9 August 2025 (Saturday)
Saturday of week 18 in Ordinary Time or Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ordinary Weekday/ Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary/ Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin, Martyr.
Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:
First Reading : Deuteronomy 6:4‐13
Moses said to the people: ‘Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart. You shall repeat them to your children and say them over to them whether at rest in your house or walking abroad, at your lying down or at your rising; you shall fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a circlet; you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ‘When the Lord has brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give you, with great and prosperous cities not of your building, houses full of good things not furnished by you, wells you did not dig, vineyards and olives you did not plant, when you have eaten these and had your fill, then take care you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must fear the Lord your God, you must serve him, by his name you must swear.’
Responsive Psalm : Psalm 17(18):2‐4,47,51
Gospel : Matthew 17:14‐20
A man came up to Jesus and went down on his knees before him. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘take pity on my son: he is a lunatic and in a wretched state; he is always falling into the fire or into the water. I took him to your disciples and they were unable to cure him.’ ‘Faithless and perverse generation!’ Jesus said in reply ‘How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ And when Jesus rebuked it the devil came out of the boy who was cured from that moment. Then the disciples came privately to Jesus. ‘Why were we unable to cast it out?’ they asked. He answered, ‘Because you have little faith. I tell you solemnly, if your faith were the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move; nothing would be impossible for you.’
For our reflection today:
On the ground prepared by the prophets, the New Testament presents Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom for the new People of God: He is the “Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” foretold and announced from afar; it is in Him that the prophecies have been fulfilled: the Christ-Bridegroom. Even in the parable of the ten virgins, “who, having taken their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom” (Mt 25:1), we find the marital analogy used by Jesus to convey His thoughts on the Kingdom of God and the Church in which it is realized. There is also His insistence on the need for interior preparation, without which one cannot participate in the wedding feast. In this parable, Jesus calls for readiness, vigilance, and fervent commitment in waiting for the Bridegroom. Only five of the ten virgins had worked to keep their lamps burning for the Bridegroom’s arrival. The others, unprepared, ran out of oil. “The Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut” (Mt 25:10). This is a delicate but unmistakable reference to the fate of those who lack the interior disposition to meet God, and therefore lack fervor and perseverance in waiting; a reference, therefore, to the risk of having the door shut in their face. Once again, we find the call to a sense of responsibility in the face of the Christian vocation. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 11 December 1991)
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