“Awake, O sleeper!” Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 7:21-29.

Book of Genesis 16:1-12.15-16. 
Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
Sarai said to Abram: "The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her." Abram heeded Sarai's request.
Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his concubine.
He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. When she became aware of her pregnancy, she looked on her mistress with disdain.
So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the LORD decide between you and me!"
Abram told Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you please." Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.
The LORD'S messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,
and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai."
But the LORD'S messenger told her: "Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment.
I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD'S messenger, "that they will be too many to count.
Besides," the LORD'S messenger said to her: "You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heard you, God has answered you.
He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In opposition to all his kin shall he encamp."
Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.



Psalms 106(105):1-2.3-4a.4b-5. 
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Who can tell the mighty deeds of the LORD,
or proclaim all his praises?

Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.
Remember us, O LORD, as you favor your people.

Visit me with your saving help,
that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of your people,
and glory with your inheritance.





Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 7:21-29.
Jesus said to his disciples: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?'
Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.'
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined."
When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes."

“Awake, O sleeper!” (Eph 5:14)

      “Anyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house on rock.” So according to what our Master says, we must apply ourselves not only to listening to the word of God, but also to conforming our lives to it… Listening to the law is a good thing, for it incites us to virtuous actions. We are right when we read and meditate the Scriptures, for that is how we purify our deepest soul of bad thoughts.

      But assiduously reading, listening to and meditating on the word of God without putting it into practice is a fault, which the Spirit of God condemned in advance… He even forbade the person with such a disposition to take the holy book into his hands. God says to the wicked: “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?” (Ps 50:16-17) … The person who assiduously reads the Scriptures without putting them into practice is accused by his reading; he deserves all the more serious condemnation because every day he despises and scorns what he hears every day. He is like a dead person, a corpse without a soul. You can blow thousands of trumpets and horns next to the ears of a dead person, he won’t hear them. In the same way, the soul that is dead in sin, the heart which has lost the memory of God, does not hear the sound or the cries of the divine words, and the trumpet and the spiritual word make no impression on him. That soul is plunged in the sleep of death…

      Thus, God’s disciple must have anchored in his soul the memory of his Master, Jesus Christ, and he must think of him day and night.