DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

JUNE 9, 2023

FRIDAY OF THE NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT EPHREM, DEACON AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH)

FIRST READING

TOBIT 11:5-17 OR (COLOSSIANS 3:12-17)

5 Now Anna sat looking intently down the road for her son. 6 And she caught sight of him coming, and said to his father, "Behold, your son is coming, and so is the man who went with him!" 7 Raphael said, "I know, Tobias, that your father will open his eyes. 8 You therefore must anoint his eyes with the gall; and when they smart he will rub them, and will cause the white films to fall away, and he will see you." 9 Then Anna ran to meet them, and embraced her son, and said to him, "I have seen you, my child; now I am ready to die." And they both wept. 10 Tobit started toward the door, and stumbled. But his son ran to him 11 and took hold of his father, and he sprinkled the gall upon his father's eyes, saying, "Be of good cheer, father." 12 And when his eyes began to smart he rubbed them, 13 and the white films scaled off from the corners of his eyes. 14 Then he saw his son and embraced him, and he wept and said, "Blessed art thou, O God, and blessed is thy name for ever, and blessed are all thy holy angels. 15 For thou hast afflicted me, but thou hast had mercy upon me; here I see my son Tobias!" And his son went in rejoicing, and he reported to his father the great things that had happened to him in Media. 16 Then Tobit went out to meet his daughter-in-law at the gate of Nineveh, rejoicing and praising God. Those who saw him as he went were amazed because he could see. 17 And Tobit gave thanks before them that God had been merciful to him. When Tobit came near to Sarah his daughter-in-law, he blessed her, saying, "Welcome, daughter! Blessed is God who has brought you to us, and blessed are your father and your mother." So there was rejoicing among all his brethren in Nineveh.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 145(146):1-2, 6-10 OR (PSALMS 37:3-6, 30-31)

Response: Praise the Lord, my soul!
Or
R. Alleluia.

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have being.

Response: Praise the Lord, my soul!
Or
R. Alleluia.

Who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.

Response: Praise the Lord, my soul!
Or
R. Alleluia.

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners.

Response: Praise the Lord, my soul!
Or
R. Alleluia.

He upholds the widow and the fatherless;
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign for ever,
thy God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

Response: Praise the Lord, my soul!
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL

The Christ is the Son of David

MARK 12:35-37 OR (LUKE 6:43-45)

35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, `The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I put your enemies under your feet.' 37 David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?" And the great throng heard him gladly.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

Jesus is Son of David and Son of God, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"We also will ask the Pharisees of today a similar question. They deny that he who was born of the holy Virgin is very Son of God the Father and himself also God. They also divide the one Christ into two sons. Let these people explain to us how David's Son is his Lord, not so much as to human lordship as divine. To sit at the right hand of the Father is the assurance and pledge of supreme glory. Those who share the same throne are equal also in dignity, and those who are crowned with equal honors are understood of course to be equal in nature. To sit by God can signify nothing else than sovereign authority. The throne declares to us that Christ possesses power over everything and supremacy by right of his substance.
"How is the Son of David David's Lord, seated at the right hand of God the Father and on the throne of Deity? Is it not altogether according to the unerring word of the mystery that the Word as God sprung from the very substance of God the Father? Being in his likeness and equal with him, he became flesh. He became man, perfectly and yet without departing from the incomparable excellence of the divine dignities. He continued in that state in which he had always been. He still was God, although he became flesh and in form like us. He is David's Lord therefore according to that which belongs to his divine glory, nature and sovereignty. He is his son according to the flesh."

(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 137.52)
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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.