DAILY MASS READINGS.

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS (July 18, 2023) TUESDAY OF THE 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (Year I, Green) 1ST READING (EXODUS 2:1-15A) A reading from the Book of Exodus A certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, who conceived and bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the river bank. His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, “It is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” “Yes, do so,” she answered. So the maiden went and called the child’s own mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you.” The woman therefore took the child and nursed it. When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son and called him Moses; for she said, “I drew him out of the water.” On one occasion, after Moses had grown up, when he visited his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen. Looking about and seeing no one, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the culprit, “Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?” But the culprit replied, “Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid and thought, “The affair must certainly be known.” Pharaoh, too, heard of the affair and sought to put Moses to death. But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. - The word of the Lord. RESPONSORIAL PSALM (PSALM 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34) R. (see 33) Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live. 1.) I am sunk in the abysmal swamp where there is no foothold; I have reached the watery depths; the flood overwhelms me. R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live. 2.) But I pray to you, O LORD, for the time of your favor, O God! In your great kindness answer me with your constant help. R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live. 3.) But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help, O God, protect me; I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live. 4.) “See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts revive! For the LORD hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live. ALLELUIA (PSALM 95:8) R. Alleluia, alleluia. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. R. Alleluia, alleluia. GOSPEL (MATTHEW 11:20-24) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “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 in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld. For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” - The Gospel of the Lord. REFLECTION: The First Reading tells the story of the birth and early life of Moses. Moses was spared by God from suffering the persecution of Pharaoh, that every Hebrew baby boy must be placed in baskets to be eaten by the crocodiles. God’s plan moves in Miriam, Yocheved, Aaron, and Amram when the basket that floated on water was made out of papyrus, which at that time was poisonous for the crocodiles. Even so, God led Moses out of Pharaoh’s persecution when this man spared a Hebrew from being enslaved by an Egyptian, whom he killed. In Moses, God would send such man to deliver the children of Israel from slavery. The Gospel tells us of Jesus’s reproaches towards the towns of Chorazin, Beithsaida, and Capernaum. It’s because they have not recognize the message of God’s salvation fulfilled in him, especially in his mighty and kind deeds. Likewise in our life, there are times we don’t recognize and obey God’s message for us. We tend to look at ourselves and our achievements more important than what spiritual matters provide and enable us to live. Let us once again hear the Lord’s voice, put our faith in him above all things, endure our trials in life, and become committed Christians towards one another.