DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
OCTOBER 2, 2021
SATURDAY - MEMORIAL OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS
FIRST READING
BARUCH 4:5-12, 27-29 OR (EXODUS 23:20-23)
5 Take courage, my people, O memorial of Israel! 6 It was not for destruction that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God. 7 For you provoked him who made you, by sacrificing to demons and not to God. 8 You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up, and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you. 9 For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God, and she said: "Hearken, you neighbors of Zion, God has brought great sorrow upon me; 10 for I have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them. 11 With joy I nurtured them, but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow. 12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and bereaved of many; I was left desolate because of the sins of my children, because they turned away from the law of God. 27 "Take courage, my children, and cry to God, for you will be remembered by him who brought this upon you. 28 For just as you purposed to go astray from God, return with tenfold zeal to seek him. 29 For he who brought these calamities upon you will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation."
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
For the LORD hears the needy,
and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves therein.
and rebuild the cities of Judah;
and his servants shall dwell there and possess it;
the children of his servants shall inherit it,
GOSPEL
Their angels behold the Father in heaven
MATTHEW 18:1-5, 10
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."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Their angels behold the face of my Father in heaven, by Chromatius (died 406 AD)
"It is not right to despise anyone who believes in Christ. A believer is called not only a servant of God but also a son through the grace of adoption, to whom the kingdom of heaven and the company of the angels is promised. And rightly the Lord adds, 'For I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.' How much grace the Lord has toward each one believing in him he himself declares when he shows their angels always beholding the face of the Father who is in heaven. Great is the grace of the angels toward all who believe in Christ. Finally, the angels carry their prayers to heaven. Hence the word of Raphael to Tobias: 'When you prayed along with your daughter-in-law Sara, I offered the memory of your prayer in the sight of God (Deutero-canonical book of Tobit 12:12). Around them there is also the strong guard of the angels; they help each of us to be free from the traps of the enemy. For a human in his weakness could not be safe amid so many forceful attacks of that enemy if he were not strengthened by the help of the angels."
(excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 57.1)
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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.