Churches of the Day
Pictorial Thought for Today
Aug 28 - St Augustine of Hippo (354-430) bishop
Summary: St Augustine, born at Tagaste (Algeria) in 354; died at Hippo (Tunisia) in 430: baptised in 387, together with his son, after a long inner struggle and under the influence of St Ambrose (Feast:7 Dec.) and the prayers of his mother, Saint Monica (c/f 27 August). Bishop, Doctor of the Church. He taught in Carthage, Rome, and Milan.Bishop of Hippo for thirty-four years. Lived a communal life with his clergy and served the many needs of his people at a time of political and cultural collapse. Honoured as a model pastor and as a preacher and writer whose thought has had an enduring influence in Christian history.
Patrick Duffy tells his story.
A Berber with Roman citizenship
Augustine, a Roman African, was born in 354 in Tagaste, North Africa, (in present-day Algeria) to a pagan father named Patricius and a Christian mother named Monica. He may have been a Berber by race but his family name, Aurelius, suggests his family had Roman citizenship from the Edict of Caracalla in 212.
Teenage Years: Latin Literature and Hedonistic Lifestyle
At 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus, a Roman colony, also in present-day Algeria, where he became familiar with Latin literature, came home for two years and then went to study rhetoric in Carthage (in present-day Tunisia). At Carthage he got into a hedonistic lifestyle.
"I came to Carthage, and all around me in my ears were the activities of impure loves. I was not yet in love, but I loved the idea of love" (Confessions 3:51). He began a relationship that lasted thirteen years with a young woman whom he never names: she became his concubine. "It was a sweet thing to be loved, and more sweet still when I was able to enjoy the body of a woman" (Confessions 3:51).
Teaching Grammar and Rhetoric at Tagaste, Carthage, Rome and Milan
After teaching grammar at Tagaste (373-4), Augustine moved to Carthage where he conducted a school of rhetoric for the next nine years (374-383) and then went to Rome. where an introduction to the prefect of the City of Rome, Symmachus, eventually secured him the post of professor of rhetoric at the imperial court at Milan in 384. Although he was interested in Manichaeism, this began to change at Milan, where he became interested in Neoplatonism. Augustine lived for fifteen years with a woman who remains unknown and with whom he had a son, named Adeodatus who died when he was about eighteen.
His mother Monica had followed him to Cartage, persuaded him to put away his concubine and was pressuring him to become a Christian. But it was the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, who had most influence over Augustine. Ambrose was a master of rhetoric like Augustine himself, but older and more experienced.
Conversion
This quotation from the beginning of the Confessions of Saint Augustine sums up the intellectual and spiritual journey of this extraordinary man. "You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
He was influenced by reading the life of Saint Anthony of the Desert, who when he read "Go, sell all you have, and give to the poor, and come and follow me", did just that. While experiencing the pulls and tugs of this crisis, Augustine was sitting one day in a garden and heard the voice of a child repeating a chant: Tolle, lege! Tolle, lege! "Take up and read! Take up and read!" Interpreted this as a call from God to take up the Bible, he did so and read from the passage in Romans 13:13-14: "Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ; forget about satisfying your bodies with all their cravings." He did not need to read any further. A light of serenity pierced his darkness and all doubt melted away from him (Confessions 8:29).
Baptism and Return to Africa
Augustine then formed a lay community near Milan at Cassiciacum. His friend Alypius whom he knew from Tagaste was also a member and both along with Adeodatus were baptised by Ambrose at Easter 387. In August 387 Alypius was in the company of Augustine, Monica, Adeodatus, Navigius (the brother of Augustine) and Evodius (a North African companion) when they travelled to the port of Ostia with the intention of sailing back to North Africa to establish a lay community at Tagaste. Monica, however, died at Ostia on the way and was buried there.
[caption id="attachment_50024" align="alignleft" width="238"]
Bishop Augustine[/caption]
Bishop of Hippo
Augustine and Alypius lived a community life for a while at Tagaste (388-391). His friend Possidius, who later wrote a life of Augustine, was also a member of that community and later bishop of Calama. But this community life ended unexpectedly when Augustine was pressed into priesthood by the aging bishop and community at Hippo. Five years later he became bishop of Hippo. Alypius too became a priest and became bishop of Tagaste, where he remained till his death in 430. Augustine lived a monastic or community life at the episcopal residence in Hippo.
