Letters From Home

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. Scott Hahn.

Ordinary Weekday First Reading: Genesis 12: 1-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 33: 12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22
Alleluia: Hebrews 4: 12
Gospel: Matthew 7: 1-5

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Readings:
Jeremiah 20:10–13
Psalm 69:8–10, 14, 17, 33–35
Romans 5:12–15
Matthew 10:26–33

Our commitment to Christ will be put to the test.

We will hear whispered warnings and denunciations, as Jeremiah does in today’s First Reading. Even so-called friends will try to trap and trip us up.

For His sake we will bear insults and be made outcasts—even in our own homes, we hear in today’s Psalm.

As Jeremiah tells us, we must expect that God will challenge our faith in Him, and probe our minds and hearts, to test the depths of our love.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus assures us three times in today’s Gospel.

Though He may permit us to suffer for our faith, our Father will never forget or abandon us. As Jesus assures us today, everything unfolds in His providence, under His watchful gaze—even the falling of the tiniest sparrow to the ground. Each one of us is precious to Him.

Steadfast in this faith, we must resist the tactics of Satan. He is the enemy who seeks the ruin of our soul in Gehenna, or hell.

We are to seek God, as the Psalmist says. Zeal for the Lord’s house, for the heavenly kingdom of the Father, should consume us, as it consumed Jesus (see John 2:17). As Jesus bore the insults of those who blasphemed God, so should we (see Romans 15:3).

By the gracious gift of Himself, Jesus bore the transgressions of the world, Paul tells us in today’s Epistle. In rising from the dead, He has shown us that God rescues the life of the poor, that He does not spurn His own when they are in distress. In His great mercy, He will turn toward us, as well. He will deliver us from the power of the wicked.

That is why we proclaim His name from the housetops, as Jesus tells us. That is why we sing praise and offer thanksgiving in every Eucharist. We are confident in Jesus’ promise—that we who declare our faith in Him before others will be remembered before our heavenly Father.

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist by Mr. Clement Harrold.

Nativity of John the Baptist Solemnity/ Day First Reading: Isaiah 49: 1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 139: 1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15
Second Reading: Acts 13: 22-26
Alleluia: Luke 1: 76
Gospel: Luke 1: 57-66, 80

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. John Bergsma.

Ordinary Weekday First Reading: Second Corinthians 11: 18, 21-30
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Alleluia: Matthew 5: 3
Gospel: Matthew 6: 19-23

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time by Ms. Joan Watson.

Ordinary Weekday/ Paulinus of Nola, Bishop/ John Fisher, Bishop, Martyr, and Thomas More, Married Man, Martyr First Reading: Second Corinthians 11: 1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 111: 1b-2, 3-4, 7-8
Alleluia: Romans 8: 15bc
Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for the Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga by Dr. John Bergsma.

Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious Obligatory Memorial First Reading: Second Corinthians 9: 6-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 112: 1bc-2, 3-4, 9
Alleluia: John 14: 23
Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. Shane Owens.

Ordinary Weekday First Reading: Second Corinthians 8: 1-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 146: 2, 5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a
Alleluia: John 13: 34
Gospel: Matthew 5: 43-48

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. Scott Hahn.

Ordinary Weekday/ Romuald, Abbot First Reading: Second Corinthians 6: 1-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 98: 1, 2b, 3ab, 3cd-4
Alleluia: Psalms 119: 105
Gospel: Matthew 5: 38-42

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Exodus 19:2–6
Psalm 100:1–2, 3, 5
Romans 5:6–11
Matthew 9:36–10:8

The words God speaks to Israel in today’s First Reading are intended for us as well.

The Church is the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Israel—a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (see Deuteronomy 26:19; Isaiah 62:12).

In the Church, we have been gathered as the new “Israel of God” (see Galatians 6:16). He has made us His own people, the flock He tends, as we sing in today’s Psalm.

Moses was Israel’s first shepherd (see Exodus 3:1). With the Promised Land in view, he prayed that God would raise up a successor so that God’s people would not be left as sheep without a shepherd (see Numbers 27:17).

These same words are used in today’s Gospel to describe Jesus’ pity for the crowds, who are “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Israel’s shepherds—the Pharisees and scribes—had abandoned and misled the people through their hypocrisy and spiritual blindness (see Matthew 23:1–36; Jeremiah 50:6).

But God had long before promised that He Himself would come and save His sheep—searching over the whole earth where they had been scattered “for lack of a shepherd” (see Ezekiel 34:1–24).

Jesus is the new Moses and new David promised by the prophets, a divine shepherd-king sent to restore God’s priestly kingdom (see John 10:11).

As Moses commissioned Joshua as his successor, so we see Jesus today giving the Twelve His powers and authority (see Matthew 9:35; 10:1). In God’s plan, they are to seek out the lost sheep of Israel first and then bring all nations into the fold (see Acts 13:46; Romans 1:16).

Together we have been saved and reconciled to God, as we hear in today’s Epistle. As He delivered Israel, He has also made us a kingdom of priests in the Church (see Revelation 1:6).

So we come in this Mass to serve Him with gladness, to praise His kindness, which endures forever.

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Mr. Clement Harrold.

Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary Obligatory Memorial First Reading: Second Corinthians 5: 14-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Alleluia: Luke 2: 19
Gospel: Luke 2: 41-51

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com