FIRST READING: The LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said: Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment; But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered. Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss? Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all:Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness, That you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths? You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your years is great! Then Job answered the LORD and said: Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more. - Job 38:1.12-21.40:3-5

RESPONSORIAL PSALM:
For the leader. A psalm of David. I LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.
Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.
If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; – Psalm 139:1-14

HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO SAINT LUKE

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in ackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’” Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” - Luke 10:13-16

REFLECTION

“Hear, my people… I will testify against you”
by Saint Clement of Alexandria
Theologian

«Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers proved Me by trial… they shall not enter into My rest»… For great is the grace of His promise, if today we hear His voice. And that «today» is lengthened out day by day, while it is called today. And to the end the today and the instruction continue; and then the true today, the never-ending day of God, extends over eternity. Let us then ever obey the voice of the divine word. For the «today» signifies eternity. And day is the symbol of light; and the light of men is the Word (Jn 1,9), by whom we behold God.

Rightly, then, to those who have believed and obey, grace will superabound; while with those who have been unbelieving… and have not known the Lord’s ways… God is incensed, and these He threatens. And, indeed, the old Hebrew wanderers in the desert received in type the end of this threatening; for they are said not to have entered into the rest, because of their unbelief.

But the Lord, in His love, invites all to a knowledge of the truth (1Tm 2,4) and for this end sends the Paraclete… Hear, then, «you who are far off, hear you who are near» (Ep 2,17): the word has not been hidden from any; light is common, it shines on all… Let us haste to salvation, to regeneration; let us who are many haste that we may be brought together into one love. The union of many in one…becomes one symphony following one choir-leader and teacher, the Word, reaching and resting in the same truth, and crying «Abba, Father» (Rm 8,15).