Friday of the Twenty-first week in Ordinary Time

First Letter to the Thessalonians 4:1-8.
Finally, brothers, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God–and as you are conducting yourselves–you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality,
that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor,
not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God;
not to take advantage of or exploit a brother in this matter, for the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you before and solemnly affirmed.
For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.
Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who (also) gives his holy Spirit to you.

Psalms 97:1.2.5-6.10.11-12.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.
Cloud and darkness surround the Lord; justice and right are the foundation of his throne.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim God’s justice; all peoples see his glory.
The LORD loves those who hate evil, protects the lives of the faithful, rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the just; gladness, for the honest of heart.
Rejoice in the LORD, you just, and praise his holy name.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25:1-13.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’
While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’
But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Commentary of the day : Saint Gregory of Nazianzen
“Behold, the bridegroom!”

Thursday of the Twenty-first week in Ordinary Time

First Letter to the Thessalonians 3:7-13.
Because of this, we have been reassured about you, brothers, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith.
For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.
Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you,
and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. (Amen.)

Psalms 90(89):3-4.12-13.14.17.
But humans you return to dust, saying, “Return, you mortals!”
A thousand years in your eyes are merely a yesterday. Before a watch passes in the night,
Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Relent, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Fill us at daybreak with your love, that all our days we may sing for joy.
May the favor of the Lord our God be ours. Prosper the work of our hands! Prosper the work of our hands!

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24:42-51.
Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Commentary of the day : Saint Bernard
At midnight

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Wednesday of the Twenty-first week in Ordinary Time

First Letter to the Thessalonians 2:9-13.
You recall, brothers, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers.
As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children,
exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that,in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now atwork in you who believe.

Psalms 139(138):7-8.9-10.11-12.
Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.
If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light” —
Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 23:27-32.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’
Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!

Commentary of the day : Saint Bernard
«A clean heart create for me, O God» (Ps 50,12)