August 31, 2012
We hope that today is a good day.
Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time.
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.
-----
+ Saints:
St. Raymond Nonnatus
St. Aristides
-----
+ First Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn't be made void.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing."†
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn't know God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
†1:19: Isaiah 29:14
-----
+ Psalm: Psalms 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11
1 Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous!
Praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre.
Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
4 For the word of Yahweh is right.
All his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh.
10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
11 The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
-----
+ Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
1 "Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a cry, 'Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!'
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.*
8 The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
9 But the wise answered, saying, 'What if there isn't enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'
10 While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
11 Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.'
12 But he answered, 'Most certainly I tell you, I don't know you.'
13 Watch therefore, for you don't know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
*25:7: The end of the wick of an oil lamp needs to be cut off periodically to avoid having it become clogged with carbon deposits. The wick height is also adjusted so that the flame burns evenly and gives good light without producing a lot of smoke.
-----
+ Today's Reading: 1 Timothy 3:1-16
1 This is a faithful saying: if a man seeks the office of an overseer *, he desires a good work.
2 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
3 not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4 one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;
5 (but if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?)
6 not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
7 Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
8 Servants†, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money;
9 holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
10 Let them also first be tested; then let them serve‡ if they are blameless.
11 Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.
12 Let servants§ be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
13 For those who have served well** gain for themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly;
15 but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God's house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great:
God†† was revealed in the flesh,
justified in the spirit,
seen by angels,
preached among the nations,
believed on in the world,
and received up in glory.
*3:1: or, superintendents, or bishops
†3:8: or, Deacons.
‡3:10: or, serve as deacons
§3:12: or, deacons
**3:13: or, served well as deacons
††3:16: NU replaces "God" with "who"
-----