DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(MEMORIAL OF SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH)

FIRST READING

JEREMIAH 20:7-9 OR (2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-2, 5-7)

7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; every one mocks me. 8 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. 9 If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 62(63):2-6, 8-9 OR (PSALMS 96:1-3, 7-8, 10)

Response: My soul is thirsting for thee, O Lord my God.

O God, thou art my God, I seek thee,
my soul thirsts for thee;
my flesh faints for thee,
as in a dry and weary land where no water is.

R. My soul is thirsting for thee, O Lord my God.

So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary,
beholding thy power and glory.
Because thy steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise thee.

R. My soul is thirsting for thee, O Lord my God.

So I will bless thee as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on thy name.
My soul is feasted as with marrow and fat,
and my mouth praises thee with joyful lips.

R. My soul is thirsting for thee, O Lord my God.

For thou hast been my help,
and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to thee;
thy right hand upholds me.

R. My soul is thirsting for thee, O Lord my God.
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SECOND READING

ROMANS 12:1-2

1 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL

Take up your cross daily and follow Jesus Christ

MATTHEW 16:21-27 OR (LUKE 22:24-30)

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? 27 For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

This shall never happen to you, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)

"Peter was examining the issue by human and earthly reasoning. He thought it disgraceful to Jesus as something unworthy of him. Jesus responded sharply, in effect saying, 'My suffering is not an unseemly matter. You are making this judgment with a carnal mind. If you had listened to my teachings in a godly way, tearing yourself away from carnal understanding, you would know that this of all things most becomes me. You seem to suppose that to suffer is unworthy of me. But I say to you that for me not to suffer is of the devil's mind.' So he repressed Peter's alarm by contrary arguments. Remember that John, accounting it unworthy of Christ to be baptized by him, was persuaded by Christ to baptize him, saying, 'Let it be so now' (Matthew 3:15). So we find Peter as well, forbidding Christ to wash his feet. He is met by the words, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.' Here too Jesus restrained him by the mention of the opposite, and by the severity of the reproof he repressed his fear of suffering."

(excerpt from the THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 54.6)
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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.