DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
FEBRUARY 24, 2024
SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT
FIRST READING
DEUTERONOMY 26:16-19 OR (PHILIPPIANS 3:8-14)
16 "This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day concerning the LORD that he is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances, and will obey his voice; 18 and the LORD has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, 19 that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he has spoken."
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 118(119):1-2, 4-5, 7-8 OR (PSALMS 15:2-5)
Response: Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Thou hast commanded thy precepts
to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping thy statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
I will praise thee with an upright heart,
when I learn thy righteous ordinances.
I will observe thy statutes;
O forsake me not utterly!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
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GOSPEL
Love and pray for your enemies
MATTHEW 5:43-48
43 "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
The gift to love all people - even enemies, by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Beg God for the gift to love one another. Love all people, even your enemies, not because they are your brothers and sisters but that they may become such. Love them in order that you may be at all times on fire with love, whether toward those who have become your brothers and sisters or toward your enemies, so that by being beloved they may become your brothers and sisters."
(excerpt from Sermon on 1 John 10,7)
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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.