Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 402
Lectionary: 402
Let my eyes stream with tears
day and night, without rest,
Over the great destruction which overwhelms
the virgin daughter of my people,
over her incurable wound.
If I walk out into the field,
look! those slain by the sword;
If I enter the city,
look! those consumed by hunger.
Even the prophet and the priest
forage in a land they know not.
day and night, without rest,
Over the great destruction which overwhelms
the virgin daughter of my people,
over her incurable wound.
If I walk out into the field,
look! those slain by the sword;
If I enter the city,
look! those consumed by hunger.
Even the prophet and the priest
forage in a land they know not.
Have you cast Judah off
completely?
Is Zion loathsome to you?
Why have you struck us a blow
that cannot be healed?
We wait for peace, to no avail;
for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.
We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,
the guilt of our fathers;
that we have sinned against you.
For your name’s sake spurn us not,
disgrace not the throne of your glory;
remember your covenant with us, and break it not.
Among the nations’ idols is there any that gives rain?
Or can the mere heavens send showers?
Is it not you alone, O LORD,
our God, to whom we look?
You alone have done all these things.
Is Zion loathsome to you?
Why have you struck us a blow
that cannot be healed?
We wait for peace, to no avail;
for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.
We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,
the guilt of our fathers;
that we have sinned against you.
For your name’s sake spurn us not,
disgrace not the throne of your glory;
remember your covenant with us, and break it not.
Among the nations’ idols is there any that gives rain?
Or can the mere heavens send showers?
Is it not you alone, O LORD,
our God, to whom we look?
You alone have done all these things.
Responsorial
Psalm79:8, 9, 11 AND 13
R. (9) For the glory of your
name, O Lord, deliver us.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 13:36-43
Jesus dismissed the crowds and
went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the Evil One,
and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his Kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
His disciples approached him and said,
“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the Evil One,
and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his Kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Meditation: The
Righteous Will Shine like the Sun in the Father's Kingdom
Are
you quick to judge the faults of others? Jesus' parable teaches us patience
lest we judge before the time is right. Jesus also warns that there is an enemy
who seeks to destroy the good seed of his word before it can bear fruit. Both
good and evil can be sown in our hearts like tiny seeds which germinate, and in
due time yield a harvest of good or bad fruit. We must stand guard lest evil
take root in our hearts and corrupt us.
Reaping what we sow in this life
Charles Read wrote: "Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny." In the day of judgment each will reap what he or she has sown in this life. Those who sow good will shine in the kingdom of their Father. They will radiate with the beauty, joy, and fullness of God's love. Do you allow the love of Jesus Christ to rule in your heart, thoughts, and actions?
Reaping what we sow in this life
Charles Read wrote: "Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny." In the day of judgment each will reap what he or she has sown in this life. Those who sow good will shine in the kingdom of their Father. They will radiate with the beauty, joy, and fullness of God's love. Do you allow the love of Jesus Christ to rule in your heart, thoughts, and actions?
Lord
Jesus, may your all-consuming love rule in my heart and transform my life that
I may sow what is good, worthy, and pleasing to you.
Daily
Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Let us become friends of Jesus, by
Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"Now,
having discoursed sufficiently to the multitudes in parables, he sends them
away and goes to his own house, where his disciples come to him. His disciples
did not go with those he sent away. As many as are more genuine hearers of
Jesus first follow him, then having inquired about his house, are permitted to
see it. Having come, they saw and stayed with him for all that day, and perhaps
some of them even longer. In my opinion, such things are implied in the Gospel
according to John... And if then, unlike the multitudes whom he sends away, we
wish to hear Jesus and go to the house and receive something better than the
multitudes did, let us become friends of Jesus, so that as his disciples come,
we may also come to him when he goes into the house. And having come, let us
inquire about the explanation of the parable, whether of the tares of the
field, or of any other. (excerpt from the COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW
10.1-3)
TUESDAY, JULY 28, MATTHEW 13:36-43
Weekday
(Jeremiah 14:17-22; Psalm: 79)
Weekday
(Jeremiah 14:17-22; Psalm: 79)
KEY VERSE: "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man" (v. 37).
