Sunday, August 25, 2024
Liturgical Season: 
VII The Season of Sleebo
Special Significance: 
III Sunday after Transfiguration
Mar Titus
Malankara Catholic Mothers' Forum Day

Lk 11:5-13

Further Teachings on Prayer.b 5And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.

The Answer to Prayer.c 9“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.d 10For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? 12Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit* to those who ask him?”

Gn 6:1-12

Origin of the Nephilim.* 1When human beings began to grow numerous on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God* saw how beautiful the daughters of human beings were, and so they took for their wives whomever they pleased.a 3Then the LORD said: My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh. Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.

4The Nephilim appeared on earth in those days, as well as later,* after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of human beings, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.b

Warning of the Flood. 5* When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil,c 6the LORD regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved.*

7So the LORD said: I will wipe out from the earth the human beings I have created, and not only the human beings, but also the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air, for I regret that I made them.* 8But Noah found favor with the LORD.

9These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation;d Noah walked with God. 10Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11But the earth was corrupt* in the view of God and full of lawlessness.e 12When God saw how corrupt the earth had become, since all mortals had corrupted their ways on earth,f

Eccl 5:1-7

1* Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to utter a promise in God’s presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.a

2As dreams come along with many cares,

so a fool’s voice along with a multitude of words.

3b When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed. 4It is better not to make a vow than make it and not fulfill it. 5Let not your utterances make you guilty, and say not before his representative, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angered by your words and destroy the works of your hands? 6c Despite many dreams, futilities, and a multitude of words, fear God!

Gain and Loss of Goods. 7d If you see oppression of the poor, and violation of rights and justice in the realm, do not be astonished by the fact, for the high official has another higher than he watching him and above these are others higher still—.

Sir 4:1-10

1My child, do not mock the life of the poor;

do not keep needy eyes* waiting.a

2Do not grieve the hungry,

nor anger the needy.

3Do not aggravate a heart already angry,

nor delay giving to the needy.

4A beggar’s request do not reject;

do not turn your face away from the poor.

5From the needy do not turn your eyes;

do not give them reason to curse you.

6If in their pain they cry out bitterly,

their Rock will hear the sound of their cry.

7Endear yourself to the assembly;

before the city’s ruler bow your head.

8Give a hearing to the poor,

and return their greeting with deference;

9Deliver the oppressed from their oppressors;b

right judgment should not be repugnant to you.

10Be like a father to orphans,

and take the place of a husband to widows.

Then God will call you his child,

and he will be merciful to you and deliver you from the pit.

Is 43:1-7

1But now, thus says the LORD,

who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name: you are mine.

2When you pass through waters, I will be with you;

through rivers, you shall not be swept away.

When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned,

nor will flames consume you.

3For I, the LORD, am your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your savior.

I give Egypt as ransom for you,

Ethiopia and Seba* in exchange for you.

4Because you are precious in my eyes

and honored, and I love you,

I give people in return for you

and nations in exchange for your life.a

5Fear not, for I am with you;

from the east I will bring back your offspring,

from the west I will gather you.

6I will say to the north: Give them up!

and to the south: Do not hold them!

Bring back my sons from afar,

and my daughters from the ends of the earth:b

7All who are called by my name

I created for my glory;

I formed them, made them.

2 Pt 3:1-7

Denial of the Parousia. 1* This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; through them by way of reminder I am trying to stir up your sincere disposition, 2to recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and savior through your apostles.a 3Know this first of all, that in the last days scoffers* will come [to] scoff, living according to their own desiresb 4and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?* From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation.”c 5They deliberately ignore the fact that the heavens existed of old and earth was formed out of water and through water* by the word of God;d 6through these the world that then existed was destroyed,e deluged with water.* 7The present heavens and earth have been reserved by the same word for fire, kept for the day of judgment and of destruction of the godless.f

2 Cor 12:1-10

1I* must boast; not that it is profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2I know someone in Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven. 3And I know that this person (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) 4was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable things, which no one may utter.a 5About this person* I will boast, but about myself I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. 6Although if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish, for I would be telling the truth. But I refrain, so that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me 7because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated,* a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.b 8Three times* I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,c 9* but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,* in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.d 10Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ;e for when I am weak, then I am strong.*

Lk 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. 9He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.c 10“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. 11The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’d 13But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’e 14I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”f