Synods, Sermons, Writings, and Letters
The next thirty years were turbulent for the Church: the Vandals were destroying the Latin culture; the city of Rome was losing its influence; and there were controversies with the heresies of Donatism and Pelagianism in the Church of North Africa. Bishop Augustine spent a lot of time attending synods and meetings of bishops in Carthage and other cities of North Africa. He also wrote many letters both within and outside Africa. The range of his writings is vast: the two best known works are his Confessions, an account of his own path to God and The City of God, which was occasioned by the fall of Rome to Alaric and the Visigoths in 410. But there are also Expositions on the Psalms, and works On the Trinity, On Grace and Free Will, On Original Sin and a host of others.
Death
Augustine was seventy-six when the Vandals came through Gaul and Spain to North Africa and were at the gate of the city of Hippo as he lay dying inside and they took it over as their capital after he died. His mortal remains were taken first to Sardinia and then to Pavia in Lombardy, northern Italy, where they can still be seen today. Along with Saints Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great he is regarded as one of the four doctors of the Western Church.
Influence
The vastness of his theological work and the fact that it was catalogued and preserved has meant that every generation of Christian thinking has been able to be in dialogue with the issues he treated right up to the present day.
Pope Benedict XVI, who in 1953 wrote his doctoral thesis on "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church", dedicated three catecheses on Augustine and his spirituality at his Wednesday audiences in January 2008 that are well worth reading.
...Thomas Merton
Patrick Duffy tells his story.
A Berber with Roman citizenshipAugustine, a Roman African, was born in 354 in Tagaste, North Africa, (in present-day Algeria) to a pagan father named Patricius and a Christian mother named Monica. He may have been a Berber by race but his family name, Aurelius, suggests his family had Roman citizenship from the Edict of Caracalla in 212.
Teenage Years: Latin Literature and Hedonistic Lifestyle
At 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus, a Roman colony, also in present-day Algeria, where he became familiar with Latin literature, came home for two years and then went to study rhetoric in Carthage (in present-day Tunisia). At Carthage he got into a hedonistic lifestyle.
"I came to Carthage, and all around me in my ears were the activities of impure loves. I was not yet in love, but I loved the idea of love" (Confessions 3:51). He began a relationship that lasted thirteen years with a young woman whom he never names: she became his concubine. "It was a sweet thing to be loved, and more sweet still when I was able to enjoy the body of a woman" (Confessions 3:51).
Teaching Grammar and Rhetoric at Tagaste, Carthage, Rome and Milan
After teaching grammar at Tagaste (373-4), Augustine moved to Carthage where he conducted a school of rhetoric for the next nine years (374-383) and then went to Rome. where an introduction to the prefect of the City of Rome, Symmachus, eventually secured him the post of professor of rhetoric at the imperial court at Milan in 384. Although he was interested in Manichaeism, this began to change at Milan, where he became interested in Neoplatonism. Augustine lived for fifteen years with a woman who remains unknown and with whom he had a son, named Adeodatus who died when he was about eighteen.
His mother Monica had followed him to Cartage, persuaded him to put away his concubine and was pressuring him to become a Christian. But it was the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, who had most influence over Augustine. Ambrose was a master of rhetoric like Augustine himself, but older and more experienced.
Conversion
This quotation from the beginning of the Confessions of Saint Augustine sums up the intellectual and spiritual journey of this extraordinary man. "You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
He was influenced by reading the life of Saint Anthony of the Desert, who when he read "Go, sell all you have, and give to the poor, and come and follow me", did just that. While experiencing the pulls and tugs of this crisis, Augustine was sitting one day in a garden and heard the voice of a child repeating a chant: Tolle, lege! Tolle, lege! "Take up and read! Take up and read!" Interpreted this as a call from God to take up the Bible, he did so and read from the passage in Romans 13:13-14: "Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ; forget about satisfying your bodies with all their cravings." He did not need to read any further. A light of serenity pierced his darkness and all doubt melted away from him (Confessions 8:29).
Baptism and Return to Africa
Augustine then formed a lay community near Milan at Cassiciacum. His friend Alypius whom he knew from Tagaste was also a member and both along with Adeodatus were baptised by Ambrose at Easter 387. In August 387 Alypius was in the company of Augustine, Monica, Adeodatus, Navigius (the brother of Augustine) and Evodius (a North African companion) when they travelled to the port of Ostia with the intention of sailing back to North Africa to establish a lay community at Tagaste. Monica, however, died at Ostia on the way and was buried there.
