Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 382
Lectionary: 382
Thus says the LORD:
On that day I will raise up
the fallen hut of David;
I will wall up its breaches,
raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
That they may conquer what is left of Edom
and all the nations that shall bear my name,
say I, the LORD, who will do this.
Yes, days are coming,
says the LORD,
When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
and the vintager, him who sows the seed;
The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains,
and all the hills shall run with it.
I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.
On that day I will raise up
the fallen hut of David;
I will wall up its breaches,
raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
That they may conquer what is left of Edom
and all the nations that shall bear my name,
say I, the LORD, who will do this.
Yes, days are coming,
says the LORD,
When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
and the vintager, him who sows the seed;
The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains,
and all the hills shall run with it.
I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.
Responsorial
Psalm85:9AB AND 10, 11-12, 13-14
R. (see 9b) The Lord speaks of
peace to his people.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
AlleluiaJN 10:27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 9:14-17
The disciples of John approached
Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Meditation: The day will
come when they will fast
Which
comes first, fasting or feasting? The disciples of John the Baptist were upset
with Jesus' disciples because they did not fast. Fasting was one of the three
most important religious duties, along with prayer and almsgiving. Jesus gave a
simple explanation. There's a time for fasting and a time for feasting (or
celebrating). To walk as a disciple with Jesus is to experience a whole new joy
of relationship akin to the joy of the wedding party in celebrating with the
groom and bride their wedding bliss.
A time to rejoice and a time to mourn
But there also comes a time when the Lord's disciples must bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility and fasting and for mourning over sin. Do you take joy in the Lord's presence with you and do you express sorrow and contrition for your sins?
The closed mind that refuses to learn
Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the "closed mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image familiar to his audience - new and old wineskins. In Jesus' times, wine was stored in wineskins, not bottles. New wine poured into skins was still fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure. New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because they had become hard and had lost their ability to expand and stretch. What did Jesus mean by this comparison? Are we to reject the old in place of the new?
Treasuring the old and new wine of the Holy Spirit
Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as the new. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament or the New Testament books of the Bible, rather than both. The Lord gives us wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and the new. He doesn't want us to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the new work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be like new wine skins - open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God's word and plan for your life?
A time to rejoice and a time to mourn
But there also comes a time when the Lord's disciples must bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility and fasting and for mourning over sin. Do you take joy in the Lord's presence with you and do you express sorrow and contrition for your sins?
The closed mind that refuses to learn
Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the "closed mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image familiar to his audience - new and old wineskins. In Jesus' times, wine was stored in wineskins, not bottles. New wine poured into skins was still fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure. New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because they had become hard and had lost their ability to expand and stretch. What did Jesus mean by this comparison? Are we to reject the old in place of the new?
Treasuring the old and new wine of the Holy Spirit
Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as the new. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament or the New Testament books of the Bible, rather than both. The Lord gives us wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and the new. He doesn't want us to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the new work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be like new wine skins - open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God's word and plan for your life?
"Lord
Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I may grow in the knowledge of your
great love and truth. Help me to seek you earnestly in prayer and fasting that
I may turn away from sin and willfulness and conform my life more fully to your
will. May I always find joy in knowing, loving, and serving you."
Daily
Quote from the early church fathers: No need to fast in the presence of the
Bridegroom, by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD)
"The
Pharisees and John's disciples were fasting, and the apostles were not. But
Jesus answered them in a spiritual way and indicated to John's disciples that
he was a bridegroom. John taught that all hope in life lay in Christ. While he
was still preaching, however, his disciples could not be received by the Lord.
