Friday of the Seventeenth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 405
Lectionary: 405
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim,
son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this message came from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
Stand in the court of the house of the LORD
and speak to the people of all the cities of Judah
who come to worship in the house of the LORD;
whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.
Perhaps they will listen and turn back,
each from his evil way,
so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them
for their evil deeds.
Say to them: Thus says the LORD:
If you disobey me,
not living according to the law I placed before you
and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets,
whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them,
I will treat this house like Shiloh,
and make this the city to which all the nations of the earth
shall refer when cursing another.
Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people
heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.
When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
"You must be put to death!
Why do you prophesy in the name of the LORD:
'This house shall be like Shiloh,' and
'This city shall be desolate and deserted'?"
And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this message came from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
Stand in the court of the house of the LORD
and speak to the people of all the cities of Judah
who come to worship in the house of the LORD;
whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.
Perhaps they will listen and turn back,
each from his evil way,
so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them
for their evil deeds.
Say to them: Thus says the LORD:
If you disobey me,
not living according to the law I placed before you
and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets,
whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them,
I will treat this house like Shiloh,
and make this the city to which all the nations of the earth
shall refer when cursing another.
Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people
heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.
When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
"You must be put to death!
Why do you prophesy in the name of the LORD:
'This house shall be like Shiloh,' and
'This city shall be desolate and deserted'?"
And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 69:5, 8-10, 14
R. (14c) Lord,
in your great love, answer me.
Those outnumber the hairs of my head
who hate me without cause.
Too many for my strength
are they who wrongfully are my enemies.
Must I restore what I did not steal?
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Since for your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Those outnumber the hairs of my head
who hate me without cause.
Too many for my strength
are they who wrongfully are my enemies.
Must I restore what I did not steal?
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Since for your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Alleluia1 PT 1:25
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
The word of the Lord remains forever;
this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of the Lord remains forever;
this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 13:54-58
Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter’s son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?
Where did this man get all this?”
And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and in his own house.”
And he did not work many mighty deeds there
because of their lack of faith.
They were astonished and said,
“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter’s son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?
Where did this man get all this?”
And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and in his own house.”
And he did not work many mighty deeds there
because of their lack of faith.
Meditation: "They
took offense at Jesus"
Are you critical towards others, especially those who
are close to you? The most severe critics are often people very familiar to us,
a member of our family, a relative, neighbor, student, or worker we rub
shoulders with on a regular basis. Jesus faced a severe testing when he
returned to his home town, not simply as the carpenter's son, but now as a
rabbi with disciples. It would have been customary for Jesus to go to the
synagogue each week during the Sabbath, and when his turn came, to read from the
scriptures during the Sabbath service. His hometown folks listened with rapt
attention on this occasion because they had heard about the miracles he had
performed in other towns.
What sign would he do in his hometown? Jesus startled
them with a seeming rebuke that no prophet or servant of God can receive honor
among his own people. The people of Nazareth took offense at him and
refused to listen to what he had to say. They despised his preaching because he
was a carpenter from the working class, and a mere layman untrained by
religious scholars. They also despised him because of his family background.
After all, Joseph was a tradesman as well and Mary had no special social
distinctions.
Familiarity breeds contempt
How easily familiarity breeds contempt. Jesus could do no mighty works in his hometown because the people who were familiar with him were closed-minded and despised his claim to speak and act in the name of God. If people come together to hate and refuse to understand others different than themselves, then they will see no other point of view than their own and they will refuse to love and accept others. How do you view those who are familiar to you? With kindness and respect or with a critical and judgmental spirit?
How easily familiarity breeds contempt. Jesus could do no mighty works in his hometown because the people who were familiar with him were closed-minded and despised his claim to speak and act in the name of God. If people come together to hate and refuse to understand others different than themselves, then they will see no other point of view than their own and they will refuse to love and accept others. How do you view those who are familiar to you? With kindness and respect or with a critical and judgmental spirit?
The Lord Jesus offers us freedom from sin, prejudice,
contempt, and fear. His love and grace sets us free to love others with the
same grace and mercy which he has shown to us. Only Jesus can truly set us free
from the worst tyranny possible - slavery to sin and the fear of death. His
victory on the cross brings us pardon and healing, and the grace to live holy
lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you know the joy and freedom which
Christ's love brings to our hearts?
"Lord Jesus, your love conquers every fear and
breaks the power of hatred and prejudice. Flood my heart with your mercy and
compassion, that I may treat my neighbor with the same favor and kindness which
you have shown to me."
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Few miracles done because of their unbelief,
by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"It seems to me that the production of miracles
is similar in some ways to the case of physical things. Cultivation is not
sufficient to produce a harvest of fruits unless the soil, or rather the
atmosphere, cooperates to this end. And the atmosphere of itself is not
sufficient to produce a harvest without cultivation. The one who providentially
orders creation did not design things to spring up from the earth without
cultivation. Only in the first instance did he do so when he said, 'Let the
earth bring forth vegetation, with the seed sowing according to its kind and
according to its likeness' (Genesis 1:11). It is just this way in regard to the
production of miracles. The complete work resulting in a healing is not
displayed without those being healed exercising faith. Faith, of whatever
quality it might be, does not produce a healing without divine power.' (excerpt from the COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 10.19)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, MATTHEW
13:54-58
Weekday
Weekday
(Jeremiah 26:1-9; Psalm 69)
KEY VERSE: "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house" (v. 57).
