Friday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1

Send us Fan MailFriday, 15 August 2025Friday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1Antiphons on p 1139 and Readings on p.1159 of the Daily MissalFirst Reading: Joshua 24:1-13Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 136:1-3.16-18.21-22 & 24 (R. 1b)R/. For his mercy endures forever.O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,for his mercy endures forever.Give thanks to the God of gods,for his mercy endures forever.Give thanks to the Lord of lords,for his mercy endures forever.Through the desert his people he led,for his mercy endures forever.Nations in their greatness he struck,for his mercy endures forever.Kings in their splendour he slew,for his mercy endures forever:He gave their land as a heritage,for his mercy endures forever;a heritage for Israel, his servant,for his mercy endures forever.And he snatched us away from our foes,for his mercy endures forever.R/. For his mercy endures forever.Gospel: Matthew 19:3-12At that time: Pharisees came up to Jesus, and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one”? So they are no longer two, but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no one put asunder.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning, it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman, commits adultery”. The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”