DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

AUGUST 27, 2023

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

MEMORIAL OF SAINT MONICA

FIRST READING

ISAIAH 22:19-23 OR (SIRACH 26:1-4, 13-16)

19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, 21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 137(138):1-3, 6, 8 OR (PSALMS 131:1-3)

Response: Lord, thy love is eternal; do not forsake the work of thy hands.

I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing thy praise;
I bow down toward thy holy temple.

R. Lord, thy love is eternal; do not forsake the work of thy hands.

And give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness;
for thou hast exalted above everything
thy name and thy word.
On the day I called, thou didst answer me,
my strength of soul thou didst increase.

R. Lord, thy love is eternal; do not forsake the work of thy hands.

For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly;
but the haughty he knows from afar.
The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me;
thy steadfast love, O LORD, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of thy hands.

R. Lord, thy love is eternal; do not forsake the work of thy hands.
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SECOND READING

ROMANS 11:33-36

33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.

The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL

The keys of the kingdom of heaven

MATTHEW 16:13-20 OR (LUKE 7:11-17)

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

Christ, the Son of the living God, by Epiphanius the Latin (315-403 AD)

Did the Lord not know what people called him? But by questioning he brought forth the conviction of the apostle Peter and left for us in the future a strong affirmation of faith. For the Lord questioned not only Peter but all the apostles when he said, Who do you say that I am? Yet one on behalf of all answered the King, who is in due time to judge the whole world. He is God, both God and man. How miserable does this make those who are false teachers and strangers now, and to be judged in eternity. If Christ is the Son of God, by all means he is also God. If he is not God, he is not the Son of God. But since he himself is the Son, and as the Son takes up all things from the Father, let us hold this same one inseparably in our heart because there is no one who escapes his hand.

(excerpt from INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28)
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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.