July 2015 Prayers

Joshua 8: 30-3530 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, 31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, "an altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool has been used"; and they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed offerings of well-being. 32 And there, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 All Israel, alien as well as citizen, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark in front of the levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the aliens who resided among them.The Word of the Lord.Thanks be to God.

Mt 13:54-58Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.They were astonished and said,“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?Is he not the carpenter’s son?Is not his mother named Maryand his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?Are not his sisters all with us?Where did this man get all this?”And they took offense at him.But Jesus said to them,“A prophet is not without honor except in his native placeand in his own house.”And he did not work many mighty deeds therebecause of their lack of faith.

PS 81:3-4, 5-6, 10-11abR. (2a) Sing with joy to God our help.Take up a melody, and sound the timbrel,the pleasant harp and the lyre.Blow the trumpet at the new moon,at the full moon, on our solemn feast.R. Sing with joy to God our help.For it is a statute in Israel,an ordinance of the God of Jacob,Who made it a decree for Josephwhen he came forth from the land of Egypt.R. Sing with joy to God our help.There shall be no strange god among younor shall you worship any alien god.I, the LORD, am your Godwho led you forth from the land of Egypt.R. Sing with joy to God our help.

Lv 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37 The LORD said to Moses,“These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrateat their proper time with a sacred assembly.The Passover of the LORD falls on the fourteenth day of the first month,at the evening twilight.The fifteenth day of this month is the LORD’s feast of Unleavened Bread.For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.On the first of these days you shall hold a sacred assemblyand do no sort of work.On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD.Then on the seventh day you shall again hold a sacred assemblyand do no sort of work.”The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel and tell them:When you come into the land which I am giving you,and reap your harvest,you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvestto the priest, who shall wave the sheaf before the LORDthat it may be acceptable for you.On the day after the sabbath the priest shall do this.“Beginning with the day after the sabbath,the day on which you bring the wave-offering sheaf,you shall count seven full weeks,and then on the day after the seventh week, the fiftieth day,you shall present the new cereal offering to the LORD.“The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement,when you shall hold a sacred assembly and mortify yourselvesand offer an oblation to the LORD.“The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the LORD’s feast of Booths,which shall continue for seven days.On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly,and you shall do no sort of work.For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD,and on the eighth day you shall again hold a sacred assemblyand offer an oblation to the LORD.On that solemn closing you shall do no sort of work.“These, therefore, are the festivals of the LORDon which you shall proclaim a sacred assembly,and offer as an oblation to the LORD burnt offerings and cereal offerings,sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day.”

Ex 40:16-21, 34-38 Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.On the first day of the first month of the second yearthe Dwelling was erected.It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,and set up its columns.He spread the tent over the Dwellingand put the covering on top of the tent,as the LORD had commanded him.He took the commandments and put them in the ark;he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil,thus screening off the ark of the commandments,as the LORD had commanded him.Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.Moses could not enter the meeting tent,because the cloud settled down upon itand the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,the children of Israel would set out on their journey.But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;only when it lifted did they go forward.In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling;whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloudby the whole house of Israelin all the stages of their journey.

Jn 11:19-27Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Maryto comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,she went to meet him;but Mary sat at home.Martha said to Jesus,“Lord, if you had been here,my brother would not have died.But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,God will give you.”Jesus said to her,“Your brother will rise.”Martha said to him,“I know he will rise,in the resurrection on the last day.”Jesus told her,“I am the resurrection and the life;whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.Do you believe this?”She said to him, “Yes, Lord.I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,the one who is coming into the world.”

PS 99:5, 6, 7, 9R. (see 9c) Holy is the Lord our God.Extol the LORD, our God,and worship at his footstool;holy is he!R. Holy is the Lord our God.Moses and Aaron were among his priests,and Samuel, among those who called upon his name;they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.R. Holy is the Lord our God.From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.R. Holy is the Lord our God.Extol the LORD, our God,and worship at his holy mountain;for holy is the LORD, our God.R. Holy is the Lord our God.

