The 5th of August, 2021 is Thursday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time. The Bible scriptures for the holy mass readings for this day came from the Year 2021 of Liturgical Calendar.
Reading 1: NM 20:1-13
The first reading from the Book of Numbers.
The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.
There was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
Why have you brought Yahweh’s assembly into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?
Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.”
Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. Yahweh’s glory appeared to them.
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.”
Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him.
Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?”
Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them.
Responsorial Psalm: PS 95:1-2, 6-7ABC, 7D-9
Response: Today, oh that you would hear his voice! Don’t harden your heart.
Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let’s extol him with songs!
R: Today, oh that you would hear his voice! Don’t harden your heart.
Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker, for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care.
R: Today, oh that you would hear his voice! Don’t harden your heart.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, tested me, and saw my work.
R: Today, oh that you would hear his voice! Don’t harden your heart.
Gospel of the Day: MT 16:13-23
From the gospel verse according to Matthew.
Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”
Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
Other Celebration
An optional celebration on this day is the Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
