Thursday – Saint Pius X, pope.

Invitation

May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?

This invitation wants to share with You the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.

Available every day.

Consideration
Every Sunday the Word of the Lord is
surprising and challenging.
It confronts and questions us.
It puts us in our place:
sometimes the first place, sometimes the last place.
At the same time, God’s Word is also liberating.
After all, we learn that we are loved by God
and that He wants to bring together all peoples and languages
to behold his glory.
Let us open our hearts to the Word
that the Lord speaks to us today
and let us trust in his promise.

FIRST READING         Law. 11, 29-39a

The first one who comes to me from the door of my house
i will dedicate to the Lord as a burnt offering.

From the Book of Judges

In those days the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah ;
he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, through Mizpah in Gilead,
and thence to the Ammonites.
Then Jephthah made to the Lord this vow :
If thou deliverest the Ammonites unto me
and I return preserved,
the first one
who comes out of the door of my house to me
shall belong to the Lord ;
i will dedicate him as a burnt offering.
Then Jephthah went to war against the Ammonites.
And the Lord delivered them up to his power.
He struck at them from Aroër to the road of Minnit
– twenty cities – and as far as Abel-Keramim;
he inflicted on them a very heavy defeat.
Thus the Ammonites were humbled by the Israelites.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah,
his daughter came out of the door
to meet him with tambourines and riding dances.
She was his only child ;
apart from her, he had no sons or daughters.
As soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and exclaimed :
“Ah my daughter, how severely you afflict me :
you make me deeply unhappy !
“I have given the Lord my word, I cannot go back.”
She replied:
“Father, you have given the Lord your word.
“So do with me what you have promised, for the Lord
has made thee take vengeance on the Ammonites, thy enemies.
“I ask you only this favour :
give me two months
to go into the mountains with my friends
and mourn there because I must die a virgin.”
He replied : “Do so,”
and he let her go for two months.
And she went into the mountains with her friends
and mourned there because she had to die a virgin.
When she returned to her father after two months,
he fulfilled to her the vow he had made.

INTERLUDIUM           Ps. 40(39), 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

I come, Lord, to do your will.

Happy is the man who puts his hope in the Lord,
who does not associate with rebellious and unrighteous.

Gift and sacrifice hast Thou never desired,
but thou hast opened my ears to thy voice.

Thou askest no burnt offering, no peace offering from me ;
so I said : yea, I come, as it is written of me :
Thy will to do, my God, that is my joy,
thy law is engraved in my heart.

In the assemblies I have preached righteousness,
my lips not closed, Lord, Thou knowest.

ALLELUIA              Ps 119(118), 105

Alleluia.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, Lord,
it is a light in my path.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL          Mt 22:1-14

Go to the crossroads of the roads
and invite whoever you find there to the wedding.

From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew

At that time Jesus took the word
and spoke to the high priests and elders of the people
in parables.
He said :
“The kingdom of heaven
resembles a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
“He sent out his servants
to call all those he had invited to the wedding,
but they would not come.
“Thereupon he sent other servants with the order :
Say to the invitees :
Behold I have prepared my meal,
my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered ;
everything is ready.
So come to the wedding.
“But without caring they went away,
one to his field
the other to his business.
“The others seized his servants,
assaulted and killed them.
“Now the king ignited in wrath,
sent his troops
and had the murderers killed and their city set on fire.
“Then he spoke to his servants :
The wedding banquet is ready
but the guests were not worthy.
“Go therefore to the crossroads of the roads
and invite whoever you find there to the wedding.
“His servants went to the roads
and brought with them all whom they found there
wicked as well as good,
and the wedding hall filled with guests.
“Now when the king came in
to visit the adjoining guests,
he noticed someone there
who was not dressed for a wedding.
“And he spoke to him :
Friend, how hast thou come in here
without a wedding garment ?
“But the man remained guilty of answering.
“Then the king spoke to the servants :
Bind him by the hands and feet
and cast him out into the darkness.
“There there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Many are called
but few chosen.”