July 10, 2014

The Book of the Prophet Hosea    11:1-4, 8-9

11:1Just as the morning passes, so has the king of Israel passed by. For Israel was a child and I loved him; and out of Egypt I called my son.
11:2They called them, and so they departed before their face. They offered victims to the Baals, and they sacrificed to graven images.
11:3And I was like a foster father to Ephraim. I carried them in my arms. And they did not know that I healed them.
11:4I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love. And I will be to them like one who raises the yoke over their jaws. And I will reach down to him so that he may eat.
11:8How will I provide for you, Ephraim; how will I protect you, Israel? How will I provide for you as for Adam; will I set you like Zeboiim? My heart has changed within me; together with my regret, it has been stirred up.
11:9I will not act on the fury of my wrath. I will not turn back to utterly destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Divine in your midst, and I will not advance upon the city.

The Holy Gospel According to Matthew    10: 7-15

10:7Because of this, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife.
10:8And these two shall be one in flesh. And so, they are now, not two, but one flesh.
10:9Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.”
10:10And again, in the house, his disciples questioned him about the same thing.
10:11And he said to them: “Whoever dismisses his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.
10:12And if a wife dismisses her husband, and is married to another, she commits adultery.”
10:13And they brought to him the little children, so that he might touch them. But the disciples admonished those who brought them.
10:14But when Jesus saw this, he took offense, and he said to them: “Allow the little ones to come to me, and do not prohibit them. For of such as these is the kingdom of God.
10:15Amen I say to you, whoever will not accept the kingdom of God like a little child, will not enter into it.