[caption id="attachment_50024" align="alignleft" width="238"]
Bishop Augustine[/caption]Bishop of Hippo
Augustine and Alypius lived a community life for a while at Tagaste (388-391). His friend Possidius, who later wrote a life of Augustine, was also a member of that community and later bishop of Calama. But this community life ended unexpectedly when Augustine was pressed into priesthood by the aging bishop and community at Hippo. Five years later he became bishop of Hippo. Alypius too became a priest and became bishop of Tagaste, where he remained till his death in 430. Augustine lived a monastic or community life at the episcopal residence in Hippo.
Synods, Sermons, Writings, and Letters
The next thirty years were turbulent for the Church: the Vandals were destroying the Latin culture; the city of Rome was losing its influence; and there were controversies with the heresies of Donatism and Pelagianism in the Church of North Africa. Bishop Augustine spent a lot of time attending synods and meetings of bishops in Carthage and other cities of North Africa. He also wrote many letters both within and outside Africa. The range of his writings is vast: the two best known works are his Confessions, an account of his own path to God and The City of God, which was occasioned by the fall of Rome to Alaric and the Visigoths in 410. But there are also Expositions on the Psalms, and works On the Trinity, On Grace and Free Will, On Original Sin and a host of others.
Death
Augustine was seventy-six when the Vandals came through Gaul and Spain to North Africa and were at the gate of the city of Hippo as he lay dying inside and they took it over as their capital after he died. His mortal remains were taken first to Sardinia and then to Pavia in Lombardy, northern Italy, where they can still be seen today. Along with Saints Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great he is regarded as one of the four doctors of the Western Church.
Influence
The vastness of his theological work and the fact that it was catalogued and preserved has meant that every generation of Christian thinking has been able to be in dialogue with the issues he treated right up to the present day.
Pope Benedict XVI, who in 1953 wrote his doctoral thesis on "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church", dedicated three catecheses on Augustine and his spirituality at his Wednesday audiences in January 2008 that are well worth reading.
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Memorable Proverb for Today
The man of faith who has never experienced doubt
is not a man of faith.
...Thomas Merton
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Liturgical Readings for: Thursday, 28th August, 2025
Thursday of the Twenty first Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1
Paul exhorts his communities to a deeper faith in God and love of all people
Saint of the Day : Aug 28th Memorial of St Augustine, theologian, deep student of God's Grace, bishop of Hippo, Patron of theologians
C/f A short life story of this saint can be found below today’s Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Thessalonians 3:7-13
May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race.
Brothers, your faith has been a great comfort to us in the middle of our own troubles and sorrows; now we can breathe again, as you are still holding firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy: we feel before our God on your account? We are earnestly praying night and day to be able to see you face to face again and make up any shortcomings in your faith.May God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, make it easy for us to come to you. May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you, And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 89: 3-4, 12-14. 17, R/v 14.
Response Fill us with your love that we may rejoice.
1. You turn men back into dust and say: 'Go back, sons of men.'
To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone,
no more than a watch in the night. Response
2. Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart. Lord, relent!
Is your anger for ever? Show pity to your servants. Response
3. In the morning, fill us with your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us: give success to the work of our hands. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 15: 15
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,because
I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Or Mt 24: 42
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour
when the Son of Man is coming.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 24:42-51 Glory to you, O Lord.
Always stand ready.
Jesus said to his disciples:
'So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master's arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you solemnly, he will place him over everything he owns.
But as for the dishonest servant who says to himself, "My master is taking his time," and sets about beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with drunkards, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.'
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
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Gospel Reflection Thursday Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 24:42-51
At the beginning of our first reading, Paul says to the church he had recently established, ‘your faith has been a great comfort to us in the middle of our own troubles and sorrows’. Paul was a great preacher of the gospel, a leading figure in the early church. Yet, he needed the faith of others to sustain his own faith. In today’s first reading, the faith of his young church led him to give thanks to God for them and for all the joy their faith has brought him. We can never underestimate how our own faith and the living of our faith can be a support to other people of faith. When others support us in faith, we are drawn to supporting them in faith in turn. This is what we find happening in our first reading. In response to the church’s support of him, Paul supports them by praying for them, ‘May the Lord be generous in increasing your love… may he confirm your hearts in holiness’. There is a vision here of the church in every generation, people of faith being supported by and supporting other people of faith. This is one of the reasons we gather as a community of faith in various settings, including and especially at the Eucharist.