Mt 13:31-35Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seedthat a person took and sowed in a field.It is the smallest of all the seeds,yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.It becomes a large bush,and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”He spoke to them another parable.“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeastthat a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flouruntil the whole batch was leavened.”All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:I will open my mouth in parables,I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

Mt 20:20-28The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sonsand did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.He said to her,“What do you wish?”She answered him,“Command that these two sons of mine sit,one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.”Jesus said in reply,“You do not know what you are asking.Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”They said to him, “We can.”He replied,“My chalice you will indeed drink,but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to givebut is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”When the ten heard this,they became indignant at the two brothers.But Jesus summoned them and said,“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,and the great ones make their authority over them felt.But it shall not be so among you.Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be servedbut to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Ex 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b In the third month after their departure from the land of Egypt,on its first day, the children of Israel came to the desert of Sinai.After the journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai,they pitched camp.While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,the LORD told Moses,“I am coming to you in a dense cloud,so that when the people hear me speaking with you,they may always have faith in you also.”When Moses, then, had reported to the LORD the response of the people,the LORD added, “Go to the peopleand have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow.Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third day;for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinaibefore the eyes of all the people.”On the morning of the third daythere were peals of thunder and lightning,and a heavy cloud over the mountain,and a very loud trumpet blast,so that all the people in the camp trembled.But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God,and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain.Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke,for the LORD came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace,and the whole mountain trembled violently.The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speakingand God answering him with thunder.When the LORD came down to the top of Mount Sinai,he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain.

Ex 16:1-5, 9-15 The children of Israel set out from Elim, and came into the desert of Sin,which is between Elim and Sinai,on the fifteenth day of the second monthafter their departure from the land of Egypt.Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israelgrumbled against Moses and Aaron.The children of Israel said to them,“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!But you had to lead us into this desertto make the whole community die of famine!”Then the LORD said to Moses,“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;thus will I test them,to see whether they follow my instructions or not.On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in,let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of the children of Israel:Present yourselves before the LORD,for he has heard your grumbling.”When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel,they turned toward the desert, and lo,the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!The LORD spoke to Moses and said,“I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel.Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desertwere fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, “What is this?”for they did not know what it was.But Moses told them,“This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”

Jn 14:23R. Alleluia, alleluia.Whoever loves me will keep my word,and my Father will love himand we will come to him.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Ex 12:37-42 The children of Israel set out from Rameses for Succoth,about six hundred thousand men on foot,not counting the little ones.A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them,besides their livestock, very numerous flocks and herds.Since the dough they had brought out of Egypt was not leavened,they baked it into unleavened loaves.They had rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunityeven to prepare food for the journey.The time the children of Israel had stayed in Egyptwas four hundred and thirty years.At the end of four hundred and thirty years,all the hosts of the LORD left the land of Egypt on this very date.This was a night of vigil for the LORD,as he led them out of the land of Egypt;so on this same nightall the children of Israel must keep a vigil for the LORDthroughout their generations.

Gn 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egyptand the people cried to Pharaoh for bread,Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Josephand do whatever he told them.When the famine had spread throughout the land,Joseph opened all the cities that had grainand rationed it to the Egyptians,since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain,for famine had gripped the whole world.The sons of Israel were among thosewho came to procure rations.It was Joseph, as governor of the country,who dispensed the rations to all the people.When Joseph’s brothers came and knelt down before himwith their faces to the ground,he recognized them as soon as he saw them.But Joseph concealed his own identity from themand spoke sternly to them.With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.On the third day Joseph said to his brothers:“Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man.If you have been honest,only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison,while the rest of you may goand take home provisions for your starving families.But you must come back to me with your youngest brother.Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die.”To this they agreed.To one another, however, they said:“Alas, we are being punished because of our brother.We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us,yet we paid no heed;that is why this anguish has now come upon us.”Reuben broke in,“Did I not tell you not to do wrong to the boy?But you would not listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”The brothers did not know, of course,that Joseph understood what they said,since he spoke with them through an interpreter.But turning away from them, he wept.

Ez 2:2-5 As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into meand set me on my feet,and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,rebels who have rebelled against me;they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.Hard of face and obstinate of heartare they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD! And whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house—they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

Mt 9:14-17The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,but your disciples do not fast?”Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mournas long as the bridegroom is with them?The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,and then they will fast.No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.People do not put new wine into old wineskins.Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”