Gospel of 23 July 2018

Saint Brigid of Sweden, Religious, Co-patron of Europe, feast

Book of Exodus 19,1-2.9-11.16-20b.
In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, on that very day, they arrived in the desert of Sinai.
Having removed the camp from Rephidim, they came to the desert of Sinai, where they encamped; Israel encamped in front of the mountain.
The Lord said to Moses: "Behold, I am about to come towards you in a thick cloud, so that the people hear when I speak with you and they will always believe you too."
The Lord said to Moses: “Go to the people and cleanse them today and tomorrow: let them wash their garments
and get ready for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will descend on Mount Sinai to the sight of all the people.
On the third day, at dawn, there were thunder, lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound: all the people who were in the camp were shaken by tremors.
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood at the foot of the mountain.
Mount Sinai was all steaming, because the Lord had descended on it and its smoke rose like the smoke from a furnace: the whole mountain trembled a lot.
The sound of the trumpet became more and more intense: Moses spoke and God answered him with a thunder voice.
So the Lord went down to Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up.

Book of Daniel 3,52.53.54.55.56.
Blessed are you, Lord, God of our fathers,
worthy of praise and glory over the centuries.

Blessed be your glorious and holy name,
worthy of praise and glory over the centuries.

Blessed are you in your glorious holy temple,
worthy of praise and glory over the centuries.

Blessed are you in the throne of your kingdom,
worthy of praise and glory over the centuries.

Blessed are you who penetrate the abysses with your gaze and sit on the cherubim,
worthy of praise and glory over the centuries.

Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,
worthy of praise and glory over the centuries.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew 13,10-17.
At that time, the disciples approached Jesus and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"
He replied: "Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
So to him who has will be given and he will be in abundance; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables: because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear and do not understand.
And so is fulfilled for them the prophecy of Isaiah which says: You will hear, but you will not understand, you will look, but you will not see.
Because the heart of this people has hardened, they have become hard of ears, and they have closed their eyes, so as not to see with the eyes, not to hear with the ears and not to understand with the heart and to convert, and I heal them.
But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.
Truly I tell you: many prophets and righteous have desired to see what you see, and they did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and they did not hear it! ».