Daily Bible Reading – June 20, 2024

Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.

11TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Psalter: Week 3 / (Green)

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 97: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7: Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

1st Reading: Sirach 48: 1-14

Then came the prophet Elijah, like a fire, his words a burning torch. He brought a famine on the people and in his zealous love had them reduced in number.

Speaking in the name of the Lord he closed the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.

How marvelous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? By the word of the Most High you brought a dead man back to life; you brought kings to destruction and thrust famous men from their beds.

You heard a rebuke at Sinai and sentences of punishment at Horeb; you anointed kings to be avengers and prophets to succeed you.

You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses.

It was written that you should be the one to calm God’s anger in the future, before it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribes of Jacob.

Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live. Such was Elijah, taken up in a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit. During his life no leader could shake him, no one dominated him. Nothing was too difficult for him and even in death his body prophesied. In life he worked wonders, in death his deeds were amazing.

Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15

When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask him.

This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,

holy be your name,

your kingdom, come,

your will, be done

on earth, as in heaven.

Give us today, our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

as we forgive those who are in debt to us.

Do not bring us to the test,

but deliver us from the evil one.

If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.

REFLECTION:

“Our Father.”

Matthew’s version of the “Our Father” in Mt. 6:9-13 appears to be the center of the teachings found in the Sermon on the Mount. If we compare Matthew’s version with that of Luke (cf. Lk. 11:2-4), we can observe that Matthew puts the two petitions “your kingdom come” and “your will be done” together in v. 10.

We must pray for the coming of the kingdom of God. However, those of us, Jesus’ disciples who pray for God’s kingdom to come, should also be able to submit our will to the will of the heavenly Father. This particular lesson from such prayer is not easy but Jesus is teaching us that it is always possible.

The prayer in today’s Gospel passage ends with a commentary on forgiveness (cf. Mt. 6:14-15). In the same vein, to forgive is never easy. Nevertheless, it is possible. Forgiving those who hurt us is a way of submitting our will to the will of God who himself, as a Father, is always ready to forgive us.

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