In the gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the faithful and wise servant whom the master finds at his employment whenever he arrives home. One of the ways we show ourselves to be faithful and wise servants of the Lord is by supporting one another’s faith, building each other up in the Lord. This ministry of encouragement is one we are all called to exercise for each other; it is rooted in our baptism.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from Reflections on the Weekday Readings : Your word is a lamp for my feet and light for my path by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Saint of the Day: Aug 29, St Augustine, bishop, preacher, theologian, writer
Augustine was born at Tagaste (Algeria) in 354; died at Hippo (Tunisia) in 430: baptised in 387 but strayed from the faith. After a long inner struggle and under the influence of St Ambrose (Feast:7 Dec.) and the prayers of his mother, St Monica (c/f 27 August). became a bishop and doctor of the Church. He taught in Carthage, Rome, and Milan. Bishop of Hippo for thirty-four years. Lived a communal life with his clergy and served the many needs of his people at a time of political and cultural collapse. Honoured as a model pastor and as a preacher and writer whose thought has had an enduring influence in Christian history.
Patrick Duffy tells his story.
A Berber with Roman citizenshipAugustine, a Roman African, was born in 354 in Tagaste, North Africa, (in present-day Algeria) to a pagan father named Patricius and a Christian mother named Monica. He may have been a Berber by race but his family name, Aurelius, suggests his family had Roman citizenship from the Edict of Caracalla in 212.
Teenage Years: Latin Literature and Hedonistic Lifestyle
At 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus, a Roman colony, also in present-day Algeria, where he became familiar with Latin literature, came home for two years and then went to study rhetoric in Carthage (in present-day Tunisia). At Carthage he got into a hedonistic lifestyle.
"I came to Carthage, and all around me in my ears were the activities of impure loves. I was not yet in love, but I loved the idea of love" (Confessions 3:51). He began a relationship that lasted thirteen years with a young woman whom he never names: she became his concubine. "It was a sweet thing to be loved, and more sweet still when I was able to enjoy the body of a woman" (Confessions 3:51).
Teaching Grammar and Rhetoric at Tagaste, Carthage, Rome and Milan
After teaching grammar at Tagaste (373-4), Augustine moved to Carthage where he conducted a school of rhetoric for the next nine years (374-383) and then went to Rome. where an introduction to the prefect of the City of Rome, Symmachus, eventually secured him the post of professor of rhetoric at the imperial court at Milan in 384. Although he was interested in Manichaeism, this began to change at Milan, where he became interested in Neoplatonism. Augustine lived for fifteen years with a woman who remains unknown and with whom he had a son, named 'Adeodatus' ('Given by God') who died when he was about eighteen.
His mother Monica had followed him to Cartage, persuaded him to put away his concubine and was pressuring him to become a Christian. But it was the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, who had most influence over Augustine. Ambrose was a master of rhetoric like Augustine himself, but older and more experienced.
Conversion
This quotation from the beginning of the Confessions of Saint Augustine sums up the intellectual and spiritual journey of this extraordinary man. "You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
He was influenced by reading the life of Saint Anthony of the Desert, who when he read "Go, sell all you have, and give to the poor, and come and follow me", did just that. While experiencing the pulls and tugs of this crisis, Augustine was sitting one day in a garden and heard the voice of a child repeating a chant: Tolle, lege! Tolle, lege! ("Take up and read! Take up and read!") He interpreted this as a call from God to take up the Bible, he did so and read from the passage in Romans 13:13-14: "Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ; forget about satisfying your bodies with all their cravings."
He did not need to read any further. A light of serenity pierced his darkness and all doubt melted away from him (Confessions 8:29).
Baptism and Return to Africa
Augustine then formed a lay community near Milan at Cassiciacum. His friend Alypius whom he knew from Tagaste was also a member and both along with his son Adeodatus were baptised by Ambrose at Easter 387. In August 387 Alypius was in the company of Augustine, Monica, Adeodatus, Navigius (the brother of Augustine) and Evodius (a North African companion) when they travelled to the port of Ostia with the intention of sailing back to North Africa to establish a lay community at Tagaste. Monica, however, died at Ostia on the way and was buried there.
[caption id="attachment_50024" align="alignleft" width="238"]
Bishop Augustine[/caption]Bishop of Hippo
Augustine and Alypius lived a community life for a while at Tagaste (388-391). His friend Possidius, who later wrote a life of Augustine, was also a member of that community and later bishop of Calama. But this community life ended unexpectedly when Augustine was pressed into priesthood by the aging bishop and community at Hippo. Five years later he became bishop of Hippo. Alypius too became a priest and became bishop of Tagaste, where he remained till his death in 430. Augustine lived a monastic or community life at the episcopal residence in Hippo.
Synods, Sermons, Writings, and Letters
The next thirty years were turbulent for the Church: the Vandals were destroying the Latin culture; the city of Rome was losing its influence; and there were controversies with the heresies of Donatism and Pelagianism in the Church of North Africa. Bishop Augustine spent a lot of time attending synods and meetings of bishops in Carthage and other cities of North Africa. He also wrote many letters both within and outside Africa. The range of his writings is vast: the two best known works are his 'Confessions', an account of his own path to God and 'The City of God', which was occasioned by the fall of Rome to Alaric and the Visigoths in 410. But there are also 'Expositions on the Psalms,' and works 'On the Trinity, On Grace and Free Will, On Original Sin' and a host of others.
Death
Augustine was seventy-six when the Vandals came through Gaul and Spain to North Africa and were at the gate of the city of Hippo as he lay dying inside. They took it over as their capital after he died. His mortal remains were taken first to Sardinia and then to Pavia in Lombardy, northern Italy, where they can still be seen today. Along with Ss Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great he is regarded as one of the four doctors of the Western Church.
Influence
The vastness of his theological work and the fact that it was catalogued and preserved has meant that every generation of Christian thinking has been able to be in dialogue with the issues he treated right up to the present day.
Pope St Benedict XVI, who in 1953 wrote his doctoral thesis on "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church", dedicated three catecheses on Augustine and his spirituality at his Wednesday audiences in January 2008 that are well worth checking.
__________________________
******************************
Memorable Proverb for Today
The man of faith who has never experienced doubt is not a man of faith.
******************************
Liturgical Readings for: Thursday, 28th August, 2025
CÉAD LÉACHT Sliocht as céad Litir Naomh Pól chuig na Teasalónaigh 3:7-13
Go ndéana an Tiarna bhur ngrá dá chéile agus do chách eile a mhéadú
[caption id="attachment_84817" align="alignright" width="305"]
Cén buíochas is féidir dúinn a ghabháil le Dia?[/caption]A bhráithre, ba mhór an tógáil chroí dúinn bhur gcreideamhsa i lár ár gcuid angair agus ár gcuid anacra, mar gur beo dúinne anois nuair atá sibhse ag seasamh an fhóid go daingean sa Tiarna. Cén buíochas is féidir dúinn a ghabháil le Dia as a bhfuil de lúcháir curtha orainn agaibh os comhair ár nDé? Bímid á ghuí go dúthrachtach de lá is d’oíche go bhfeicfímid bhur ngnúis arís agus, cibé bearna atá ar bhur gcreideamh, go líonfaimid í.
Go ndéana Dia, ár nAthair, agus Íosa ár dTiarna, ar mbóthar chugaibh a réiteach dúinn. Agus go ndéana an Tiarna bhur ngrá dá chéile agus do chách eile a mhéadú go fras nó go mbeidh sé ar aon chéim leis an ngrá atá againne daoibh. Agus go ndaingní sé bhur gcroíthe sa naofacht sa tslí go mbeidh said gan cháim os comhair Dé, ár nAthair, ar theacht dár dTiarna Íosa agus a chuid naomh in éineacht leis.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Salm le Freagra Sm 89: 3-4, 12-14. 17, R/v 14.
Freagra Tabhair ár sáith de do bhuanghrá Is déanfaimid gairdeas .
1. Déanann tú deannach arís den duine á rá: “Ar ais libh, a Ádhamhchlann.”
Óir níl míle bliain i d’fhianaise ach mar an lá a d’imigh tharainn inné,
nó mar a bheadh faire na hoíche. Freagra
2. Múin dúinn giorra shaoil an duine chun go bhfaighimid críonnacht inár gcroí.
Fill orainn; cá fhad a bheidh tú feargach? Déan trócaire ar do shearbhóntaí, a Thiarna. Freagra
3. Tabhair ár sáith de do bhuanghrá ar maidin dúinn, go mbeidh áthas orainn agus gairdeas go deo.
Go dtaga grásta ár dTiarna Dia anuas orainn agus go soirbhí tú saothar ár lámh. Freagra
SOISCÉAL
Go raibh an Tiarna libh. Agus le do spiorad féin
Sliocht as Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Mhatha 24:42-51 Glóir duit, a Thiarna.
