DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

Friday - Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Memorial (July 26)

"Many longed to hear what you hear"

GOSPEL

Matthew 13:16-17

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Ears that refuse to hear, by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD)

"Faith perceives the mysteries of the kingdom. A person will make progress in those things he has been immersed in and will abound with an increase in that progress. But in those things he has not been immersed in, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. In other words, he suffers the loss of the law from the loss of his faith. Lacking faith, the people of the law lost even the efficacy of the law. Therefore, gospel faith receives a perfect gift, because it enriches with new fruit those things that have been undertaken. But once it is rejected, even the help of one's former means of support is taken away.

(excerpt from a commentary ON MATTHEW 13.2)
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FIRST READING

Sirach 44:1, 10-15

1 Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers in their generations. 10 But these were men of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten; 11 their prosperity will remain with their descendants, and their inheritance to their children's children. 12 Their descendants stand by the covenants; their children also, for their sake. 13 Their posterity will continue for ever, and their glory will not be blotted out. 14 Their bodies were buried in peace, and their name lives to all generations. 15 Peoples will declare their wisdom, and the congregation proclaims their praise.
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALM 132:11, 13-14, 17-18

Response: God will give him the throne of David, his father.

The LORD swore to David
a firm promise from which he will not withdraw:
“Your own offspring
I will set upon your throne.”

R. God will give him the throne of David, his father.

For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he prefers her for his dwelling.
“Zion is my resting place forever;
in her will I dwell, for I prefer her.”

R. God will give him the throne of David, his father.

“In her will I make a horn to sprout forth for David;
I will place a lamp for my anointed.
His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but upon him my crown shall shine.”

R. God will give him the throne of David, his father.
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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.