Sunday, August 4, 2024
Liturgical Season: 
VII The Season of Sleebo
Special Significance: 
XI Sunday after Pentecost
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Sunday School Day
St. John Maria Vianney, Patron of Priest

Mt 18:15-20

A Brother Who Sins.* 15h “If your brother* sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. 16* i If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17j If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.* If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. 18* k Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19* l Again, [amen,] I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. 20* m For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Lv 19:13-18

13You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not commit robbery. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your laborer.j 14* You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

15You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly.k 16You shall not go about spreading slander among your people; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

17* You shall not hate any of your kindred in your heart. Reprove your neighbor openly so that you do not incur sin because of that person.l 18Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.m

Jos 23:7-14

7or mingling with these nations that survive among you. You must not invoke their gods by name, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them,e 8but you must hold fast to the LORD, your God, as you have done up to this day. 9At your approach the LORD has dispossessed great and strong nations; not one has withstood you up to this day. 10One of you puts to flight a thousand, because it is the LORD, your God, himself who fights for you,f as he promised you. 11As for you, take great care to love the LORD, your God. 12For if you ever turn away from him and join with the remnant of these nations that survive among you, by intermarrying and intermingling with them,g 13know for certain that the LORD, your God, will no longer dispossess these nations at your approach. Instead they will be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge for your sides and thorns for your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD, your God, has given you.h

14“Today, as you see, I am going the way of all the earth.* So now acknowledge with your whole heart and soul that not one of all the promises the LORD, your God, made concerning you has failed. Every one has come true for you; not one has failed.

Mal 3:1-6

The Messenger of the Covenant

1a Now I am sending my messenger—

he will prepare the way before me;*

And the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple;

The messenger of the covenant whom you desire—

see, he is coming! says the LORD of hosts.

2But who can endure the day of his coming?

Who can stand firm when he appears?

For he will be like a refiner’s fire,

like fullers’ lye.

3b He will sit refining and purifying silver,

and he will purify the Levites,

Refining them like gold or silver,

that they may bring offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem

will please the LORD,

as in ancient days, as in years gone by.

5I will draw near to you for judgment,

and I will be swift to bear witness

Against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers,

those who deprive a laborer of wages,

Oppress a widow or an orphan,

or turn aside a resident alien,

without fearing me, says the LORD of hosts.

Gifts for God, Blessings for the People

6For I, the LORD, do not change,*

and you, sons of Jacob, do not cease to be.

Sir 7:29-36

29With all your soul fear God

and revere his priests.

30With all your strength love your Maker

and do not neglect his ministers.

31Honor God and respect the priest;

give him his portion as you have been commanded:k

First fruits and contributions,

his portion of victims and holy offerings.*

32To the poor also extend your hand,

that your blessing may be complete.

33Give your gift to all the living,

and do not withhold your kindness from the dead.*

34Do not avoid those who weep,

but mourn with those who mourn.l

35Do not hesitate to visit the sick,

because for such things you will be loved.m

36In whatever you do, remember your last days,

and you will never sin.*

Jas 2:14-26

Faith and Works.* 14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?i 15If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?j 17So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. 19You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. 20Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?k 22You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. 23Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called “the friend of God.”l 24See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?m 26For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

1 Cor 14:26-33

Rules of Order. 26* So what is to be done, brothers? When you assemble, one has a psalm, another an instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Everything should be done for building up.h 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be two or at most three, and each in turn, and one should interpret. 28But if there is no interpreter, the person should keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God.

29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others discern. 30But if a revelation is given to another person sitting there, the first one should be silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. 32Indeed, the spirits of prophets are under the prophets’ control, 33since he is not the God of disorder but of peace.

As in all the churches of the holy ones,*

Mk 6:7-13

The Mission of the Twelve. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching. 7d He summoned the Twelve* and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. 8* He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. 9They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. 10* He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. 11Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” 12So they went off and preached repentance. 13* They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sicke and cured them.