Daily Reading for Thursday, October 1st, 2015

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Reading 1, Nehemiah 8:1-4, 5-6, 7-12

¹ all the people gathered as one man in the square in front of the Water Gate, and asked the scribe Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses which Yahweh had prescribed for Israel.
² Accordingly, on the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women and all those old enough to understand.
³ In the square in front of the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and of those old enough to understand, he read from the book from dawn till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
⁴ The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden dais erected for the purpose; beside him stood, on his right, Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; on his left, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
⁵ In full view of all the people -- since he stood higher than them all -- Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.
⁶ Then Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, 'Amen! Amen!'; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before Yahweh.
⁷ And Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabab, Hanan, Pelaiah, who were Levites, explained the Law to the people, while the people all kept their places.
⁸ Ezra read from the book of the Law of God, translating and giving the sense; so the reading was understood.
⁹ Then His Excellency Nehemiah and the priest-scribe Ezra and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all the people, 'Today is sacred to Yahweh your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.' For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.
¹⁰ He then said, 'You may go; eat what is rich, drink what is sweet and send a helping to the man who has nothing prepared. For today is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of Yahweh is your stronghold.'
¹¹ And the Levites calmed all the people down, saying, 'Keep quiet; this is a sacred day. Do not be sad.'
¹² Then all the people went off to eat and drink and give helpings away and enjoy themselves to the full, since they had understood the meaning of what had been proclaimed to them.

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Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 11

⁸ The precepts of Yahweh are honest, joy for the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is pure, light for the eyes.
⁹ The fear of Yahweh is pure, lasting for ever; the judgements of Yahweh are true, upright, every one,
¹⁰ more desirable than gold, even than the finest gold; his words are sweeter than honey, that drips from the comb.
¹¹ Thus your servant is formed by them; observing them brings great reward.

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Gospel, Luke 10:1-12

¹ After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting.
² And he said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting.
³ Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
⁴ Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.
⁵ Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, "Peace to this house!"
⁶ And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.
⁷ Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
⁸ Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you.
⁹ Cure those in it who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you."
¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say,
¹¹ "We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near."
¹² I tell you, on the great Day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town.

Prayer of the Day for Thursday, October 1, 2015

A Prayer to Saint Therese De Lisieux for Guidance Govern by all Thy Wisdom, O Lord,
so that my soul may always be serving Thee as Thou dost
Will,
and not as I may choose.
Do not punish me, I beseech Thee,
by granting that which I wish
or ask if it offended Thy Love,
which would always live in me.
Let me die to myself,
so that I may love Thee.
Let me live to Thee,
Who art in Thyself,
the True Life.

Dear St. Therese,
guide me in your Little Way,
so that I may ascend to the heights and happiness of
Heaven.

St. Therese of Lisieux

Short Cuts

Facts

Feastday: October 1
Patron of the Missions
Birth: 1873
Death: 1897

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Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, called her the "Little Flower", and found in her short life more inspiration for own lives than in volumes by theologians.
Yet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." (Collections of her letters and restored versions of her journals have been published recently.) But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized.
Over the years, some modern Catholics have turned away from her because they associate her with over- sentimentalized piety and yet the message she has for us is still as compelling and simple as it was almost a century ago.
Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They must have followed his advice very well because they had nine children. The five children who lived were all daughters who were close all their lives.
Tragedy and loss came quickly to Therese when her mother died of breast cancer when she was four and a half years old. Her sixteen year old sister Pauline became her second mother -- which made the second loss even worse when Pauline entered the Carmelite convent five years later. A few months later, Therese became so ill with a fever that people thought she was dying.
The worst part of it for Therese was all the people sitting around her bed staring at her like, she said, "a string of onions." When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed. She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured. She tried to keep the grace of the cure secret but people found out and badgered her with questions about what Mary was wearing, what she looked like. When she refused to give in to their curiosity, they passed the story that she had made the whole thing up.
Without realizing it, by the time she was eleven years old she had developed the habit of mental prayer. She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity.