DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
OCTOBER 4, 2023
WEDNESDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, RELIGIOUS
(SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI - SOLEMNITY)
FIRST READING
NEHEMIAH 2:1-8 OR (GALATIANS 6:14-18 / SIRACH 50:1, 3-4, 6-7)
1 In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when the wine was in my charge, I took some and offered it to the king. As I had never before been sad in his presence, 2 the king asked me, “Why do you look sad? If you are not sick, you must be sad at heart.” Though I was seized with great fear, I answered the king: 3 “May the king live forever! How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been eaten out by fire?” 4 The king asked me, “What is it, then, that you wish?” I prayed to the God of heaven and then answered the king: 5 “If it please the king, and if your servant is deserving of your favor, send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' graves, to rebuild it.” 6 Then the king, and the queen seated beside him, asked me how long my journey would take and when I would return. I set a date that was acceptable to him, and the king agreed that I might go. 7 I asked the king further: “If it please the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of West-of-Euphrates, that they may afford me safe-conduct till I arrive in Judah; 8 also a letter for Asaph, the keeper of the royal park, that he may give me wood for timbering the gates of the temple-citadel and for the city wall and the house that I shall occupy.” The king granted my requests, for the favoring hand of my God was upon me.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 136(137):1-6 OR (PSALMS 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 11)
Response: Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget thee!
By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
R. Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget thee!
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget thee!
How shall we sing the LORD'S song
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
R. Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget thee!
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
R. Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget thee!
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SECOND READING (ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI - SOLEMNITY)
GALATIANS 6:14-18
The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL
Fit for the kingdom of God
LUKE 9:57-62 OR (MATTHEW 11:25-30)
57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." 59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 60 But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Put to death what is earthly in you, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"The statement 'Let the dead bury their dead' implies spiritually: Waste no more time on dead things. You are to 'put to death therefore what is earthly in you: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry' (Colossians 3:5). These things therefore are dead. Cast them away from you. Cut them off as you would cut off gangrenous flesh to prevent the contamination of the whole body, so that you may not hear it said, 'Leave the dead [spiritually dead] to bury their dead' (Matthew 8:22). But to some it seems abnormal and contradictory that the Savior does not allow the disciple to bury his father. It seems inhumane. But Jesus does not in fact forbid people from burying the dead, but rather he puts before this the preaching of the kingdom of heaven, which makes people alive (Luke 9:60). As for burying the body, there were many people who could have done this."
(excerpt from Fragment 161)
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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.