2016-08-07 | St. Mary, Queen of Peace Syro-Malankara Catholic Eparchy in USA and Canada

Mt 8:23-27

The Calming of the Storm at Sea. 23^* ^j He got into a boat and his disciples followed him. 24Suddenly a violent storm^* came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. 25^k They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us!^* We are perishing!” 26He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”^* Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. 27The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

Ex 9:13-21

Seventh Plague: The Hail. 13Then the LORD spoke to Moses: Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to serve me, 14for this time I will unleash all my blows upon you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me anywhere on earth. 15For by now I should have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with such pestilence that you would have vanished from the earth. 16But this is why I have let you survive: to show you^* my power and to make my name resound throughout the earth!^b 17Will you continue to exalt yourself over my people and not let them go? 18At this time tomorrow, therefore, I am going to rain down such fierce hail as there has never been in Egypt from the day it was founded up to the present. 19Therefore, order your livestock and whatever else you have in the open fields to be brought to a place of safety. Whatever human being or animal is found in the fields and is not brought to shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them. 20Those of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the LORD hurried their servants and their livestock off to shelter. 21But those who did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left their servants and their livestock in the fields.

1 Kgs 18:36-46

36At the time for offering sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came forward and said, “LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37^a Answer me, LORD! Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and that you have turned their hearts back to you.” 38The LORD’s fire came down and devoured the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust, and lapped up the water in the trench. 39Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!” 40^b Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape!” They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and there he slaughtered them. 41Elijah then said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42So Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, crouched down to the earth, and put his head between his knees. 43He said to his servant, “Go up and look out to sea.” He went up and looked, but reported, “There is nothing.” Seven times he said, “Go look again!” 44And the seventh time the youth reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” Elijah said, “Go and say to Ahab, ‘Harness up and go down the mountain before the rain stops you.’” 45All at once the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell. Ahab mounted his chariot and headed for Jezreel. 46But the hand of the LORD was on Elijah. He girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab as far as the approaches to Jezreel.

Ps 90:9-17

9Our life ebbs away under your wrath;^g

our years end like a sigh.

10Seventy is the sum of our years,

or eighty, if we are strong;

Most of them are toil and sorrow;

they pass quickly, and we are gone.

11Who comprehends the strength of your anger?

Your wrath matches the fear it inspires.

12Teach us to count our days aright,

that we may gain wisdom of heart.

13Relent, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

14Fill us at daybreak with your mercy,^h

that all our days we may sing for joy.

15Make us glad as many days as you humbled us,

for as many years as we have seen trouble.ⁱ

16Show your deeds to your servants,

your glory to their children.

17May the favor of the Lord our God be ours.^j

Prosper the work of our hands!

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.

Jas 4:1-10

Causes of Division.^* 1Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions^* that make war within your members?^a 2You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. 3You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4Adulterers!^* Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.^b 5Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks without meaning when it says, “The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy”?^* 6But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says:^c

“God resists the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”^*

7So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.^d 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.^e 9Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.^f

2 Cor 3:12-18

12Therefore, since we have such hope,^* we act very boldly 13and not like Moses,^* who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not look intently at the cessation of what was fading. 14Rather, their thoughts were rendered dull, for to this present day^* the same veil remains unlifted when they read the old covenant, because through Christ it is taken away. 15To this day, in fact, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,^f 16but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed.^g 17Now the Lord is the Spirit,^* and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18^* All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.^h

Mt 9:13-15

13Go and learn the meaning of the words,^f ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^* I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

The Question About Fasting. 14^g Then the disciples of John approached him and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast [much], but your disciples do not fast?” 15Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.^*

St. Mary, Queen of Peace Syro-Malankara Catholic Eparchy in USA and Canada