DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
AUGUST 31, 2023
THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING
1 THESSALONIANS 3:7-13
The Word of the Lord
_
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 89(90):3-5, 12-14, 17
Response: Fill us with thy love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Thou turnest man back to the dust,
and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!”
For a thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream,
like grass which is renewed in the morning.
R. Fill us with thy love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on thy servants!
R. Fill us with thy love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us,
and establish thou the work of our hands upon us,
yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
R. Fill us with thy love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
_
GOSPEL
Are you ready to meet the Lord?
MATTHEW 24:42-51
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, `My master is delayed,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, 51 and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
The Gospel of the Lord
_
REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
You do not know the day, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)
"But his meaning is like this: If ordinary persons knew when they were going to die, they would surely be striving earnestly at that hour. In order therefore that they may strive, not at that hour only, he does not tell them the hour or day. He wants to keep them on their toes looking for it, that they may be always striving. This is why he made the end of each persons life so uncertain. In this passage he openly implies that he himself is Lord. Nowhere before has he spoken of this so distinctly. But here he seems to me also to be putting to shame those who remain careless about his lordship. They take much more care about a thief taking their money than about their own soul. Those who care about their house and do not want their possessions stolen take measures against the thief. They watch; they are prepared for the thief. So it is with you. You do not know when he will come. But you know assuredly that he will come. If you do not continue to watch, you will not be ready on that day. You will be unprepared. Destruction will come in your sleep. If the person had known when the thief was coming, he would have been prepared. So be like the one who is prepared at all times, so you will escape free. Having then mentioned the judgment, he directs his thoughts next to teachers, speaking of honorable and dishonorable actions. His discourse closes with that which is alarming, for he speaks first of those who do right, then of those who continue in sin."
(excerpt from the THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.2-3)
_
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.