September 16, 2012
Twenty-fourth Sunday 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. Cornelius, Pope, Martyr and St. Cyprian, Bishop, Martyr
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+ First Reading: Isaiah 50:5-9a
5 The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.
6 I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn't hide my face from shame and spitting.
7 For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
8 He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.
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+ Psalm: Psalms 116:1-6, 8-9
1 I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice,
and my cries for mercy.
2 Because he has turned his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death surrounded me,
the pains of Sheol* got a hold of me.
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of Yahweh:
"Yahweh, I beg you, deliver my soul."
5 Yahweh is Gracious and righteous.
Yes, our God is merciful.
6 Yahweh preserves the simple.
I was brought low, and he saved me.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living.
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+ Second Reading: James 2:14-18
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
16 and one of you tells them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled"; and yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
18 Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
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+ Gospel: Mark 8:27-35
27 Jesus went out, with his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?"
28 They told him, "John the Baptizer, and others say Elijah, but others: one of the prophets."
29 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Christ."
30 He commanded them that they should tell no one about him.
31 He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke to them openly. Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
33 But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men."
34 He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, "Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it.
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+ Today's Reading: Esther 1:1-3、9-13、15-16、19、2:5-10、16-17
1 Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces),
2 that in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,
3 in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him.
9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Ahasuerus.
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,
11 to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty; for she was beautiful.
12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him.
13 Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times, (for it was the king's custom to consult those who knew law and judgment;
15 "What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding of the King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs?"
16 Memucan answered before the king and the princes, "Vashti the queen has not done wrong to just the king, but also to all the princes, and to all the people who are in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus.
19 "If it please the king, let a royal commandment go from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be altered, that Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another who is better than she.
2:5 There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,
6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
7 He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
8 So it happened, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
9 The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king's house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women's house.
10 Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, because Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known.
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