Saturday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
July 20, 20241 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, against this family I am devising evil, from which you cannot remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. 4 In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you, and wail with bitter lamentation, and say, “We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! Among our captors he divides our fields.” 5 Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the LORD.
1 Why dost thou stand afar off, O LORD? Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes which they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his heart, and the man greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD. 4 In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” 7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the hapless, 14 Thou dost see; yea, thou dost note trouble and vexation, that thou mayest take it into thy hands; the hapless commits himself to thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.
14 But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how to destroy him. 15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all, 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will any one hear his voice in the streets; 20 he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, till he brings justice to victory; 21 and in his name will the Gentiles hope.”
Reflection of the Day: “In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.” — St. Thomas Aquinas
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