TO KNOW: When the people refused to believe his words, Jesus left them and addressed his instruction to his disciples. To them alone, he explained the parable of the weeds among the wheat. He told them that he was the sower, the one who sowed the good seed of the gospel in the world. The ones who heard and acted on his words were children of the kingdom, while the weeds represented the offspring of the evil one. Jesus told them that God was patient and allowed good and evil to exist side by side until the harvest on the Day of Judgment. At the end of the age, all evildoers who caused others to sin would be cast into perdition. The righteous would reign in the everlasting light of God's glory (Dn 12:3).
TO LOVE: Do I plant good or bad seed in my community?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, I pray that you will uproot the bitter weeds in my life.
Tuesday 28 July 2020
Jeremiah 14:17-22. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver
us – Psalm 78(79):8-9, 11, 13. Matthew 13:36-43.
‘Then the virtuous will shine like the sun’
Judgmental people, experts in distinguishing wheat from darnel,
have a tendency to anticipate the Last Judgment by arrogating to themselves a
role that belongs to God who alone sees into the human heart.
Elsewhere in the Gospel text Jesus identifies them as having a
plank in their eye while they focus on the speck in the eye of another (Matthew
7:3-5). We would be better occupied in uprooting the darnel in our own lives
than in drawing attention to its presence in the lives of others.
As Paul reminded the Roman Christians: ‘In passing judgment on
another you condemn yourself’ (Romans 2:1). ‘Lord Jesus, let me know myself and
know you, and desire nothing save only you’ (St Augustine).
Blessed Stanley Rother
Saint of the Day for July 28
(March 27, 1935 – July 28, 1981)
 |
| Blessed Stanley Rother | CNS photo/Charlene Scott |
Blessed Stanley Rother’s Story
On May 25, 1963, Stanley Rother, a farmer from Okarche,
Oklahoma, was ordained for his home diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa. Having
flunked out of the area seminary due to his difficulty with Latin, Fr.
Rother finally accepted an invitation to attend Mount St. Mary Seminary in
Maryland, where he finished his studies and was approved for ordination.
After serving in his local diocese for five years, Fr. Rother
joined five priests, three religious sisters, and three laypersons to staff a
Guatemalan mission in Santiago Atitlán serving the Tz’utujil people. The
Oklahoma City diocese heard the call of Pope John XXIII to send missionaries to
foreign lands, especially Central America. These twelve individuals felt the
call, and with their bishop’s approval, left the comforts of the United States
to live and work in Guatemala.
By 1975, Fr. Rother was alone at his parish in Santiago Atitlán,
the others having returned home for various reasons. He served the Tz’utujil
people for 13 years and won their hearts and souls. Ever the farmer, and always
unpretentious and mild mannered, Fr. Rother experimented with various crops as
well as fulfilling his heavy pastoral duties which included as many as five
Masses in four different locations on a given Sunday and as many as 1,000
baptisms a year.
Guatemala’s civil war reached the highlands and Lake Atitlán by
1980. Government troops camped on the parish farm and Fr. Rother witnessed the
assassination of a number of his parishioners, including the parish deacon.
Warned of imminent danger, Fr. Rother returned to the United
States for three months early in 1981, to visit with his family and friends.
Against the advice of his family and the local bishop, Fr. Rother returned to
Atitlán to be with his people. He remembered a Sisters’ community who had fled
the country and later tried to return but the people asked, “Where were you
when we needed you?”
On the evening of July 28, three masked men entered the rectory
and shot Fr. Rother to death. His beloved parishioners mourned him repeatedly
crying, “They have killed our priest.”
Pope Francis declared Stanley Rother a martyr on December 2,
2016. He was beatified in Oklahoma City on September 23, 2017.
Reflection
The declaration of a blessed or saint is always a celebration of
the Church as the people of God. To single out an individual for his or her
holiness and service builds up the entire community of faith. But this is
doubly true for the Church in the United States and in Oklahoma, as one of our
own is both declared a martyr for the faith and enrolled in the ranks of those
declared Blessed by the Church. May the dedication, faith, and service of
Blessed Stanley Rother be a source of strength for all in this country.
Lectio: Matthew 13:36-43
Lectio Divina
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
God our Father and protector,
without You nothing is holy,
nothing has value.
Guide us to everlasting life
by helping us to use wisely
the blessings You have given to the world.
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.
without You nothing is holy,
nothing has value.
Guide us to everlasting life
by helping us to use wisely
the blessings You have given to the world.
