Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Book of Numbers 11:25-29.
The LORD then came down in the cloud and spoke to him. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.
Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp.
So, when a young man quickly told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,”
Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “Moses, my lord, stop them.”
But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!”

Psalms 19:8.10.12-13.14.
The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The statutes of the LORD are true, all of them just;
By them your servant is instructed; obeying them brings much reward.
Who can detect heedless failings? Cleanse me from my unknown faults.
But from willful sins keep your servant; let them never control me. Then shall I be blameless, innocent of grave sin.

Letter of James 5:1-6.
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 9:38-43.45.47-48.
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
“Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ… will surely not lose his reward”

Saturday of the Twenty-fifth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Zechariah 2:5-9.14-15.
Again I raised my eyes and looked: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “To measure Jerusalem,” he answered; “to see how great is its width and how great its length.”
Then the angel who spoke with me advanced, and another angel came out to meet him,
and said to him, “Run, tell this to that young man: People will live in Jerusalem as though in open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst.
But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.”
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

Book of Jeremiah 31:10.11-12.13.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD’S blessings: The grain, the wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen; They themselves shall be like watered gardens, never again shall they languish.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 9:43-45.
And all were astonished by the majesty of God. While they were all amazed at his every deed, he said to his disciples,
Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.
But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Commentary of the day : Saint Thomas Aquinas
Our sign of glory : the Son of Man delivered into the hands of men

Friday of the Twenty-fifth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Haggai 1:15.2:1-9.
On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius,
on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:
Tell this to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people:
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes?
But now take courage, Zerubbabel, says the LORD, and take courage, Joshua, high priest, son of Jehozadak, And take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work! For I am with you, says the LORD of hosts.
This is the pact that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, And my spirit continues in your midst; do not fear!
For thus says the LORD of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, And I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
Mine is the silver and mine the gold, says the LORD of hosts.
Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the LORD of hosts; And in this place I will give you peace, says the LORD of hosts.

Psalms 43:1.2.3.4.
Grant me justice, God; defend me from a faithless people; from the deceitful and unjust rescue me.
You, God, are my strength. Why then do you spurn me? Why must I go about mourning, with the enemy oppressing me?
Send your light and fidelity, that they may be my guide And bring me to your holy mountain, to the place of your dwelling,
That I may come to the altar of God, to God, my joy, my delight. Then I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 9:18-22.
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Messiah of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Commentary of the day : Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
« ‘And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.’ He said this indicating the kind of death he would die» (Jn 12 ,32-33)