Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 9th August, 2024
08-09 St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Hosea 2:16-17, 21-22.
Hosea’s love was a human example of God’s ever-faithful love. She will return my love.
That is why I am going to lure her and lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart. I am going to give her back her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a gateway of hope.
There she will respond to me as she did when she was young,
as she did when she came out of the land of Egypt.
I will betroth you to myself for ever,
betroth you with integrity and justice, with tenderness and love;
I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness, and you will come to know the Lord.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 44:10-12. 16. v.10b
Response On your right stands the queen, in garments of gold.
1. The daughters of kings are among your loved ones. On your right stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
Listen, 0 daughter, give ear to my words: forget your own people and your father’s house. Response
2. So will the king desire your beauty: He is your lord, pay homage to him.
They are escorted amid gladness and joy; they pass within the palace of the king. Response
Gospel Acclamation Mt 25:5-6.
Alleluia, alleluia!
At midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him”.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 25:1-13 Glory to you, O Lord.
Stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.
Jesus said
“The kingdom of heaven will be like this:
Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were sensible:
the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil,
whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps.
The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry,
“The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.”
At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones,
“Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out”
But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves”.
They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived.
Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later.
“Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.”
But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you”.
So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reflection August 9, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Matthew 25:1-13
Edith Stein was born on the 12th October, 1891 to a Jewish family in Breslau, Germany. Though she became agnostic in her teen years, through her passionate study of philosophy as an adult she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. In 1922, she was baptized a Catholic, and in 1933 entered the Discalced Carmel of Cologne where she took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. During the Nazi occupation she was sent to the Carmel in Echt, Netherlands. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands all Jews and Jewish converts were arrested. Sr. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa were arrested at this time. She was gassed and cremated at Auschwitz on 9th August, 1942.
A woman of great intelligence and learning, she left behind a body of writing notable for its doctrinal richness and profound spirituality. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Cologne, Germany on May 1, 1987 and canonized on October 11, 1998. The gospel reading chosen for her feast day is the parable of the ten bridesmaids from Matthew’s gospel. The lamp of Teresa’s faith burnt brightly from the moment she gave her life over to the Lord, having read the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila. Her faith in the Lord was a light in the awful darkness of Auschwitz. When the Lord came to her at the hour of her death in that inhuman place, she was there ready to meet him with the lamp of her faith burning brightly. That same light was lit in our own lives at our baptism. Our calling is to keep that light of our faith, the light of the Lord, alive in our hearts, no matter how great the darkness that bears down upon us. If we are to be faithful to that calling we need to keep turning in prayer towards the one who spoke of himself as the light of the world and promised that whoever follows him will never walk in darkness.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
