THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Memorial of Saints Joachim and Ann

Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Antiphon

Let us praise Joachim and Anne, to whom, in their generation,

the Lord gave him who was a blessing for all the nations.

Collect

 

O Lord, God of our Fathers,

who bestowed on Saints Joachim and Anne this grace,

that of them should be born the Mother of your incarnate Son,

grant, through the prayers of both,

that we may attain the salvation

you have promised to your people.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

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

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Ex 32:15-24, 30-34

Moses turned and came down the mountain

with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,

tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;

tablets that were made by God,

having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.

Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,

he said to Moses, “That sounds like a battle in the camp.”

But Moses answered, “It does not sound like cries of victory,

nor does it sound like cries of defeat;

the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry.”

As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing.

With that, Moses’ wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down

and broke them on the base of the mountain.

Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire

and then ground it down to powder,

which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink.

Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people ever do to you

that you should lead them into so grave a sin?”

Aaron replied, “Let not my lord be angry.

You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.

They said to me, ‘Make us a god to be our leader;

as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt,

we do not know what has happened to him.’

So I told them, ‘Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.’

They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

On the next day Moses said to the people,

“You have committed a grave sin.

I will go up to the LORD, then;

perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.”

So Moses went back to the LORD and said,

“Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin

in making a god of gold for themselves!

If you would only forgive their sin!

If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written.”

The LORD answered, “Him only who has sinned against me

will I strike out of my book.

Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.

My angel will go before you.

When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

Responsorial Psalm

106:19-20, 21-22, 23

R.     Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Our fathers made a calf in Horeb

    and adored a molten image;

They exchanged their glory

    for the image of a grass-eating bullock.

R.     Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

They forgot the God who had saved them,

    who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,

    terrible things at the Red Sea.

R.     Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

    but Moses, his chosen one,

Withstood him in the breach

    to turn back his destructive wrath.

R.     Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Alleluia

Jas 1:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth

that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 13:31-35

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”

He spoke to them another parable.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables, 

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

    I will open my mouth in parables,

    I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

SAINT OF THE DAY

July 26

Saints Joachim and Anne

(b. 1st Century)

In the Scriptures, Matthew and Luke furnish a legal family history of Jesus, tracing ancestry to show that Jesus is the culmination of great promises. Not only is his mother’s family neglected, we also know nothing factual about them except that they existed. Even the names Joachim and Anne come from a legendary source written more than a century after Jesus died.

The heroism and holiness of these people however, is inferred from the whole family atmosphere around Mary in the Scriptures. Whether we rely on the legends about Mary’s childhood or make guesses from the information in the Bible, 

we see in her a fulfillment of many generations of prayerful persons, 

herself steeped in the religious traditions of her people.

The strong character of Mary in making decisions, her continuous practice of prayer, her devotion to the laws of her faith, her steadiness at moments of crisis, and her devotion to her relatives—all indicate a close-knit, loving family that looked forward to the next generation even while retaining the best of the past.

Joachim and Anne—whether these are their real names or not—represent that entire quiet series of generations who faithfully perform their duties, practice their faith, 

and establish an atmosphere for the coming of the Messiah, but remain obscure.

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