Up until the time of John, the law and the prophets prevailed, and unless the
law came to an end, none of them would subscribe to faith in the gospel. The
fact that he said there was no need for his disciples to fast as long as the
bridegroom is with them illustrates the joy of his presence and the sacrament
of the holy food, which no one need be without while he is present, that is,
bearing Christ in the light of the mind. But once he is gone, Jesus says that
they will fast, for all those who do not believe that Christ has risen will not
have the food of life. By faith in the resurrection, the sacrament of the
heavenly bread is received. Whoever is without Christ will be forsaken, fasting
from the food of life." (excerpt from the commentary ON
MATTHEW 9.3)
SATURDAY,
JULY 4, MATTHEW 9:14-17
Weekday
(Amos 9:11-15, Psalm 85)
Weekday
(Amos 9:11-15, Psalm 85)
KEY VERSE: “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?” (v.15)
TO KNOW: The followers of John the Baptist were curious to know why the disciples of Jesus did not fast as they and the Pharisees did. Jesus compared his presence among the people to a marriage feast, a sign that anticipated the Messianic banquet in which he and his bride, the Church, would be united forever (Rev 19:7). Fasting and mourning were inappropriate at a wedding, which was a time for rejoicing. When the bridegroom was “taken away” (Mt. 9 15), then the people would fast. Jesus said the old ways were incompatible with the new. A worn out garment could not be patched; it must be discarded. An old wine skin, symbolizing the old religion, was not flexible enough to contain the fresh new wine of the Holy Spirit.
TO LOVE: In what ways can I bring more joy to others?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to live in the freedom of your presence.
OPTIONAL
MEMORIAL OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Chapter V of the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, issued by the Holy See in December 2001, describes the Church's traditional dedication of Saturday to the Virgin Mary. "Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (218). The chapter also describes the importance of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Catholic devotional life, in the Liturgy, and reflections on popular devotions to Mary, her feast days, and the Rosary.
INDEPENDENCE
DAY, JULY 4 (U.S.A.)
Independence Day is celebrated on July 4th as America's official split from Britain's rule and the beginning of the American Revolution. The original resolution was introduced by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776. Three days later a committee headed by Thomas Jefferson was appointed to prepare an appropriate writing for the occasion. The document that we know as the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress on July 4th although the resolution that led to the writing of the Declaration was actually approved two days earlier. President John F. Kennedy declared in his Inaugural address January 20, 1961: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
Saturday 4 July 2020
St Elizabeth of Portugal
Amos 9:11-15. The Lord speaks of peace
to his people – Psalm 84(85):9, 11-14. Matthew 9:14-17.
‘When the bridegroom is taken from them,
then they will fast’
To the Jewish people the significance of
fasting was greatly valued as a way to humble oneself before God, to seek
atonement for sins or to commemorate holy events.
An ancient discipline that had always
been practised, ultimately it was through fasting that people believed they
would step ever closer to the kingdom of God.
Jesus is offering something new. A way
of living and celebrating (like the love of a couple at a wedding feast) that
is deeper, joyful and more intimate, that will sustain us even when he has
gone. Forgiveness and love! It is not to say that we don’t value what has gone
before but rather that we renew these teachings, that we are open and ready to
receive the ‘new wine’ of the Spirit and to action this in our lives and
relationships.
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal
Saint of the Day for July 4
(1271 – July 4, 1336)
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal’s Story
Elizabeth is usually depicted in royal
garb with a dove or an olive branch. At her birth in 1271, her father Pedro
III, future king of Aragon, was reconciled with his father James, the reigning
monarch. This proved to be a portent of things to come. Under the healthful
influences surrounding her early years, she quickly learned self-discipline and
acquired a taste for spirituality.
Thus fortunately prepared, Elizabeth was
able to meet the challenge when at the age of 12, she was given in marriage to
Denis, king of Portugal. She was able to establish for herself a pattern of
life conducive to growth in God’s love, not merely through her exercises of
piety, including daily Mass, but also through her exercise of charity, by which
she was able to befriend and help pilgrims, strangers, the sick, the poor—in a
word, all those whose need came to her notice. At the same time she remained
devoted to her husband, whose infidelity to her was a scandal to the kingdom.
Denis, too, was the object of many of
her peace endeavors. Elizabeth long sought peace for him with God, and was
finally rewarded when he gave up his life of sin. She repeatedly sought and
effected peace between the king and their rebellious son Alfonso, who thought
that he was passed over to favor the king’s illegitimate children. She acted as
peacemaker in the struggle between Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and his cousin
James, who claimed the crown. And finally from Coimbra, where she had retired
as a Franciscan tertiary to the monastery of the Poor Clares after the death of
her husband, Elizabeth set out and was able to bring about a lasting peace
between her son Alfonso, now king of Portugal, and his son-in-law, the king of
Castile.