Bígí ag faire.
San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail:'Bígí ag faire, dá bhrí sin, mar níl a fhios agaibh cén lá a thiocfaidh bhur dTiarna. “Bíodh a fhios agaibh é seo, áfach: dá mb’eol don fhear tí cén t-am san oíche a dtiocfadh an bithiúnach, bheadh sé ag faire agus ní ligfeadh sé ballaí a thí a réabadh. Sibhse freisin, mar sin, bígí ullamh, óir is ar an uair nach síleann sibh a thiocfaidh Mac an Duine.
'Cé hé, más ea, an seirbhíseach iontaofa ciallmhar ar cheap a mháistir os cionn sclábhaí a theaghlaigh é chun a gcuid bia a thabhairt dóibh i dtráth? Is méanar don seirbhíseach sin a bhfaighidh a mháistir é ag déanamh amhlaidh ar theacht dó. Deirim libh go fírinneach, ceapfaidh sé os cionn a mhaoine go léir é. Agus má deir an drochsheirbhíseach sin ina chroí: ‘Tá mo mháistir ag déanamh moille,’ agus go dtosóidh ag bualadh a chomhsheirbhíseach, agus é ag ithe agus ag ól le lucht meisce, tiocfaidh máistir an tseirbhísigh sin lá nach mbíonn súil aige leis agus ar an uair nach eol dó, agus coscróidh sé é, agus tabharfaidh cion na mbréagchráifeach dó. Is ann a bheidh gol agus díoscán fiacla.'
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 31st August, 2025
Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
Humility and virtue sees the service of others as the true meaning of authority.
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus 3:17-20. 28-29
Behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord.
My son, be gentle in carrying out your business,and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.
The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly,
and then you will find favour with the Lord;
for great though the power of the Lord is,
he accepts the homage of the humble.
There is no cure for the proud man's malady, since an evil growth has taken root in him. The heart of a sensible man will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage's dream.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial. Psalm Ps 67
Response In your goodness, O God, you prepared a home for the poor.
1. The just shall rejoice at the presence of God, they shall exult and dance for joy.
O sing to the Lord, make music to his name; rejoice in the Lord, exult at his presence. Response
2. Father of the orphan, defender of the widow, such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in; he leads the prisoners forth into freedom. Response
3. You poured down, O God, a generous rain: when your people were starved you gave them new life.
It was there that your people found a home, prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor. Response
SECOND READING
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews 12:18-19. 22-24
You have to come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God
What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them.
But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a 'first-born son' and a citizen of heaven.You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and been placed with spirits of the saints who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator who brings a new covenant.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation Jn 14: 23
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
Or Mt 11: 27
Alleluia, alleluia!
Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 14:1. 7-14 Glory to you, O Lord
Everyone who exalts oneself will be humbled, and the one who humbles oneself will be exalted.
Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this,'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour.
A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man". And then, to your embarrassment, you would have to go and take the lowest place.
No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, "My friend, move up higher". In that way, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.'
Then he said to his host,
'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.'
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here: https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/
Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.
Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 31st August, 2025
CÉAD LÉACHT
Sliocht as Leabhar Shíorach 3:17-20. 28-29
Isligh thú féin agus beidh gnaoi an Tiarna ort
A mhic, déan do chuid oibre le ceansacht;
agus an mhuintir is gean leis an Tiarna, beidh grá acu duit.
Dá airde céim thú, is amhlaidh is córa duit thú féin a ísliú,
agus beidh gnaoi an Tiarna ort.
Is líonmhar iad lucht mustair agus toirtéise,
ach is don mhuintir uiríseal a nochtann sé a rúin.
Is éachtach í cumhacht an Tiarna, agus tugann lucht na huirísle onóir dó.
Níl leigheas ar ghalar an uaibhrigh, mar phréamhaigh planda den olc ann.
Déanfaidh an duine críonna machnamh ar pharabal ina chroí, agus cluas le héisteacht is mian leis an eagnaí.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Salm le Freagra Sm 67
Freagra De bharr do chineáltais, a Dhia, rinne tú soláthar do lucht an ghátair.