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 13:36-43
Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His
disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds
in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of
Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The
weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the
Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just
as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the
age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his
Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them
into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then
the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever
has ears ought to hear."
3) Reflection
• The Gospel today presents Jesus’ explanation, at the petition
of the disciples, of the parable of the wheat grain and the darnel. Some
experts think that this explanation, which Jesus gives to His disciples, is not
Jesus’ but the community’s. This is possible and probable, because a parable,
by its nature, requires the involvement and the participation of people in the
discovery of its significance. Just as the plant is already contained within
the seed, in the same way, certainly, the explanation of the community is in
the parable. And it is precisely this objective that Jesus wanted and wants to
attain with the parable. The meaning which we are discovering today in the
parable which Jesus told two thousand years ago was already enclosed, or
contained, in the story that Jesus told, just as the flower is already
contained in its seed.
• Matthew 13:36: The request of the disciples to Jesus: the
explanation of the parable of the wheat grain and the darnel. The disciples, in
the house, speak and ask for an explanation of the parable of the wheat grain
and the darnel. (Mt 13:24-30). It has been said many times that Jesus, in the
house, continued to teach His disciples (Mk 7:17; 9:28,33; 10:10). At that
time, there was no television, and people spent the long winter evenings
together, speaking about the facts and events of life. On these occasions
Jesus completed the teaching and the formation of His disciples.
• Matthew 13:38-39: The meaning of each one of the elements of
the parable. Jesus responds taking again each one of these elements of the
parable and giving them significance: the field is the world; the good seed are
the members of the Kingdom; the darnel is the members of the adversary (the
evil one); the enemy is the devil; the harvest is the end of time; the reapers
are the angels. And now reread the parable (Mt 13:24-30) giving to each one of
these six elements: field, good seed, darnel, enemy, harvest and reapers, the
right significance. In this way the story assumes a completely new sense and it
is possible to attain the objective that Jesus had in mind when He told the
parable of the darnel and the good seed. Some think that this parable should be
understood as an allegory and not as a parable properly so-called.
• Matthew 13:40-43: The application of the parable or of the
allegory. With the information given by Jesus, you will better understand its
application: Just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it
will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send His angels and they will
gather from His kingdom all causes of failing and all who do evil, and throw
them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of
teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their
Father.”
The destiny of the darnel is the furnace. The destiny of the
grain is to shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father. Behind these two
images there is the experience of the people. After they have listened to Jesus
and have accepted Him in their life, everything has changed for them. This
means that in Jesus what they expected has taken place: the fulfillment of the
promises. Now life is divided into before and after having accepted Jesus in
their lives. The new life has begun with the splendor of the sun. If they
continued to live as before, they would be like the darnel in the furnace: life
without meaning, which is good for nothing.
• Parable and Allegory. There is the parable. There is the
allegory. There is the mixture of both which is the more common form.
Generally, everything in the parable is a call. In the Gospel of today, we have
the example of an allegory. An allegory is a story which a person tells, but
when she is telling it, she does not think about the elements of the story, but
about the theme which has to be clarified. In reading an allegory it is not
necessary to look at the story as a whole, because in an allegory the story is
not constructed around a central point which later serves as a comparison.
Rather, each element has its own independent function, starting from the sense
which it receives. It is a matter of discovering what each element of the two
stories tries to tell us about the Kingdom, as the explanation which Jesus gave
of the parable: field, good seed, darnel, enemy, harvest, reapers. Generally
the parables are also allegories, and a mixture of both.
4) Personal questions
• In the field everything is mixed up: darnel and grain. In the
field of my life, what prevails: darnel or grain?
• Notice that this parable includes “all who cause others to sin” as well as “all evildoers”. We often just focus on our own sins. Do I focus on what effect I have on others and whether I cause others to sin by what I say or do? Will I think about that, now and during my self-examinations now?
• Have you tried to talk with other people to discover the meaning of some parable?
• Notice that this parable includes “all who cause others to sin” as well as “all evildoers”. We often just focus on our own sins. Do I focus on what effect I have on others and whether I cause others to sin by what I say or do? Will I think about that, now and during my self-examinations now?
• Have you tried to talk with other people to discover the meaning of some parable?
5) Concluding Prayer
How blessed is he who has Jacob's God to help him.
His hope is in Yahweh his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them. (Ps 146:5-6)
His hope is in Yahweh his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them. (Ps 146:5-6)
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