August 22, 2012
We hope that today is a good day.
Today's Bible story based on the calendar of the Catholic Church.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/calendar.php
Most of these contents are things of The World English Bible.
http://ebible.org/web/
We hope that everyone in the peace of the Lord.
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+ Saints: Queenship of Mary
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+ First Reading: Ezekiel 34:1-11
1 Yahweh's word came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep?
3 You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don't feed the sheep.
4 You haven't strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them.
5 They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was no one who searched or sought.
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh's word:
8 As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn't feed my sheep;
9 therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh's word:
10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.
11 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
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+ Psalm: Psalms 23:1-6
A Psalm by David.
1 Yahweh is my shepherd:
I shall lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in Yahweh's house forever.
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+ Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
1 "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius*A denarius is a silver Roman coin worth 1/25th of a Roman aureus. This was a common wage for a day of farm labor. a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 He went out about the third hour,†Time was measured from sunrise to sunset, so the third hour would be about 9:00 AM. and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
4 He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour,‡noon and 3:00 P. M. and did likewise.
6 About the eleventh hour§5:00 PM he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?'
7 "They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.'
"He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.'
8 When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.'
9 "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
10 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
11 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
12 saying, 'These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!'
13 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius?
14 Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
15 Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?'
16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen."
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+ Today's Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:9-6:8
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?
12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came out of his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?
17 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.
18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor?this is the gift of God.
20 For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.
6:1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:
2 a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:
4 for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.
6 Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don't all go to one place?
7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
8 For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?
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