THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Antiphon

Cf. Ps 48 (47): 10-11

 

Your merciful love, O God,

we have received in the midst of your temple.

Your praise, O God, like your name,

reaches the ends of the earth;

your right hand is filled with saving justice.

Collect

 

O God, who in the abasement of your Son

have raised up a fallen world,

fill your faithful with holy joy,

for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin

you bestow eternal gladness.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Gn 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5

Judah approached Joseph and said: 

“I beg you, my lord,

let your servant speak earnestly to my lord,

and do not become angry with your servant,

for you are the equal of Pharaoh.

My lord asked your servants, ‘Have you a father, or another brother?’

So we said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father,

and a young brother, the child of his old age.

This one’s full brother is dead,

and since he is the only one by that mother who is left,

his father dotes on him.’

Then you told your servants,

‘Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.

Unless your youngest brother comes back with you,

you shall not come into my presence again.’

When we returned to your servant our father,

we reported to him the words of my lord.

“Later, our father told us to come back and buy some food for the family.

So we reminded him, ‘We cannot go down there;

only if our youngest brother is with us can we go,

for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.’

Then your servant our father said to us,

‘As you know, my wife bore me two sons.

One of them, however, disappeared, and I had to conclude

that he must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts;

I have not seen him since.

If you now take this one away from me, too,

and some disaster befalls him,

you will send my white head down to the nether world in grief.’“

Joseph could no longer control himself

in the presence of all his attendants,

so he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!”

Thus no one else was about when he made himself known to his brothers.

But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him,

and so the news reached Pharaoh’s palace.

“I am Joseph,” he said to his brothers.

“Is my father still in good health?”

But his brothers could give him no answer,

so dumbfounded were they at him.

“Come closer to me,” he told his brothers. 

When they had done so, he said:

“I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.

But now do not be distressed,

and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here.

It was really for the sake of saving lives

that God sent me here ahead of you.”

Responsorial Psalm

105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

R.    Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

 

When the LORD called down a famine on the land

    and ruined the crop that sustained them,

He sent a man before them,

    Joseph, sold as a slave.

R.    Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

 

They had weighed him down with fetters,

    and he was bound with chains,

Till his prediction came to pass

    and the word of the LORD proved him true.

R.    Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

 

The king sent and released him,

    the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He made him lord of his house

    and ruler of all his possessions.

R.    Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

 

Alleluia

Mk 1:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Kingdom of God is at hand:

repent and believe in the Gospel.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel

Mt 10:7-15

Jesus said to his Apostles:

“As you go, make this proclamation:

‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Cure the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;

no sack for the journey, or a second tunic,

or sandals, or walking stick.

The laborer deserves his keep.

Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it,

and stay there until you leave.

As you enter a house, wish it peace.

If the house is worthy,

let your peace come upon it;

if not, let your peace return to you.

Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—

go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.

Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable

for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment

than for that town.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

July 8

Saint Gregory Grassi and Companions

(1823 - 1900)

Gregory Grassi was born in Italy in 1823, ordained in 1856, and sent to China five years later. Gregory was later ordained Bishop of North Shanxi. With 14 other European missionaries and 14 Chinese religious, he was martyred during the short but bloody Boxer Uprising of 1900.

Twenty-six of these martyrs were arrested on the orders of Yu Hsien, the governor of Shanxi province. They were hacked to death on July 9, 1900. Five of them were Friars Minor; seven were Franciscan Missionaries of Mary—the first martyrs of their congregation. Seven were Chinese seminarians and Secular Franciscans; four martyrs were Chinese laymen and Secular Franciscans. The other three Chinese laymen killed in Shanxi simply worked for the Franciscans and were rounded up with all the others. Three Italian Franciscans were martyred that same week in the province of Hunan. 

All these martyrs were beatified in 1946, 

and were among the 120 martyrs canonized in 2000.

