DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
JUNE 13, 2025
FRIDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
FIRST READING
2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-15 OR (ISAIAH 61:1-3 / WISDOM 7:7-14 / EPHESIANS 4:7, 11-15)
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believe, and so we speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 115(116):10-11, 15-18 OR (PSALMS 89:2-5, 21-22, 25, 27 / PSALMS 40:3-4, 10-11, 17)
Response: To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.
I kept my faith, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
I said in my consternation,
“Men are all a vain hope.”
R. To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
O LORD, I am thy servant;
I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid.
Thou hast loosed my bonds.
R. To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
R. To thee, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL
If your eye causes you to sin
MATTHEW 5:27-32 OR (LUKE 10:1-9 / MARK 16:15-20)
27 "You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 31 "It was also said, `Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
The fuel of adultery, by Chromatius (died 406 AD)
"Because adultery is a serious sin and in order to uproot it, lest our conscience be defiled, he [Jesus] forbade even lust, which is the fuel of adultery. According to the words of blessed James in his epistle, 'Lust when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death' (James 1:15). The Holy Spirit speaks concerning this to David: 'Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock' (Psalm 137:9). The symbolism here is that the blessed and truly evangelical person roots out the desires and lust of the flesh arising from human weakness. He does this immediately before they grow, at the onset, through faith in Christ who has been described as a rock" (1 Corinthians 10:4)
(excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 23.1.67)
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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.