1. Déanfaidh na fíréin gairdeas i bhfianaise Dé; déanfaidh siad gairdeas go meidhreach meanmnach.
Canaigí amhrán do Dhia agus seinnigí dá ainm; gairdigí don Tiarna; bíodh áthas oraibh roimhe. Freagra
2. Athair na ndílleachtaí is caomhnóir na mbaintreach, is é sin Dia ina áras naofa.
Is é Dia a thugann teallach don aonarán uaigneach; seolann sé na braighdeanaigh chun saoirse agus sonais. Freagra
3. Dhoirt tú flúirse fearthainne, a Dhia, ar d'oidhreacht: bheathaigh tú do phobal agus iad ar an ngorta. ;
Is ann a lonnaigh do phobalsa de bharr dó chineáltais, ar a ndearna tú soláthar, a Dhia, do lucht an ghátair. Freagra
DARA LÉACHT
Sliocht as Litir chuig na Heabhraig 12:18-19. 22-24
Tá sibh tagtha go dtí Sliabh Shíón agus cathair Dé bheo.
A bhráithre, ní amhlaidh atá sibh tar éis teacht go dtí rudaí somhothaithe,
mar atá, scamall dúdhorcha agus duifean agus speirling, blosc stoic agus glór gutha a thug ar an lucht éisteachta a impí nach labhrófaí focal eile leo.
Ina ionad sin, tá sibh tagtha go dtí Sliabh Shíón agus cathair Dé bheo, go dtí an Iarúsailéim neamhaí mar a bhfuil na mílte aingeal bailithe le chéile go háthasach, agus comhthionól na gcéadghinte a bhfuil a n-ainmneacha scríofa sna flaithis, mar a bhfuil Dia féin atá ina bhreitheamh ar chách, agus spioraid na bhfíréan a tugadh chun foirfeachta, agus Íosa, idirghabhálaí an chonartha nua.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Alleluia Véarsa Eo 14:23
Alleluia, alleluia!
Má bhíonn grá ag duine dom, coinneoidh sé mo bhriathar,
agus beidh grá ag m'Athair dó, agus tiocfaimid chuige,' a deir an Tiarna.
Alleluia!
SOISCÉAL
Go raibh an Tiarna libh. Agus le do spiorad féin
Sliocht as Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Lúcás 14:1. 7-14 Glóir duit, a Thiarna.
Gach aon duine a ardaíonn é féin, ísleofar é, agus an té a íslíonn é féin, ardófar é.
Nuair a chuaigh sé ag caitheamh a choda lá sabóide i dteach dhuine de chinn urra na bhFairísineach,
iad seo a bhí ann, bhí siad ag faire go géar air.
Dúirt Íosa parabal leo siúd a fuair an cuireadh, ar a shonrú dó mar a thoghaidís na chéad áiteanna; dúirt sé leo:
“Nuair a thabharfaidh duine éigin cuireadh chun bainise duit, ná téigh i do luí sa chéad áit, le heagla go mbeadh cuireadh ag duine eile uaidh ba mhó le rá ná thú, agus go dtiocfaidh an té a thug an cuireadh duit féin agus dó sin, á rá leat: ‘Tabhair áit dó seo,’ agus go gcaithfeá ansin agus ceann faoi ort an áit is ísle a ghabháil. Ach nuair a gheobhaidh tú cuireadh, tar agus lig fút san áit is ísle, sa chaoi, nuair a thiocfaidh an té a thug an cuireadh duit, go ndéarfaidh sé leat:
‘A chara, gabh níos faide suas’; ansin beidh onóir ann duit i láthair chách a bhíonn ag bord leat. Óir gach aon duine a ardaíonn é féin, ísleofar é, agus an té a íslíonn é féin, ardófar é.”
Dúirt sé freisin leis an té a thug an cuireadh dó:
“Nuair a bhíonn meán lae nó dinnéar á thabhairt agat, ná cuir gairm ar do chairde ná ar do bhráithre ná ar do ghaolta ná ar do chomharsana saibhre, le heagla go dtabharfaidís sin cuireadh duitse ar a seal agus go ndíolfaí an comhar leat. Ach nuair a bhíonn fleá agat á tabhairt, tabhair cuireadh do bhoicht, do mhairtínigh, do bhacaigh, do dhaill; agus beidh sonas ort, de bhrí nach bhfuil teacht acu ar é a chúiteamh leat; óir cúiteofar leat é in aiséirí na bhfíréan.”
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
