There shall be no strange god among you nor shall you worship any alien god. I, the LORD, am your God who led you forth from the land of Egypt. Sing with joy to God our help.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:54-58, today's readings).

But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

The psalm for today presents the words of the Lord to the Israelites. "There shall be no strange god among you. . . ." In the Gospel, Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth among neighbors and family friends, when they say of him: "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son?" They name Mary, and his brothers and sisters, family members, and say out of bewilderment. "Where did this man get all this." Among his own townspeople, Jesus would have been no stranger, yet they rejected him despite witnessing his words and miraculous works. The greater truth that some would come to believe is that Jesus was no strange god among them but the Son of the Most High.

Father in heaven, I know that Jesus is present in many ways, foremost in the real presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Help me see Jesus also present in the faces of the people I encounter today and in their words and actions. Those closest who bear Christ and manifest his presence are often the ones most taken for granted. Give me the grace, Lord, to pause and see in them, as Saint Paul said, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious." Let me consider how Christ is in my midst, right her in my native place. Saint Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Blessed they who dwell in your house! continually they praise you. Blessed the men whose strength you are! They go from strength to strength. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:47-53, today’s readings).

Jesus said to the disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age.”

Jesus makes a comparison of the kingdom of heaven that the disciples would have been intimately familiar with. The bad catch that is thrown away would have particular meaning to them as well as the good, which they put into buckets. Jesus shares this parable to bring to mind the end of the age, the final judgment. To discern good and bad in relation to the end of the age is to know God’s will and move forward with it in the present moment, just as the Israelites moved forward whenever the cloud of the LORD’s glory rose among them on their journey in the desert. “But if the cloud did not lift,” we hear in Exodus, “they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward.” In his Word and in the glory of his resurrection, Jesus is with us as we discern through prayer and move throughout the day.

God, help me take to heart the parables as they apply to today’s events. Open my eyes to the coexistence of good and evil in the world and their separation in the final judgment. To take from the parables what Jesus says to me as a follower is to trust in his every word. As the Israelites watched for the cloud to rise before the day’s journey, I want to see your glory made manifest as I give witness to your kingdom through my life. “Blessed the men whose strength you are!” the psalmist sings. “They go from strength to strength.” Strengthen my desire, Lord, to make myself a dwelling that calls attention to your glory. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Extol the LORD, our God, and worship at his footstool; holy is he! Holy is the Lord our God.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:44-46, today's readings).

Jesus said to his disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."

The two short parables Jesus shares with the disciples communicate the nature of the kingdom of heaven and reveal its effect on the person who finds it. Jesus mentions twice that it is found and twice he says that the person sells all he has in order to buy it. To the one who finds it, the kingdom of heaven is the treasure that renders all else worthless; it is the one investment that yields joy in this life and unending security in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is right now and yet to be; it is far above on God's holy mountain and in the deepest recesses of our hearts.

God, in the parables of the buried treasure and the pearl of great price, I see Jesus express two types of encounters with the kingdom of heaven. A treasure might be stumbled upon or found after years of searching; the pearl is found after a lifetime of learning the worth of other pearls. By your grace, Lord, the kingdom of heaven is pure gift to the one who hopes in you or actively seeks you out. And what you have to give, you have made known generously through your Son. Throughout the day, help me call to mind the Gospel acclamation with joy: "I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me."

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The LORD secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed. He has made known his ways to Moses, and his deeds to the children of Israel. The Lord is kind and merciful.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 11:19-27, today's readings).

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.”

The dialogue between Jesus and Martha deepens as Jesus tells Martha that her brother will rise. Martha shows confidence in the resurrection, saying, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus takes Martha's confidence in him further when he asks her if she believes in him. “I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus tells her. "Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die." Martha's profession of faith is an example for all of confidence in God's mercy. She says, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” Jesus, identifying himself as the resurrection and the life, refers to the ultimate victory over sin and death in his coming resurrection.

God, help me trust in your mercy. As I consider the example of Martha's faith in Christ, the resurrection and the life, grant me the opportunity today to express confidence in you as Martha did when she said, "But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Let me come to share more and more in that same confidence Martha expresses in the hope of the resurrection. Martha professed her faith by saying that Christ is "the one who is coming into the world.” Teach me, Lord, to realize you are present in every moment of the day even as you prepare me for the life of the world to come.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:31-35, today's readings).

