Daily Readings September 19, 2012

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 445

First Reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians

1 Cor 12:31-13:13

Brothers and sisters:Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

Yesterday, he told us to strive for the greatest spiritual gifts.  Now he is going to give us advice which is within reach of all of us.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tonguesbut do not have love,I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

If any person sounds like an angel but does not practice love, his words sound like the noise of metals crashing with each other.

And if I have the gift of prophecyand comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;if I have all faith so as to move mountains,but do not have love, I am nothing.

If any are so wise that they can see the future and can understand all sciences and if they have the faith to move mountains, but have not love, they are nothing in the eyes of God.

If I give away everything I own,and if I hand my body over so that I may boastbut do not have love, I gain nothing.

If I sacrifice everything, even my life, so that I can boast of my goodness, I have nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.It is not jealous, love is not pompous,it is not inflated, it is not rude,it does not seek its own interests,it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,it does not rejoice over wrongdoingbut rejoices with the truth.It bears all things, believes all things,hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

Love does what is good for others and love does not do evil to anyone.

If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;if tongues, they will cease;if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.For we know partially and we prophesy partially,but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

Everything will pass away, knowledge, languages, everything.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,think as a child, reason as a child;when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

To understand what I am saying, you must reason with a mature faith.

At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,but then face to face.

Today, we know God exists although we have not seen Him.  But then, after we die, we will see Him.

At present I know partially;then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

Today, I know only what I can see.  But then, God will reveal everything.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three;but the greatest of these is love.

Three things will remain in the end.  Faith, Hope and Love.  Love is the greatest of these.

Responsorial Psalm 

Ps 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 And 22

Response. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

A Psalm of praise and thanksgiving.  As explained in the past, the best way to give God thanks is to participate in the Eucharist and in the Mass:

Romans 15:6

King James Version (KJV)

⁶ That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A reading from the Holy Gospel of St. Luke

Lk 7:31-35

Jesus said to the crowds:
"To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.'
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children."

Jesus rebuked the crowd with a little ditty.  The essence of which says, "there's no winning with you people.  If I drink, you accuse me of being a drunkard.  If I don't drink, you accuse me of being a bore.  This is because you are not the children of my Father and therefore you don't recognize His Wisdom."

Sincerely,

De Maria