THE LITURGY OF HOURS

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer.  The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer.  At times the dialogue is between the Church or individual soul and God; at times it is a dialogue among the members of the Church; and at times it is even between the Church and the world.  The Divine Office "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father." (SC 84)  The dialogue is always held, however, in the presence of God and using the words and wisdom of God.  Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.  The two most important or hinge Hours are Morning and Evening Prayer. These each include a Gospel canticle:  the Canticle of Zechariah from Luke 1:68-79 for Morning Prayer (known as the Benedictus), and the Canticle of Mary from Luke 1:46-55 for Evening Prayer (known as the Magnificat). The Gospel canticle acts as a kind of meditative extension of the scriptural proclamation in light of the Christ event.  Morning and Evening Prayer also include intercessions that flow from the scriptural proclamation just as the Psalms prepare for it.

In the Hours, the royal priesthood of the baptized is exercised, and this sacrifice of praise is thus connected to the sacrifice of the Eucharist, 

both preparing for and flowing from the Mass.

"The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer." (CCC 1177)

OFFICE OF READINGS

"The office of readings seeks to provide God's people, and in particular those consecrated to God in a special way, with a wider selection of passages from sacred Scripture for meditation, together with the finest excerpts from spiritual writers. Even though the cycle of scriptural readings at daily Mass is now richer, the treasures of revelation and tradition to be found in the office of readings will also contribute greatly to the spiritual life" (General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours [GILH], no. 55).

https://www.universalis.com/0/readings.htm

LAUDS - Morning Prayer

"As is clear from many of the elements that make it up, morning prayer is intended and arranged to sanctify the morning. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God, as it is written: 'I was mindful of God and was glad' (Ps 77:4 [Jerome's translation from Hebrew]), or set our bodies to any task before we do what has been said: 'I will pray to you, Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning; I will stand before you in the morning and gaze on you' 

(Ps 5:4-5)."

"Celebrated as it is as the light of a new day is dawning, this hour also recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light enlightening all people (see Jn 1:9) and "the sun of justice" (Mal 4:2), "rising from on high" (Lk 1:78). Hence, we can well understand the advice of St. Cyprian: "There should be prayer in the morning so that the resurrection of the Lord may thus be celebrated" (GILH, no. 38).

https://www.universalis.com/0/lauds.htm

TERCE - Mid-Morning Prayer

"Following a very ancient tradition Christians have made a practice of praying out of private devotion at various times of the day, even in the course of their work, in imitation of the Church in apostolic times. In different ways with the passage of time this tradition has taken the form of a liturgical celebration.

"Liturgical custom in both East and West has retained midmorning, midday, and midafternoon prayer, mainly because these hours were linked to a commemoration of the events of the Lord's passion and of the first preaching of the Gospel" 

(GILH, no. 74-75).

https://www.universalis.com/0/terce.htm

SEXT - Mid-Day Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/sext.htm

NONE - Afternoon Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/none.htm

VESPERS - Evening Prayer

"When evening approaches and the day is already far spent, evening prayer is celebrated in order that 'we may give thanks for what has been given us, or what we have done well, during the day.' We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (see Ps 141:2). This sacrifice 'may also be interpreted more spiritually as the true evening sacrifice that our Savior the Lord entrusted to the apostles at supper on the evening when he instituted the sacred mysteries of the Church or of the evening sacrifice of the next day, the sacrifice, that is, which, raising his hands, he offered to the Father at the end of the ages for the salvation of the whole world.' Again, in order to fix our hope on the light that knows no setting, 'we pray and make petition for the light to come down on us anew; we implore the coming of Christ who will bring the grace of eternal light.' Finally, at this hour we join with the Churches of the East in calling upon the 'joy-giving light of that holy glory, born of the immortal, heavenly Father, the holy and blessed Jesus Christ; now that we have come to the setting of the sun and have seen the evening star, we sing in praise of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…'" 

(GILH, no. 39).

https://www.universalis.com/0/vespers.htm

COMPLINE - Night Prayer

"Night prayer is the last prayer of the day, said before retiring, even if that is after midnight" (GILH, no. 84).The Psalms that are chosen for Night Prayer are full of confidence in the Lord.

https://www.universalis.com/0/compline.htm

ABOUT TODAY

https://www.universalis.com/0/today.htm