Reflection
The work of promoting peace is anything
but a calm and quiet endeavor. It takes a clear mind, a steady spirit and a
brave soul to intervene between people whose emotions are so aroused that they
are ready to destroy one another. This is all the more true of a woman in the
early 14th century. But Elizabeth had a deep and sincere love and sympathy for
humankind, an almost total lack of concern for herself, and an abiding
confidence in God. These were the tools of her success.
Lectio Divina: Matthew 9:14-17
Lectio Divina
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
You call Your children
to walk in the light of Christ.
Free us from darkness
and keep us in the radiance of Your truth.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
You call Your children
to walk in the light of Christ.
Free us from darkness
and keep us in the radiance of Your truth.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 9:14-17
The disciples of John approached Jesus
and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do
not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long
as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken
away from them, and then they will fast. No one patches an old cloak with a
piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the
tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the
skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour
new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
3) Reflection
• Matthew 9:14: The question
of John’s disciples concerning the practice of fasting. Fasting is
quite an ancient usage, practiced by almost all religions. Jesus Himself
practiced it for forty days (Mt 4:2). But He does not insist that the disciples
do the same thing. He leaves them free. Because of this, the disciples of John
the Baptist and of the Pharisees, who were obliged to fast, want to know why
Jesus does not insist on fasting:“Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but
Your disciples do not?”
• Matthew 9:15: Jesus’
answer. Jesus answers with a comparison in the form of a
question: “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the
bridegroom is still with them?” Jesus associates fasting with mourning,
and He considers Himself the bridegroom. When the bridegroom is with His
friends, that is, during the wedding feast, they have no need to fast.
When Jesus is with them, with His disciples, it is a feast, the wedding
feast. Therefore, they should not fast. But one day the bridegroom will go
away. It will be a day of mourning. Then, if they want, they can fast.
Jesus refers to His death. He knows and feels that if He continues on this way
of liberation, the authorities will want to kill Him.
• Matthew 9:16-17: New wine in new
wineskins! In these two verses, the Gospel of Matthew gives two separate
sayings of Jesus on the patch of new cloth on an old cloak and on the new wine
in new skins. These words throw light on the discussions and the conflicts of
Jesus with religious authority of the time. A patch of new cloth is not
put on an old cloak, because when it is washed, the new piece of cloth shrinks
and pulls on the old cloak and tears it and the tear becomes bigger.
Nobody puts new wine in old skins, because when the new wine ferments, it tears
the old skins. New wine in new skins! The religion defended by the religious
authority was like a piece of old cloth, like an old wineskin. Both the
disciples of John and the Pharisees tried to renew the religion. In reality,
they barely put some patches, and because of this, they ran the risk of
compromising and harming both the new and the old uses. The new wine
which Jesus brings to us tears the old skins. It is necessary to know how
to separate things. Most probably, Matthew presents these words of Jesus to
orientate the communities in the years of the 80’s. There was a group of Jewish
Christians who wanted to replace the newness of Jesus with the Judaism of
the time before His coming. Jesus is not against what is “old.” He
does not want what is old to be imposed on that which is new.
Similarly, Vatican II cannot be reread with the mentality before the Council,
as some try to do today.
4) Personal questions
• What are the conflicts around
religious practices which make many people suffer today and are a reason for
heated discussions and polemics? What is the image of God which is behind all
these preconceptions, these norms, and these prohibitions?
• How is this saying of Jesus to be understood: “Nobody puts a piece of new cloth on an old cloak? What is the message which we can draw from all of this for your community today?
• How is this saying of Jesus to be understood: “Nobody puts a piece of new cloth on an old cloak? What is the message which we can draw from all of this for your community today?
5) Concluding Prayer
I am listening. What is God's message?
Yahweh's message is peace for His people,
for His faithful, if only they renounce their folly. (Ps 85:8)
Yahweh's message is peace for His people,
for His faithful, if only they renounce their folly. (Ps 85:8)
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