemption. The world, as a structure separated from God, obeys another lord, who the Gospel of Saint John calls "the lord of this world", the enemy of the soul, to whom the Christian has sworn an oath - on the day of his baptism - of disobedience, of standing up to it, to belong only to the Lord and to the Mother Church that has engendered him in Jesus Christ.
But the baptized continues to live in this world and not in another, he does not renounce the citizenship of this world nor deny its honest contribution to sustain it and improve it; the duties of civic citizenship are also Christian duties; Paying taxes is a duty of justice for the Christian. Jesus said that his followers are in the world, but we are not of the world (cf. Jn 17:14-15). We do not belong to the world unconditionally, we only belong completely to Jesus Christ and the Church, a true spiritual homeland, which is here on earth and which crosses the barrier of space and time to disembark us in the definitive homeland of heaven.
This dual citizenship inevitably collides with the forces of sin and domination that move worldly mechanisms. Reviewing the history of the Church, Newman said that "persecution is the mark of the Church and perhaps the most enduring of all."
Thoughts for today's Gospel
«The athlete does not win when he takes off his clothes, because he leaves the clothes to start fighting. He only receives the crown of victor after having fought as he should »(Saint Paulinus of Nola)
«Jesus tells us: 'I command you like sheep in the midst of wolves.' The Christian, rather, must be prudent, sometimes even astute: these are the virtues accepted by evangelical logic. But violence never" (Francis)
«We can, therefore, expect the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In all circumstances, each one must hope, with the grace of God, 'to persevere to the end' (...)" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1,821)
Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
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Go to Top Page Click to read in ==> ESPAñOL