Daily Catholic Mass Readings for August 12, 2023
First Reading: Deuteronomy 6.4-13
4Listen, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength6And these words, which I instruct to you this day, shall be in your heart7And you shall explain them to your sons. And you shall meditate upon them sitting in your house, and walking on a journey, when lying down and when rising up8And you shall bind them like a sign on your hand, and they shall be placed and shall move between your eyes9And you shall write them at the threshold and on the doors of your house10And when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, about which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when he will have given to you great and excellent cities, which you did not build11houses full of goods, which you did not amass; cisterns, which you did not dig; vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant12and when you will have eaten and been satisfied13take care diligently, lest you forget the Lord, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude. You shall fear the Lord your God, and you shall serve him alone, and you shall swear by his name
Psalm 18
1Unto the end. For David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this canticle to the Lord, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said: I will love you, O Lord my strength.2The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my liberator. My God is my helper, and I hope in him: my protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my support3Praising, I will call upon the Lord. And I will be saved from my enemies4The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the torrents of iniquity dismayed me5The sorrows of Hell encompassed me, and the snares of death intercepted me6In my tribulation, I called upon the Lord, and I cried out to my God. And he listened to my voice from his holy temple. And my cry in his presence entered into his ears7The earth was shaken, and it trembled. The foundations of the mountains were disturbed, and they were shaken, because he was angry with them8A smoke ascended by his wrath, and a fire flared up from his face: coals were kindled by it9He bent the heavens, and they descended. And darkness was under his feet10And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew: he flew upon the feathers of the winds11And he set darkness as his hiding place, with his tabernacle all around him: dark waters in the clouds of the air12At the brightness that was before his sight, the clouds crossed by, with hail and coals of fire13And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire14And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them. He multiplied lightnings, and he set them in disarray15Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were revealed, by your rebuke, O Lord, by the inspiration of the Spirit of your wrath16He sent from on high, and he accepted me. And he took me up, out of many waters17He rescued me from my strongest enemies, and from those who hated me. For they had been too strong for me18They intercepted me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my protector19And he led me out, into a wide place. He accomplished my salvation, because he willed me20And the Lord will reward me according to my justice, and he will repay me according to the purity of my hands21For I have preserved the ways of the Lord, and I have not behaved impiously before my God22For all his judgments are in my sight, and his justice, I have not pushed away from me23And I will be immaculate together with him, and I will keep myself from my iniquity24And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the purity of my hands before his eyes25With the holy, you will be holy, and with the innocent, you will be innocent26and with the elect, you will be elect, and with the perverse, you will be perverse27For you will save the humble people, but you will bring down the eyes of the arrogant28For you illuminate my lamp, O Lord. My God, enlighten my darkness29For in you, I will be delivered from temptation; and with my God, I will climb over a wall30As for my God, his way is undefiled. The eloquence of the Lord has been examined by fire. He is the protector of all who hope in him31For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God32It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate33It is he who has perfected my feet, like the feet of deer, and who stations me upon the heights34It is he who trains my hands for battle. And you have set my arms like a bow of brass35And you have given me the protection of your salvation. And your right hand sustains me. And your discipline has corrected me unto the end. And your discipline itself will teach me36You have expanded my footsteps under me, and my tracks have not been weakened37I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them. And I will not turn back until they have failed38I will break them, and they will not be able to stand. They will fall under my feet39And you have wrapped me with virtue for the battle. And those rising up against me, you have subdued under me40And you have given the back of my enemies to me, and you have destroyed those who hated me41They cried out, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he did not heed them42And I will crush them into dust before the face of the wind, so that I will obliterate them like the mud in the streets43You will rescue me from the contradictions of the people. You will set me at the head of the Gentiles44A people I did not know has served me. As soon as their ears heard, they were obedient to me45The sons of foreigners have been deceitful to me, the sons of foreigners have grown weak with time, and they have wavered from their paths46The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted47O God, who vindicates me and who subdues the people under me, my liberator from my enraged enemies48And you will exalt me above those who rise up against me. From the iniquitous man, you will rescue me49Because of this, O Lord, I will confess to you among the nations, and I will compose a psalm to your name50magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring, even for all time
Gospel: Matthew 17.14-20
14And when he had arrived at the multitude, a man approached him, falling to his knees before him, saying:15"Lord, take pity on my son, for he is an epileptic, and he suffers harm. For he frequently falls into fire, and often also into water16And I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to cure him."17Then Jesus responded by saying: "What an unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I endure you? Bring him here to me."18And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour19Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, "Why were we unable to cast him out?"20Jesus said to them: "Because of your unbelief. Amen I say to you, certainly, if you will have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move. And nothing will be impossible for you
Sermon
The readings today invite us to reflect on the power of faith and the importance of remaining rooted in God’s love and commandments. In the first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the Israelites of the fundamental truth: the Lord our God is one, and they are to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. This love is not abstract but lived out in concrete ways—teaching the commandments to their children, meditating on them in daily life, and keeping them ever-present in their homes and actions. Moses warns them not to forget God when they enter the Promised Land and enjoy its blessings, lest they grow complacent and turn away from the One who has freed them.
In the Gospel, we see a father’s desperate plea for his epileptic son, whom the disciples could not heal. Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit, and the boy is cured. When the disciples ask why they failed, Jesus points to their lack of faith. He assures them that even a small amount of faith—like a mustard seed—can move mountains. This passage reminds us that faith is not about our own strength or understanding but about trusting in God’s power and presence, even when we face challenges that seem insurmountable.
Together, these readings call us to a deeper faith and a more intentional way of living. Like the Israelites, we are blessed by God in countless ways, but we must not let comfort or success lead us to forget Him. Like the father in the Gospel, we must bring our struggles and doubts to Jesus, trusting in His mercy and power. And like the disciples, we must recognize the limits of our own efforts and humbly rely on God’s grace. Let us ask for the faith to love God wholeheartedly, to trust Him in all circumstances, and to live out His commandments with joy and gratitude.