August 31, 2004.

Saturday of the 21st week in ordinary time.

A reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians.

Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.

Not many of you were wise by human standards.

Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. Rather, God

chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise. And God chose the weak of the world to shame

the strong. And God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing, those who are something,

so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus,

who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is

written, whoever boasts should boast in the Lord, the Word of the Lord.

The Responsorial Psalm, the response is, Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.

From heaven the Lord looks down, he sees all mankind.

Blessed the people, the Lord has chosen to be his own.

But see, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him,

upon those who hope for his kindness,

to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. For in Him our hearts rejoice, in His holy name we trust.

Blessed the people, the Lord has chosen to be His own.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Jesus told his disciples this parable. A man

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