Thursday of the Fifteenth week of Pentecost
Thursday, September 03
Maronite Calendar
Letter of James 2,1-13
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’,
have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?
Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 17,26-30
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.
They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them.
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them
it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
“As it was in the days of Noah”
Saint Romanos Melodios (?-c 560)
composer of hymns
Hymn of Noah, str. 11f. (cf. SC 99, p.117f. rev.)
Noah, the wise… went into the ark at God’s orders together with his sons and their wives, a mere eight souls in all. With constant groans this servant prayed thus: “Let me not perish with sinners, my Savior, for already I see chaos swamping creation and the elements shaken with fear… The clouds are ready, the sky stormy, angels run before your wrath.” At these words, God shut the ark and sealed it as his faithful one cried out: “Save mankind from wrath, O redeemer of the world, may you protect us with your love.”
Then, from the heights of heaven, the judge gives the order: immediately the floodgates open, pouring down rain and hail in torrents from one end of the world to the other; fear causes the springs of the abyss to gush forth, flooding the earth in every quarter… Such were the results of God’s anger because humankind had persisted in its hardness of heart instead of hastening to cry out to him with faith: “Save all humankind from wrath in the love you have for us, O Redeemer of the world”…
Then the choir of angels cried out, seeing carnal men destroyed: “Now let the just possess the length and breadth of the earth!” For the Creator delights to behold those made in his own image (Gn 1,26); this is why he set aside his saints to save them. Noah… released the dove and in the evening it returned, bearing an olive branch in its beak, symbolically announcing God’s mercy. Then Noah came out of the ark as from the tomb, according to the command he had received…, not, as formerly, like Adam, who had eaten of the tree that brings death, for Noah had brought forth the fruits of repentance, saying: “Save all humankind from wrath in the love you have for us, O Redeemer of the world.”
Corruption and wickedness have perished; the man of upright heart is victorious by his faith for he has found grace… Then the just man (Gn 6,9) offers an unblemished sacrifice to the Lord… The Creator, smelling the sweet-smelling odor, declares: “Nevermore will the world perish in a flood, even should all men lead a life of wickedness. Today I will make with them a binding covenant. I will show my bow as a sign to all the dwellers on earth, that thus they may call upon my name: “Save all humankind from wrath in the love you have for us, O Redeemer of the world.”
References:
https://maronite.dailygospel.org/MAE/gospel/2026-09-03
الانجيل المقدس كاملا (متى، مرقس، لوقا، يوحنا) بالصوت والصورة من مزار سيدة لبنان حريصا
الانجيل المقدس كاملا (متى، مرقس، لوقا، يوحنا) بالصوت والصورة من مزار سيدة لبنان حريصا عمل يدعو للصلاة والتأمل في كلمة الرب
اداء: الاب فادي تابت رئيس المزار
اخراج: اسعد شديد
مرافقة موسيقية: بيار مطر وفادي ابي هاشم
Daily Bible Reading
According to the
Maronite Catholic Church Calendar