REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Whenever we suffer some affliction, we should regard it both as punishment and as a correction. Our holy Scriptures themselves do not promise us peace, security and rest. On the contrary, the Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and temptations that await us, but it also says that he who perseveres to the end will be saved. So we must not grumble, my brothers, and for as the Apostle says: some of them murmured and were destroyed by serpents. Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? How then can you think that past ages were better than your own?
-- St. Augustine
READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
32 “Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created human beings on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
33 Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have?
34 Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen.
39 So remember today and never forget: the Lord is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god.
40 Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to be yours forever.”
Psalm: Psalm 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22
4 The words of the Lord are true, and all his works are dependable.
5 The Lord loves what is righteous and just; his constant love fills the earth.
6 The Lord created the heavens by his command, the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.
9 When he spoke, the world was created; at his command everything appeared.
18 The Lord watches over those who obey him, those who trust in his constant love.
19 He saves them from death; he keeps them alive in times of famine.
20 We put our hope in the Lord; he is our protector and our help.
22 May your constant love be with us, Lord, as we put our hope in you.
Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17
14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.
15 For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!”
16 God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
17 Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
(Jesus Appears to His Disciples)
(Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)16 The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted.
18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
Whenever we suffer some affliction, we should regard it both as punishment and as a correction. Our holy Scriptures themselves do not promise us peace, security and rest. On the contrary, the Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and temptations that await us, but it also says that he who perseveres to the end will be saved. So we must not grumble, my brothers, and for as the Apostle says: some of them murmured and were destroyed by serpents. Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? How then can you think that past ages were better than your own?
-- St. Augustine
READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
32 “Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created human beings on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
33 Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have?
34 Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen.
39 So remember today and never forget: the Lord is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god.
40 Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to be yours forever.”
Psalm: Psalm 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22
4 The words of the Lord are true, and all his works are dependable.
5 The Lord loves what is righteous and just; his constant love fills the earth.
6 The Lord created the heavens by his command, the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.
9 When he spoke, the world was created; at his command everything appeared.
18 The Lord watches over those who obey him, those who trust in his constant love.
19 He saves them from death; he keeps them alive in times of famine.
20 We put our hope in the Lord; he is our protector and our help.
22 May your constant love be with us, Lord, as we put our hope in you.
Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17
14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.
15 For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!”
16 God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
17 Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
(Jesus Appears to His Disciples)
(Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)16 The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted.
18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
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