Friday, 3rd August 2018

Memorial of Saint Martha

LECTIONARY
405/607

FIRST READING
JER 26:1-9

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.

PSALM
PS 69:5, 8-10, 14

Response: 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?

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.

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.

GOSPEL
Mt 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.

Daily Reflection

3rd August 2018

Labels are a great aid for structuring, organizing and putting things in order. However, they are also restrictive; limiting the scope of what is labelled.

Today’s readings highlight how the labelling of Jeremiah as the ‘prophet of doom’ and Jesus as the ‘carpenter’s son’ prevents their respective audiences from hearing their message.

While Jeremiah’s words were scathing and spoke of the destruction of Judah, the Gospel doesn’t tell us what Jesus taught. What is clear is that his words were certainly overwhelming for the people who began to question where Jesus got such wisdom. In both cases, the hearers actually dismiss the message as well as the messenger.

What labels have I used for people? How has this affected the way I treat them? How often have I rejected good advice because the person offering it was given a ‘negative label’?

Thursday, 2nd August 2018

Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
404

FIRST READING
JER 18:1-6

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;
there I will give you my message.
I went down to the potter’s house and there he was,
working at the wheel.
Whenever the object of clay which he was making
turned out badly in his hand,
he tried again,
making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

PSALM
PS 146:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6AB

Response:

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.

Put not your trust in princes,
in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;
on that day his plans perish.

Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.

GOSPEL
MT 13:47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

Daily Reflection

2nd August 2018

Peter Julian Eymard

While we often search for spirituality in books and sacred writings, it often lies just under our noses. A case in point is that of Jeremiah who is told to “go to the potter’s house” and God would “speak (his) word” there. In observing the mundane act of the potter at his work, Jeremiah receives God’s word – O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done? God invites Israel to yield to his guidance just like clay in the hands of the potter.

Jesus, while addressing ordinary folk, spoke to them using examples from their daily life and compared them to the Kingdom of God. Paying attention to the little things, makes a big impact on our receptivity to God’s gentle voice. The people who came to Jesus had the knowledge of everyday things, but in their encounter with Him they are able to get new insights into mundane realities.

Our encounter with Jesus helps us bring out of our “storehouse” of knowledge “things both, new and old”.

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.

Tuesday, 31st July 2018

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

LECTIONARY
402

FIRST READING
JER 14:17-22

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.

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.

PSALM
PS 79:8, 9, 11 AND 13

Response: 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.

Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.

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.

GOSPEL
MT 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.”

Daily Reflection

31st July 2018

No rain meant famine; famine brought disease to the hunger-stricken; hunger and disease resulted in weakness, which made the Israelites vulnerable to attack. It was in this pitiful and seemingly hopeless condition that the Israelites confessed their sin of having deserted God and begged His forgiveness.

In the first reading from Jeremiah, we see how God didn’t punish the people when they strayed, but allowed them time to realise their folly and choose to come back. Likewise in the Gospel, Jesus uses the parable of the weeds and the wheat to explain how God doesn’t destroy the bad, nor withdraw His providence, but allows them to exist alongside the good. While there is a risk of the good being influenced by the bad, there is also hope that the bad will be influenced for the good.

Today, we remember St Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish knight from a noble family. His introspection led him into a spiritual journey that resulted in the formation the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

Like the Jesuits, may we learn to regularly ‘examine’ our lives so that we may remain focussed witnesses of the Gospel.

Monday 30th July 2018

Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
401

FIRST READING
JER 13:1-11

The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth;
wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.
I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.
A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:
Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing,
and go now to the Parath;
there hide it in a cleft of the rock.
Obedient to the LORD's command, I went to the Parath
and buried the loincloth.
After a long interval, the LORD said to me:
Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth
which I told you to hide there.
Again I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth
from the place where I had hid it.
But it was rotted, good for nothing!
Then the message came to me from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot,
the great pride of Jerusalem.
This wicked people who refuse to obey my words,
who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts,
and follow strange gods to serve and adore them,
shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing.
For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man's loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
But they did not listen.

PSALM
DEUT 32:18-19, 20, 21

Response: You have forgotten God who gave you birth.

You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
You forgot the God who gave you birth.
When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing
and anger toward his sons and daughters.

"I will hide my face from them," he said,
"and see what will then become of them.
What a fickle race they are,
sons with no loyalty in them!"

"Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god'
and angered me with their vain idols,
I will provoke them with a 'no-people';
with a foolish nation I will anger them."

GOSPEL
verses

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

He spoke to them another parable.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Daily Reflection

30th July 2018

Jeremiah, in the first reading, narrates a dramatic parable – dramatic, because it is a narrative of something Jeremiah actually did at the Lord’s command – which opened his eyes to Israel’s stubbornness, that had soiled their covenant with the Lord.

The unsoiled waistcloth that Jeremiah was asked to wear, represented the intimate connection between God and Israel. His action of hiding it under the rock near the Euphrates was symbolic of the Israelites deserting the land that God had given them and wandering to the Euphrates in Mesopotamia – a foreign culture with foreign gods that corrupted and spoiled them. Jeremiah finally retrieving his loin cloth all soiled and rotten, was again a reflection of what the unfaithfulness of the Israelites had reduced their covenantal relationship with God to.

We have the use of very illustrative parables in today’s Gospel as well. Jesus describes God’s Kingdom as a state of existence which we all need to help bring about. In witnessing to God’s love, we become catalysts for transforming the world.

29-07-2018

Holiness is not only about the spirit: it is also the feet that take us to our brothers and sisters, and the hands that allow us to help them.

- Pope Francis

Sunday 29th July 2018

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
110

FIRST READING
2 KGS 4:42-44

A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God,
twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits,
and fresh grain in the ear.
Elisha said, "Give it to the people to eat."
But his servant objected,
"How can I set this before a hundred people?"
Elisha insisted, "Give it to the people to eat."
"For thus says the LORD,
'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'"
And when they had eaten, there was some left over,
as the LORD had said.

PSALM
PS 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

Response: The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.

The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.

SECOND READING
EPH 4:1-6

Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
one body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.

GOSPEL
JN 6:1-15

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
"Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
"Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little."
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?"
Jesus said, "Have the people recline."
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
"Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted."
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves
that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Daily Reflection

29th July 2018

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings today say much about how God constantly desires us to be a part of His salvific deeds!

The first reading and the Gospel have similarities in the miracles of Moses, Elisha and Jesus: the apparent absence of food, the multiplication of a meagre quantity of food, and the excess (God’s generosity). Through this narrative, John presents Jesus like Moses and Elisha – a ‘man of God’ in the line of the many prophets, and yet, through the magnitude of Jesus’ miracle John is implying that Jesus is the greatest of the prophets ... the Son of God himself.

John also brings into the narrative Philip and Andrew. Philip with his computing mind logically claims that there’s no solution, while Andrew (who had seen Jesus turn water to wine at Cana) believes that Jesus could work wonders with five loaves and two fish.

“Lord, what is it I have that you want to multiply?”