DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
AUGUST 12, 2025
TUESDAY OF THE NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING
DEUTERONOMY 31:1-8
1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, `You shall not go over this Jordan.' 3 The LORD your God himself will go over before you; he will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them; and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. 4 And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you." 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed."
The Word of the Lord
_
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
DEUTERONOMY 31(32):3-4, 7-9, 12
Response: The portion of the Lord is his people.
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
“The Rock, his work is perfect;
for all his ways are justice.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
Remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he separated the sons of men,
he fixed the bounds of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
For the LORD'S portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
The LORD alone did lead him,
and there was no foreign god with him.
R. The portion of the Lord is his people.
_
GOSPEL
"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven"
MATTHEW 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, 3 and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; 10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
The Gospel of the Lord
_
REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
What it means to become a child a God, by Epiphanius the Latin (late 5th century)
"Here the Lord not only repressed the apostles' thoughts but also checked the ambition of believers throughout the whole world, so that he might be great who wanted to be least. For with this purpose Jesus used the example of the child, that what he had been through his nature, we through our holy living might become - innocent, like children innocent of every sin. For a child does not know how to hold resentment or to grow angry. He does not know how to repay evil for evil. He does not think base thoughts. He does not commit adultery or arson or murder. He is utterly ignorant of theft or brawling or all the things that will draw him to sin. He does not know how to disparage, how to blaspheme, how to hurt, how to lie. He believes what he hears. What he is ordered he does not analyze. He loves his parents with full affection. Therefore what children are in their simplicity, let us become through a holy way of life, as children innocent of sin. And quite rightly, one who has become a child innocent of sin in this way is greater in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives such a person will receive Christ."
(excerpt from INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 27)
_
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.