TO KNOW: Chapters 13:54 ̶ 17:27 of Matthew's gospel have been given the title: "The Kingdom of God and the Church." God's kingdom was clearly visible in the person of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man. When Jesus finished his teachings in the towns around the Lake of Galilee, he returned to Nazareth where he was raised. His neighbors were astonished by his teaching and mighty deeds, but they were also skeptical. Jesus was a "hometown boy," and they took offense at his presumption in telling them how to live their lives. Jesus was rejected like the prophets before him. Because his neighbors lacked faith in him, he was unable to perform many miracles there.
TO LOVE: Am I able to see God at work among my friends and neighbors?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to be open to hearing truth in the teachings of the Church.
www.togetherwithgodsword.com
Friday 3 August
2018
St Dominic. Day of Penance.
Jeremiah 26:1–9. Psalm 68(69):5, 8–10, 14. Matthew 13:54–58.
Lord, in your great love, answer me—Psalm 68(69):5, 8–10, 14.
‘Stand in the court of the Temple of the Lord.’
Jesus the Christ is disguised in full sight of his countrymen.
They see him but they do not recognise him for who he truly is.
As with the people of Jesus’ hometown, we are often sceptical.
We have fixed ideas on where religious insight will come from
and we dismiss all sorts of people and ideas because they don’t fit our
preconceived notions.
What would be our reaction nowadays to a carpenter from Alice
Springs or an ex-serviceman from Port Pirie telling people about God?
Could a mere carpenter really be God?
A man who was executed as a criminal?
Let us grow in humility such that we may encounter Jesus in
those we meet.
Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Saint of the Day for August 3
(February 4, 1811 – August 1, 1868)
 |
| Stained glass window of Saint Peter Julian Eymard | Santa Clara de Montefalco Parish Church, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila | photo by Judgefloroo |
Saint Peter Julian Eymard’s Story
Born in La Mure d’Isère in southeastern France, Peter Julian’s
faith journey drew him from being a priest in the Diocese of Grenoble in 1834,
to joining the Marists in 1839, to founding the Congregation of the Blessed
Sacrament in 1856.
In addition to those changes, Peter Julian coped with poverty,
his father’s initial opposition to Peter’s vocation, serious illness, a
Jansenistic overemphasis on sin, and the difficulties of getting diocesan and
later papal approval for his new religious community.
His years as a Marist, including service as a provincial leader,
saw the deepening of his Eucharistic devotion, especially through his preaching
of Forty Hours in many parishes. Inspired at first by the idea of reparation
for indifference to the Eucharist, Peter Julian was eventually attracted to a
more positive spirituality of Christ-centered love. Members of the men’s
community which Peter founded alternated between an active apostolic life and
contemplating Jesus in the Eucharist. He and Marguerite Guillot founded the
women’s Congregation of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.
Peter Julian Eymard was beatified in 1925, and canonized in
1962, one day after Vatican II’s first session ended.
Reflection
In every century, sin has been painfully real in the life of the
Church. It is easy to give in to despair, to speak so strongly of human
failings that people may forget the immense and self-sacrificing love of Jesus,
as his death on the cross and his gift of the Eucharist make evident. Peter
Julian knew that the Eucharist was key to helping Catholics live out their
baptism and preach by word and example the Good News of Jesus Christ.
LECTIO DIVINA: MATTHEW
13,54-58
Lectio Divina:
Friday, August 3, 2018
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 13,54-58
Coming to his home town, Jesus taught
the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said,
'Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the
carpenter's son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his
brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not
all here with us? So where did the man get it all?' And they would not accept
him. But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is despised only in his own country and
in his own house,' and he did not work many miracles there because of their
lack of faith.
3) Reflection
• The Gospel today tells us the visit of
Jesus to Nazareth, his native community. Passing through Nazareth was painful
for Jesus. What was his community at the beginning, now it is no longer so.
Something has changed. Where there is no faith, Jesus can work no
miracles.
• Matthew 13, 53-57ª: The reaction of the people of Nazareth before Jesus. It is always good for people to go back to their land. After a long absence, Jesus also returns, as usual, on a Saturday, and he goes to the meeting of the community. Jesus was not the head of the group, but just the same he speaks. This is a sign that persons could participate and express their own opinion. People were astonished. They did not understand Jesus’ attitude: "Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” Jesus, son of that place, whom they knew since he was a child, how is that now he is so different? The people of Nazareth were scandalized and do not accept him: “This is the carpenter’s son, surely? The people do not accept the mystery of God present in a common man as they are, as they had known Jesus. In order to speak about God he should be different. As one can see, not everything was positive. The persons, who should have been the first ones to accept the Good News, are the first ones to refuse to accept it. The conflict is not only with foreigners, but also with his relatives and with the people of Nazareth. They do not accept because they cannot understand the mystery envelops Jesus: “Is not his mother, the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? And his sisters too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?” They are not able to believe.
