DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
SEPTEMBER 16, 2023
SATURDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINTS CORNELIUS, POPE, AND CYPRIAN, BISHOP, MARTYRS
FIRST READING
1 TIMOTHY 1:15-17 OR (2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-15)
15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; 16 but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 112(113):1-7 OR (PSALMS 126:1-6)
Response: Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!
Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and for evermore!
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high,
who looks far down
upon the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust,
and lifts the needy from the ash heap.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
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GOSPEL
A life built on a solid foundation
LUKE 6:43-49 OR (JOHN 17:11-19)
43 "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 "Why do you call me `Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? 47 Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Scripture is the field where we build our house, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"In a certain place in the Gospel, the Lord says that the wise hearer of his word ought to be like a man who, wishing to build, digs rather deeply until he comes to bedrock. There without anxiety he establishes what he builds against the onrush of a flood, so that when it comes, rather it may be pushed back by the solidity of the building than that house collapse by the impact. Let us consider the Scripture of God as being a field where we want to build something. Let us not be lazy or content with the surface. Let us dig more deeply until we come to rock: 'Now the rock was Christ' (1 Corinthians 10:4)."
(excerpt from TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.1)
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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.