August 20
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
7:45 AM – Joanne Gifford / Family
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband. She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, “See now! Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 146:5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Gospel Acclamation
Psalms 25:4b, 5a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
“Praise the Lord, my soul!”
Reflection
Today we recognize the great Abbot and monk St. Bernard, who helped to found 163 monasteries in the middle of the twelfth century.
The readings today are about love. Ruth and Naomi, a mother and daughter-in-law who both lose their husbands and learn to take care of each other in a world that was hard on women and widows. In the gospel, Jesus tells a young man that the two greatest commandments say that we should love our God and our neighbor.
Many of us have experienced the power of love in different ways. The love of a husband and wife, the love of parents for their children, and especially, the love that God shows for us in offering his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. The work of our lives is to turn around and show the love of God to each other, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and sharing of those things we have been blessed with by God.
St. Bernard was the perfect example of this love when he began his life as a poor monk in the French Abbey of Citeaux. Gradually, through his love of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary, he began to show his fellow monks how to give everything they had to the faith. He wound up, many years later, as one of the greatest reformers of our church, and his writings about Mary still guide us today. It would be a good thing to take some time today and read about the exploits of this great saint of our church.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Dare
Would you like to receive Readings & Reflections, and a link to join us for Mass? Subscribe to The Daily Bread newsletter.