Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

Jesus is calling the disciples to follow the same path to greatness: humble, sacrificial service to each other.

 

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

1st Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15

However, we carry this treasure

Though the Pharisees persecuted Christ for doing good, yet he went on in it.

Christ’s intention in his miracles was to prove himself the Messiah,

That our Saviour was God’s Servant, He submitted himself to the Father’s will, in the great work of our redemption.

The pleasure of the Father in Christ ; Behold, my Servant whom I have chosen, my Beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

 

 Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Apollinaris, bishop & martyr

 

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Micah 2:1-5

Woe to those

 Jesus’ words is the key to life.

Ears devoted to the words of Jesus are good soil.

The word of God falls on sterile grounds. It could not bear fruit.

It can also be choked and stifled by our many concerns.

 

 St. Sharbel Makhluf, priest

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Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10

These are the words of Jeremiah,

 

'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,'

For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

The Law which is supposed to make life worth living by sanctifying human

endeavor becomes a yoke and burden to the majority.

And this is what Jesus wants the Pharisees to understand.

 

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Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8

In those days

                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                            "Therefore, making a Synod on Synodality does not mean doing it on a theme like so many others,

                                                                                                                                            but on the deeper identity of the Church as communion and mission that becomes concrete,

                                                                                                                                            historically incisive when it is participated by all. the Church is such, in fact,

                                                                                                                                            only when it is carried on its shoulders by all and shared in its heart by all,

                                                                                                                                            at the service of its brothers and sisters, especially beginning with the last,

                                                                                                                                            the discarded, and the existential and spiritual peripheries of our time."

                                                                                                           Msgr. Piero Coda,

                                                                                                            Member of the theological 

                                                                                                              Commission of the Synod 2021-2023

St. Bridget, religious

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Micah 7:14-15, 18-20

Shepherd your people

We are weary and burdened; Heavy burdens will come to us unbidden.

But we need not fear for we have Jesus to lighten the load for us.

All we need to do is come to him His door will always be open to us.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊   

Isaiah 26:7-9, 11, 16-19

Let the righteous walk in righteousness.

 

 Pope Benedict said. “A disciple of Christ is one who,

in the experience of human weakness, has had the humility to ask for his help,

has been healed by him and has set out following closely after him,

becoming a witness of the power of his merciful love that is stronger than sin and death.”

 

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Song of Songs 3:1-4b (2 Corinthians 5:14-17)

On my bed at night

 

Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

 " The best way to know God is humility, and the greatest obstacle is pride."

The heart of God is surely disposed to the simple and lowly.

 

  

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 Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16

Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger,

 Mission is not just about works and activities. Rest is part of doing mission.
That is why He asks His disciples to go to secluded place by themselves.

In today's Gospel, Jesus is presented to have empathized both with his disciples and the people.

Jesus must have felt the tiredness of the apostles whom he sent out on a mission.

Hence, he invited them to a remote place where they could rest.

Likewise, Jesus had empathy with the people when he saw their condition likened to sheep without a shepherd.

 

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Jeremiah 23:1-6

"Woe to the shepherds

 
It is not God who chooses our punishment.

It is of our own making.

Jesus performed many miracles there, but still their citizens are not changed.

He realized that the hearts of these people are bottomless pits.

No amount of wonderwork can make them see God’s goolness.

 

 

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Isaiah 7:1-9

When Ahaz son of Jotham,