Saturday - June 24, 2017
“Whether, therefore, we receive what we ask for, or do not receive it, let us still continue steadfast in prayer. For to fail in obtaining the desires of our heart, when God so wills it, is not worse than to receive it; for we know not as He does, what is profitable to us.”
-St. John Chrysostom
TODAY'S READINGS
June 24, 2017
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Mass during the Day
Lectionary: 587
Reading 1IS 49:1-6
Hear me, O coastlands,listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial PsalmPS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15
R. (14) I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
Reading 2ACTS 13:22-26
In those days, Paul said:"God raised up David as king;
of him God testified,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'
"My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent."
AlleluiaSEE LK 1:76
R. Alleluia, alleluia.You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 1:57-66, 80
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her childshe gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
"No. He will be called John."
But they answered her,
"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
"What, then, will this child be?"
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.
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You, too, were Wonderfully Made!
To God, you never were just a blob of tissue. He loved you from the very beginning and chose you to help him accomplish his plans. This is true for everyone (which is why abortions are wrong), even though he foreknows who is going to reject him.
Like he did with John the Baptist, God has given you a sharp-edged sword, i.e., the ability to speak the truth. He gave you this gift during your baptism when you received the Holy Spirit.
The Lord is concealing you in the shadow of his arm. No matter how hard your life has been, and no matter how many times you strayed from the Lord, you still belong to him.
Even though you have sometimes toiled in vain and your efforts to do God's work have seemingly been for nothing, as if you uselessly spent your strength, your reward is with the Lord. He will give you recompense.
No matter how ugly you think you are, no matter if you are too short or too tall or diseased or malformed by a birth defect, you were made glorious in the sight of the Lord, your Creator. The verses in our responsorial Psalm confirm this: You are wonderfully made! Since the moment of your conception, your life has been precious and important.
Whatever you can imagine doing for the Lord, it's never as much as what God desires for you. It's "too little" compared to what he knows you can do. He has bigger plans for you, a more important use for your gifts and talents and experiences and training than what you've done so far. He will make his light shine ever brighter through you!
As it says of John in Luke 1:80, you, too, are God's child; growing and becoming strong in spirit. You have experienced the desert of hardships and training, you have suffered and lacked and thirsted and hungered. And all of this is valuable and useful when you follow Jesus into greater service for his kingdom.
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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