Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection June 19, 2025
Thursday – 11th Week in Ordinary Time
19th June 2025 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 3
Readings of the Day
First Reading: 2 Corinthians 11:1-11
Brethren: I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
Psalm 111:1b-2, 3-4, 7-8 R.(7a)
R/. The Lord’s handiwork is justice and truth
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 6:7-15
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Thursday – 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Main Point: The quantity of words in prayer is not a necessary sign and guarantee of the quality of prayer. It is rather a matter of quality of heart
1. In the gospel, Jesus directs our attention to our power-source, namely prayer. The basic disposition of prayer is the quality of heart and not the quantity of words. Besides, a spirit of forgiveness and not storing grudge becomes an essential prerequisite and condition for God to accept our prayer.
2. In this context, Jesus offers us the sublime model prayer, ‘Our Father’. It is not one prayer among many. It is in a way the quintessence of prayer. It recognizes and reminds us that we are one family of God’s children, bound by filial devotion and fraternal concern.
3. We need to abide by His holy will and establish His kingdom. We must inculcate a constant spirit of dependence on God and contentment with the necessary. We must earnestly resist all inclination to evil and especially all the rush for unforgiveness.
4. In fact, the prayer ‘Our Father’ evidently teaches us what to pray for. It also implicitly cautions us against the possible onslaughts of the evil one. One is the spirit of disunity and division that disrupts the spirit of one family of God’s children.
5. Second is desecrating and disgracing God’s holy name by unholy lives, by not living up to His holy name. Third is promoting one’s own will and interests, that is, one’s petty kingdom, against the one kingdom of God and His holy will. Fourth is a sense of greed and accumulation leading to discontentment. Fifth is harbouring grudges and unforgiving spirit. Sixth is easily falling prey to the temptations of the evil one.
6. This is similar to what the serpent did to Eve and Adam. This is what St Paul warns the Corinthians about being led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. As he attests, we must constantly be conscious that we are “betrothed to Christ to present ourselves as a pure bride to her one husband”
My Practice: The Our Father is not merely a well-articulated or condensed prayer. It synthesizes the whole spirit of a praying heart. It affirms that spiritual concerns are the priority in life. This essentially includes primacy to God and the Propensity of fraternity.
