DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

JULY 6, 2024

SATURDAY OF THE THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARIA GORETTI, VIRGIN AND MARTYR)

FIRST READING

AMOS 9:11-15 OR (1 CORINTHIANS 6:13-15, 17-20)

11 "In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name," says the LORD who does this. 13 "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land which I have given them," says the LORD your God.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 84(85):9-14 OR (PSALMS 31:3-4, 6, 8, 16-17)

Response: The Lord speaks of peace to his people.

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his saints, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.

R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.

R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.

Yea, the LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and make his footsteps a way.

R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
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GOSPEL

The day will come when they will fast

MATTHEW 9:14-17 OR (JOHN 12:24-26)

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

No need to fast in the presence of the Bridegroom, by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD)

"The Pharisees and John's disciples were fasting, and the apostles were not. But Jesus answered them in a spiritual way and indicated to John's disciples that he was a bridegroom. John taught that all hope in life lay in Christ. While he was still preaching, however, his disciples could not be received by the Lord. Up until the time of John, the law and the prophets prevailed, and unless the law came to an end, none of them would subscribe to faith in the gospel. The fact that he said there was no need for his disciples to fast as long as the bridegroom is with them illustrates the joy of his presence and the sacrament of the holy food, which no one need be without while he is present, that is, bearing Christ in the light of the mind. But once he is gone, Jesus says that they will fast, for all those who do not believe that Christ has risen will not have the food of life. By faith in the resurrection, the sacrament of the heavenly bread is received. Whoever is without Christ will be forsaken, fasting from the food of life."

(excerpt from the commentary ON MATTHEW 9.3)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.