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”

Jesus speaks to the crowd in parables about the kingdom of heaven to fulfill what has been said through the prophets. Jesus says, quoting Psalm 78, "I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world." What is hidden in plain sight, Jesus reveals to the people through parables that point to the mystery of God's kingdom: the smallest of seeds grows into a large dwelling for birds; a small measure of yeast leavens an entire basket of wheat flour. In the parables, Jesus relates real-world glimpses to reveal the spiritual reality of the kingdom of heaven. Here, we can rest in its branches and grow with Christ to one day see its fulfillment.

God, help me trust that the smallest of seeds that grows to its utmost under your care is to abandon my will to yours. The kingdom of heaven, already here and yet to be, is your gift to receive, where what you have revealed from the beginning of time is brought into sight through childlike faith. Matthew says that Jesus spoke to the disciples only in parables. Give me the grace to understand that the mystery of the kingdom is contained in the real presence of the Eucharist as I take it in and let it grow and become more a manifestation of Christ every time I receive it.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth; in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise; I will worship at your holy temple and give thanks to your name. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 11:1-13, today's readings).

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test."

After Jesus teaches the disciples the Lord's Prayer, he shares a parable about a man who goes to a friend at midnight to ask for bread to feed a guest staying at his house while on a journey. The friend eventually gives him the bread although he is reluctant at first. By his persistence, the visitor receives the bread he asks for. Likewise, in another parable, Jesus makes clear that if flawed human parents know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more so does God. "If you then, who are wicked," Jesus says, "know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" Jesus teaches the disciples more than they ask for: he points the way to his Father in a Spirit of adoption, the one to whom we cry, Abba, Father.

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Help me be grateful that your will be done and that I have the gift of freely choosing it. Let the persistent cry of the friend in the parable be my cry as well. If not because of friendship with you, Lord, then out of my persistence you never tire of hearing and answering me. Jesus says, "Ask and you will receive. . . . For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds." Give me the grace to call to mind throughout the day that I am the son in the parable who asks his father for a fish. Father in heaven, you are the giver of all good gifts. From the responsorial psalm, let me remember this with complete trust: "Your right hand saves me. The LORD will complete what he has done for me."

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and fulfill your vows to the Most High; Then call upon me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:24-30, today's readings).

"He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Jesus speaks to the crowds in a parable about a sower who sows good seed. The seed sprouts and grows, but an enemy of the sower comes at night to sow weeds throughout the wheat. When the slaves of the sower ask if they should pull up the weeds, he tells them to let the wheat and the weeds grow together and at the harvest separate them. They will then gather the wheat into the barn, but the weeds they will tie up and burn. At the harvest, the final judgment, Jesus will come to separate the weeds from the wheat. The Gospel acclamation reminds us to receive the word of God and realize the kingdom of heaven now and eternally for the life of the world to come: "Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls."

Father in heaven, help me today see the the kingdom of heaven already here and yet to be. Like a planted seed, the word has in it challenges to life along with the potential for life brought to fulfillment at the time of harvest. Give me the grace to live the present moment with enthusiasm and in hope of the fulfillment of the word in the eternal kingdom yet to be. In a world where good and evil coexist, help me, Lord, hold onto the hope of the ultimate triumph of your kingdom in its fullness through Jesus Christ, your Son. Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves. Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 20:20-28, today's readings).

"Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The mother of James and John comes to Jesus and asks that her two sons be granted authority to sit at his side in his kingdom. Jesus questions them, knowing they are unaware of what this means. "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can." And then Jesus tells them that it is not his to give but for the ones for whom the Father has prepared. To be at the right hand of Jesus in his kingdom is to serve and give one's life, to die to this life so to rise to new life through Christ. As Saint Paul says in the first reading: "For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." So out of love, Jesus asks all of us: "Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"

God, help me understand that true greatness does not mean success in the way the world defines it. The mother of James and John asked that Jesus command that they sit at his right and left in the kingdom. To command in that way, as Jesus said, is to "lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt." But it would not be this way, Jesus said, among them. Lord, give me the grace every day to serve others and "carry about in the body the dying of Jesus" but especially when in a position of authority to bring Christ's presence to others. Give me the opportunity today to do just that: to die to self to let Christ be manifested in me to others. Saint James, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.