July 2, 2012
Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
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: St. Otto, Bishop
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+ First Reading: Amos 2:6-10, 13-16
6 Thus says Yahweh:
"For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
because they have sold the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of shoes;
7 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
and deny justice to the oppressed;
and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
8 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God* they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,
whose height was like the height of the cedars,
and he was strong as the oaks;
yet I destroyed his fruit from above,
and his roots from beneath.
10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,
and led you forty years in the wilderness,
to possess the land of the Amorite.
13 Behold, I will crush you in your place,
as a cart crushes that is full of grain.
14 Flight will perish from the swift;
and the strong won't strengthen his force;
neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
15 neither shall he stand who handles the bow;
and he who is swift of foot won't escape;
neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;
16 and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,"
says Yahweh.
*2:8: The Hebrew word rendered "God" is "Elohim."
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+ Psalm: Psalms 50:16bc-23
16bc "What right do you have to declare my statutes,
that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
17 since you hate instruction,
and throw my words behind you?
18 When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
and have participated with adulterers.
19 "You give your mouth to evil.
Your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother.
You slander your own mother's son.
21 You have done these things, and I kept silent.
You thought that I was just like you.
I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.
22 "Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me,
and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him."
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+ Gospel: Matthew 8:18-22
18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
19 A scribe came, and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
21 Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father."
22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
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+ Today's Reading: Nehemiah(5:1-19)
1 Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews.
2 For there were that said, "We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live."
3 Some also there were that said, "We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine."
4 There were also some who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral.
5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. Neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards."
6 I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
7 Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, "You exact usury, everyone of his brother." I held a great assembly against them.
8 I said to them, "We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?" Then they held their peace, and found never a word.
9 Also I said, "The thing that you do is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?
10 I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury.
11 Please restore to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you are charging them."
12 Then they said, "We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, even as you say."
Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.
13 Also I shook out my lap, and said, "So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn't perform this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied."
All the assembly said, "Amen," and praised Yahweh. The people did according to this promise.
14 Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor.
15 But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people: but I didn't do so, because of the fear of God.
16 Yes, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered there to the work.
17 Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were around us.
18 Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I didn't demand the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy on this people.
19 Remember to me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
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