08/08/2021
+Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
1st Reading:
Dt 10:12-22
12 'And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask of you? Only this: to fear Yahweh your God, to follow all his ways, to love him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul,
13 to keep the commandments and laws of Yahweh, which I am laying down for you today for your own good.
14 'Look, to Yahweh your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and everything on it;
15 yet it was on your ancestors, for love of them, that Yahweh set his heart to love them, and he chose their descendants after them, you yourselves, out of all nations, up to the present day.
16 Circumcise your heart then and be obstinate no longer;
17 for Yahweh your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, triumphant and terrible, free of favouritism, never to be bribed.
18 He it is who sees justice done for the orphan and the widow, who loves the stranger and gives him food and clothing.
19 (Love the stranger then, for you were once strangers in Egypt.)
20 Yahweh your God is the one whom you must fear and serve; to him you must hold firm; in his name take your oaths.
21 Him you must praise, he is your God: for you he has done these great and terrible things which you have seen for yourselves;
22 and, although your ancestors numbered only seventy persons when they went down to Egypt, Yahweh your God has now made you as many as the stars of heaven.'
Responsorial Psalm 147
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem, Zion, praise your God.
13 For he gives strength to the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you,
14 he maintains the peace of your frontiers, gives you your fill of finest wheat.
15 He sends his word to the earth, his command runs quickly,
19 He reveals his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel.
20 For no other nation has he done this, no other has known his judgements.
Gospel:
Mt17:22-27
22 When they were together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The Son of man is going to be delivered into the power of men;
23 they will put him to death, and on the third day he will be raised up again.' And a great sadness came over them.
24 When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel came to Peter and said, 'Does your master not pay the half-shekel?'
25 'Yes,' he replied, and went into the house. But before he could speak, Jesus said, 'Simon, what is your opinion? From whom do earthly kings take toll or tribute? From their sons or from foreigners?'
26 And when he replied, 'From foreigners,' Jesus said, 'Well then, the sons are exempt.
27 However, so that we shall not be the downfall of others, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that rises, open its mouth and there you will find a shekel; take it and give it to them for me and for yourself.'
Meditations:
On the eternal enjoyment of God.
CONSIDER, first, that although the kingdom of heaven abounds with all that can be imagined good and delightful; yet there is but one sovereign good, in the enjoyment of which consists the essential beatitude of heaven; and that is God himself. Him the blessed always "see as he is, face to face," and in the very centre of their own souls; and by the eternal contemplation of his infinite beauty and truth, together with all his divine perfections, they are quite ravished and set on fire with saraphic and eternal love.
Consider, secondly, that as Almighty God himself is infinitely happy; so we may esteem the happiness of the blessed, in some measure infinite, because they possess Him, who is the immense ocean of endless felicity, and alone the source of his own eternal happiness; and shall not that suffice, my soul, to make thee happy, which makes God himself happy! Who then can conceive the least part of the joy which that soul must experience, that sees herself thus full of God and of his eternal jubilee!
Consider, thirdly, in what manner all the powers of these blessed souls are eternally employed. Their understanding elevated by the light of glory, and ''in this light of God seeing God the light," ever contemplates him with infinite compla cency. Their memory is continually occupied with the perfect recollection of all that he has ever done for them; his manifold preservations, by which he has so often delivered them both from a temporal and eternal death; and his numberless other benefits and distinguished favors. Their will is forevei inflamed with the love of his divine attractions, his infinite beauty, goodness and liberality; and in a manner consumes herself in these delightful flames.
Conclude daily to contemplate the divine perfections now: and this shall be your eternal occupation hereafter.
AMEN.
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