Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 8th August, 2024
Thursday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2
Memorial of St Dominic, religious, priest
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah 31:31-34
I will make a new covenant and never call their sin to mind.
See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks
– when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah), but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, so I had to show them who was master.
It is the Lord who speaks.
No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know the Lord!‘ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest – it is the Lord who speaks – since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50
Response: A pure heart create for me, O God.
1. A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit. Response
2. Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you. Response
3. For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 144: 13
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds.
Alleluia!
Or Mt: 16: 18
Alleluia, Alleluia!
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 16:13-23 Glory to you, O Lord
You are Peter and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples,
‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’
And they said,
‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’
‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’
Then Simon Peter spoke up,
‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God’.
Jesus replied,
‘Simon, son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
So I now say to you:
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven;
whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’
Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
From that time Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.
Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him.
‘Heaven preserve you, Lord;’ he said ‘this must not happen to you.’
But he turned and said to Peter,
‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection, Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 16:13–23
According to today’s gospel reading, just at the very moment when Jesus gave Peter a very special role, as the rock on which he would build the church, Peter became not a rock but a stumbling stone, an obstacle, to Jesus. Jesus knew that if he was to remain faithful to the mission God had given him, it would lead down the path of suffering and death. However, Peter tried to tempt Jesus to take an easier path, ‘This must not happen to you’. This was a very powerful temptation and, so, Jesus had to confront it in a very uncompromising way. He turned to Peter and said, ‘Get behind me Satan’. Peter who had just expressed a wonderful insight into Jesus, a God-given insight, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’, is now addressed by Jesus as Satan. Peter who was inspired by God at one moment was being inspired by Satan in the next moment.
Peter was a mixture of the good and the not so good. He was both a man of deep faith who could be entrusted by Jesus with great responsibility and a man who could become a block to the work that Jesus wanted to do. We are all a little like Peter, a mixture of wheat and weed, to use the imagery of one of Jesus’ parables. After addressing Peter as Satan, Jesus did not take back on Peter’s calling to be the rock on which Jesus’ church would be built. Jesus continued to invest in Peter, to trust that he would turn out well in the end. Indeed, Peter went on to become a good shepherd who laid down his life for his flock, like Jesus. The Lord never gives up on us either. Even after we fail him, he continues to invest in us. He keeps calling us to become the person he wants us to be and knows we can be with his help, the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