• Matthew 13, 57b-58: Reaction of Jesus before the attitude of the people of Nazareth. Jesus knows very well that “no one is a prophet in his own country”. And he says: A prophet is despised only in his own country and in his own house”. In fact, where there is neither acceptance nor faith, people can do nothing. The prejudice prevents it. Jesus himself, even wanting, can do nothing. He was astonished before their lack of faith.
• The brothers and sisters of Jesus. The expression “brothers of Jesus” causes much polemics between Catholics and Protestants. Basing themselves in this and in other texts, the Protestants say that Jesus had many brothers and sisters and that Mary had more children! Catholics say that Mary did not have any other children. What can we think about this? In the first place, both positions, that of Catholics as well as that of Protestants, contain arguments taken from the Bible and from the Tradition of their respective Churches. For this reason, it is not convenient to discuss this question with arguments which are only intellectual, because it is a question of profound convictions, which have something to do with faith and with the sentiments of both and of each one. The argument which is only intellectual cannot change a conviction of the heart! It only irritates and draws away! Even if I do not agree with the opinion of others, I have to respect it. In the second place, instead of discussing around texts, all of us, Catholics and Protestants, should unite ourselves much more to fight for the defence of life, created by God, a life so disfigured by poverty, injustice, lack of faith. We should recall some other phrases of Jesus. “I have come so that they may have life and life to the full” (Jn 10, 10). “That all may be one, so that the world may believe that you, Father, has sent me” (Jn 17, 21). “Do not prevent them! Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mk 10, 39.40)
• Matthew 13, 53-57ª: The reaction of the people of Nazareth before Jesus. It is always good for people to go back to their land. After a long absence, Jesus also returns, as usual, on a Saturday, and he goes to the meeting of the community. Jesus was not the head of the group, but just the same he speaks. This is a sign that persons could participate and express their own opinion. People were astonished. They did not understand Jesus’ attitude: "Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” Jesus, son of that place, whom they knew since he was a child, how is that now he is so different? The people of Nazareth were scandalized and do not accept him: “This is the carpenter’s son, surely? The people do not accept the mystery of God present in a common man as they are, as they had known Jesus. In order to speak about God he should be different. As one can see, not everything was positive. The persons, who should have been the first ones to accept the Good News, are the first ones to refuse to accept it. The conflict is not only with foreigners, but also with his relatives and with the people of Nazareth. They do not accept because they cannot understand the mystery envelops Jesus: “Is not his mother, the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? And his sisters too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?” They are not able to believe.
• Matthew 13, 57b-58: Reaction of Jesus before the attitude of the people of Nazareth. Jesus knows very well that “no one is a prophet in his own country”. And he says: A prophet is despised only in his own country and in his own house”. In fact, where there is neither acceptance nor faith, people can do nothing. The prejudice prevents it. Jesus himself, even wanting, can do nothing. He was astonished before their lack of faith.
• The brothers and sisters of Jesus. The expression “brothers of Jesus” causes much polemics between Catholics and Protestants. Basing themselves in this and in other texts, the Protestants say that Jesus had many brothers and sisters and that Mary had more children! Catholics say that Mary did not have any other children. What can we think about this? In the first place, both positions, that of Catholics as well as that of Protestants, contain arguments taken from the Bible and from the Tradition of their respective Churches. For this reason, it is not convenient to discuss this question with arguments which are only intellectual, because it is a question of profound convictions, which have something to do with faith and with the sentiments of both and of each one. The argument which is only intellectual cannot change a conviction of the heart! It only irritates and draws away! Even if I do not agree with the opinion of others, I have to respect it. In the second place, instead of discussing around texts, all of us, Catholics and Protestants, should unite ourselves much more to fight for the defence of life, created by God, a life so disfigured by poverty, injustice, lack of faith. We should recall some other phrases of Jesus. “I have come so that they may have life and life to the full” (Jn 10, 10). “That all may be one, so that the world may believe that you, Father, has sent me” (Jn 17, 21). “Do not prevent them! Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mk 10, 39.40)
4) Personal questions
• In Jesus something changed in his
relationship with the Community of Nazareth. Since you began to participate in
the community, has something changed in your relationship with the family? Why?
• Has participation in the community helped you to accept and to trust persons, especially the more simple and the poorest?
• Has participation in the community helped you to accept and to trust persons, especially the more simple and the poorest?
5) Concluding Prayer
For myself, wounded wretch that I am,
by your saving power raise me up!
I will praise God’s name in song,
I will extol him by thanksgiving. (Ps 69, 29-30)
by your saving power raise me up!
I will praise God’s name in song,
I will extol him by thanksgiving. (Ps 69, 29-30)
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