Wednesday, August 01, 2018

Saint Alphonsus Liguouri, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

LECTIONARY
403

FIRST READING
JER 15:10, 16-21

Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth!
a man of strife and contention to all the land!
I neither borrow nor lend,
yet all curse me.
When I found your words, I devoured them;
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,
Because I bore your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.
I did not sit celebrating
in the circle of merrymakers;
Under the weight of your hand I sat alone
because you filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain continuous,
my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook,
whose waters do not abide!
Thus the LORD answered me:
If you repent, so that I restore you,
in my presence you shall stand;
If you bring forth the precious without the vile,
you shall be my mouthpiece.
Then it shall be they who turn to you,
and you shall not turn to them;
And I will make you toward this people
a solid wall of brass.
Though they fight against you,
they shall not prevail,
For I am with you,
to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD.
I will free you from the hand of the wicked,
and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.

PSALM
PS 59:2-3, 4, 10-11, 17, 18

Response: God is my refuge on the day of distress.

Rescue me from my enemies, O my God;
from my adversaries defend me.
Rescue me from evildoers;
from bloodthirsty men save me.

For behold, they lie in wait for my life;
mighty men come together against me,
Not for any offense or sin of mine, O LORD.

O my strength! for you I watch;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
As for my God, may his mercy go before me;
may h7e show me the fall of my foes.

But I will sing of your strength
and revel at dawn in your mercy;
You have been my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of distress.

O my strength! your praise will I sing;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
my merciful God!

GOSPEL
MT 13:44-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Daily Reflection

1st August 2018

St. Alphonsus Ligouri

The first reading highlights the struggle of the spiritual life with the example of none other than the prophet Jeremiah. A good man who “devoured” God’s words, never sat “in the company of merrymakers” undergoes a crisis in his vocation, so severe, that he is woeful that his mother “gave (him) birth”. But within that crisis, Jeremiah also finds the calm reassurance of God’s presence which he experiences as a “solid wall of bronze”. All that Jeremiah need do is turn the focus from his misery to God’s faithful presence in the midst of it.

We celebrate, today, the feast of St. Alphonsus Ligouri, the “Prince of Moral Theologians”, who like the merchant in today’s Gospel searched for fine pearls and finding in Christ, the “Pearl of great price”, left a lucrative career to give his life for Christ. This great founder of “The Redemptorists” wrote 111 letters and treatises which have seen 4000 editions in over 60 languages. Modelling himself on Jesus, the itinerant preacher, he toiled tirelessly preaching “Missions”.

Like Jeremiah and St. Alphonsus Ligouri we are called to find God in all things and in every situation.