Presider’s Page for 31 July (Ordinary Time 18)
God’s Word calls us to recognise the transience of life, to keep our eyes on what is lasting: we gather in that spirit today.
31 July. Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Rich Fool is a sombre warning to anyone who complacently enjoys being rich and comfortable, while others starve. The economic model imposed by our capitalist, accumulative society plays a large part in world inequalities and tensions. 1st Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 “Vanity of vanities!” You can’t take it with you when you die Vanity…
30 July. Saturday, Week 17
Saint Peter Chrysologus, optional memorial 1st Reading: Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24 In God’s name, Jeremiah stands by his threats against Jerusalem and its temple Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have…
29 July. St Martha of Bethany
1st Reading: 1 John 4:7-16 True love shows us to be children of God Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this…
28 July. Thursday, Week 17
1st Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-6 God is like a potter, re-forming Israel out of previously mis-formed clay The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at…
27 July. Wednesday, Week 17
1st Reading: Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21 The second lament of Jeremiah and the Lord’s reply It was a bad day that my mother ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! O Lord, I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. Your words were found,…
26 July. Tuesday, Week 17
Saints Joachim and Anne parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, memorial 1st Reading: Jeremiah 14:17-22 Jeremiah laments his people’s destruction and begs God for mercy You shall say to them this word: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter, my people, is struck…
25 July. Feast of Saint James, Apostle
1st Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15. The grace of God is like a treasure in a clay jar. The apostle is willing to die, that the others may have life We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from…
24 July. Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Genesis 18:20-32 Abraham intercedes and haggles with God to spare the city of Sodom Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me;…
23 July. St Bridget of Sweden, Patron of Europe
1st Reading: Galatians 2:19-20. It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives…
22 July. St Mary Magdalene. Memorial
Mary of Magdala is named in the Gospels more often than any of the twelve apostles except Peter. She is today honoured for her fidelity to Jesus and as first witness to the resurrection. 1st Reading: 2 Cor 5:14-17 (alternative: Song 3:1-4) A life built on and sustained by the love of God The love…
21 July. Thursday, Week 16
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, optional memorial 1st Reading: Jeremiah 2:1-2; 7-8; 12-13. They dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a…
20 July. Wednesday, Week 16
Saint Apollinaris, optional memorial 1st Reading: Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10 The prophet’s vocation to speak God’s word The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before…
19 July. Tuesday, Week 16.
1st Reading: Micah 7:14-15, 18-20 Israel’s God is always faithful and forgiving Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days when…
18 July. Monday, Week 16
1st Reading: Micah 6:1-4, 6-8 Micah’s famous summary of religion, as walking humbly with God Hear what the Lord says: ‘Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.’ Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy…
17 July. Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Lord wants us not to be too caught up in mundane things, like Martha. Like Mary we try to set aside our everyday worries and anxieties and sit quietly with Our Lord, to listen to him. 1st Reading: Genesis 18:1-10 In welcoming the strangers, Abraham was really in the presence of God The Lord…
16 July. Saturday, Week 15
1st Reading: Micah 2:1-5 When rich people covet and steal the lands of others, their own land will fall to their captors Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power. They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and…
15 July. Friday, Week 15
Saint Bonaventure, optional memorial 1st Reading: Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, King Hezekiah is cured of a serious sickness; as a sign of full health God turns the sun’s rays backward In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him,…
14 July. Thursday, Week 15
Saint Camillus de Lellis, optional memorial 1st Reading: Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19 A prayer of quiet confidence, awaiting the dawn of God’s justice The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name…
13 July. Wednesday, Week 15
Saint Henry, optional memorial 1st Reading: Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16 Assyria was used to punish Israel but later was discarded for interfering with God’s plans for his people The Lord says, “Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger, the club in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the…