St. Apollinaris, bishop & martayr 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Micah 6:1-4, 6-8

Listen to what Yahweh said to me,

“Stand up, let the mountains hear your claim, and the hills listen to your plea.” Hear, O mountains, Yahweh’s complaint! Foundations of the earth, pay attention! For Yahweh has a case against his people, and will argue it with Israel. “O my people, what have I done to you?

In what way have I been a burden to you? Answer me. I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from the land of bondage; I sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead you.

“What shall I bring when I come to Yahweh and bow down before God the most high? Shall come with burnt offerings, with sacrifices of yearling calves? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, with an overabundance of oil libations?

Should I offer my firstborn for my sins, the fruit of my body for my wrongdoing?” “You have been told, O man, what is good and what Yahweh requires of you: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

 

Ps 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 & 23

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 12:38-42

Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up, “Teach­er, we want to see a sign from you.” Jesus answered them, “An evil and unfaithful people want a sign, but no sign will be given them except the sign of the pro­phet Jonah. 

In the same way that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the monster fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.

 At the judgment, the people of Niniveh will rise with this generation and condemn it, because they reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah, and here there is greater than Jonah.

At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here there is greater than Solomon.

 

Gospel Reflection：

We live by faith every day. We do not worry whether we wake in the morning or not. We take public rides without checking the license of drivers. We eat food in canteens and fast food restaurants without peeping through their kitchens.

We trust that the goods we but in stores are worth the money we spent. God wishes that our day-to-day spontaneity will translate to living our religious faith.

There is no special inspiration needed in attending to a homeless man under the bridge. There is no doctor’s signal needed to know a friend is severely depressed.

When a wife demands proof from her husband he is not into something she suspects, their marriage is approaching a cliff. Faith makes us move on without fear of what road we traverse. It is not because we are very sure of things, we just know that God make no missteps.