Memorial of Saint Bernard
August 20, 2021
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16
Ruth is a story about family. Ruth is a foreigner, a Moabite woman married into an Israelite family which had moved to Moab in a time of famine in Israel. Soon the Israelite husband dies and his two sons likewise. This leaves Naomi his Israelite wife, and two Moabite daughters-in-law. Naomi urges the daughters-in-law–one of whom is Ruth–to find husbands among the Moabites while she Naomi, goes back home to Israel.
Ruth refuses to leave her mother-in-law. “Wherever you go, I will go,” Ruth says to Naomi. “Your people shall be my people and your God my God.” Ruth has formed a deep bond with Naomi’s people–who are God’s people. Their affection leads to results that no one could have foreseen.
