Thursday - July 13, 2017
'Let us suffer the bitter pain, without courage! . . . And still we would like to suffer generously, grandly! . . . what an illusion! . . . We'd never want to fall? . . . What does it matter, my Jesus, if I fall at each moment; I see my weakness through this and this is a great gain for me. . . Sanctity does not consist in saying beautiful things, it does not even consist in thinking them, feeling them! It consists in suffering and suffering everything.'
--St. Therese of Lisieux
TODAY'S READINGS
July 13, 2017
Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 386
Reading 1GN 44:18-21, 23B-29; 45:1-5
Judah approached Joseph and said: "I beg you, my lord,let your servant speak earnestly to my lord,
and do not become angry with your servant,
for you are the equal of Pharaoh.
My lord asked your servants, 'Have you a father, or another brother?'
So we said to my lord, 'We have an aged father,
and a young brother, the child of his old age.
This one's full brother is dead,
and since he is the only one by that mother who is left,
his father dotes on him.'
Then you told your servants,
'Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.
Unless your youngest brother comes back with you,
you shall not come into my presence again.'
When we returned to your servant our father,
we reported to him the words of my lord.
"Later, our father told us to come back and buy some food for the family.
So we reminded him, 'We cannot go down there;
only if our youngest brother is with us can we go,
for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.'
Then your servant our father said to us,
'As you know, my wife bore me two sons.
One of them, however, disappeared, and I had to conclude
that he must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts;
I have not seen him since.
If you now take this one away from me, too,
and some disaster befalls him,
you will send my white head down to the nether world in grief.'"
Joseph could no longer control himself
in the presence of all his attendants,
so he cried out, "Have everyone withdraw from me!"
Thus no one else was about when he made himself known to his brothers.
But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him,
and so the news reached Pharaoh's palace.
"I am Joseph," he said to his brothers.
"Is my father still in good health?"
But his brothers could give him no answer,
so dumbfounded were they at him.
"Come closer to me," he told his brothers.
When they had done so, he said:
"I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.
But now do not be distressed,
and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here.
It was really for the sake of saving lives
that God sent me here ahead of you."
Responsorial PsalmPS 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
R. (5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done.or:
R. Alleluia.
When the LORD called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to pass
and the word of the LORD proved him true.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaMK 1:15
R. Alleluia, alleluia.The Kingdom of God is at hand:
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 10:7-15
Jesus said to his Apostles:"As you go, make this proclamation:
'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;
no sack for the journey, or a second tunic,
or sandals, or walking stick.
The laborer deserves his keep.
Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it,
and stay there until you leave.
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—
go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment
than for that town."
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God's gift exchange!
God has his own exchange policy when it comes to giving and receiving gifts. It takes a little getting used to -- it's not what we normally experience in the earthly world.
"Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give," Jesus says in our Gospel reading today. God has freely given us his mercy, his kindness, many blessings, our talents that can be turned into income, our homes, our families, and best of all, his salvation -- even though we have not deserved it. But that's only half of the equation. Whatever gifts we've received from the Lord we are to give as gifts to others without stopping to consider whether or not they deserve it.
Reflect on your talents, the knowledge and insights you've gained, the skills you've learned, the maturity that grew out of your sufferings, and so on. These blessings have made you rich in non-material ways. They have lifted your spirit, graced you with joy, provided healing, and filled you with a satisfying peace.
Consider also the material goods that he's provided. Even if you worked hard to get them, God is the original source of everything that you own. If what you have purchased is good and does not lead to sin, God is very pleased with his investment, but it is meant to be shared.
We are distributors of his blessings. If a gift from God sits quietly unused in the closet of our selfishness, the good feelings that came with it dissipate rather quickly. But in passing it on to others, the blessings take deeper root and expand. We experience more of God's loving, generous abundance.
That's the first half of God's exchange policy. The second half is to allow others to pass on to us the gifts that God has given to them. Just as we are to be generous, so too are we to allow others to be generous toward us when God says to them, "Distribute this to my dear friend!"
Jesus told his disciples to travel unpacked. Even when we can take care of our own needs, God wants us to experience the blessing of community life. He wants us to allow others to feel good about sharing what God has given to them. By graciously accepting what they offer, they experience more of God's loving abundance in exchange.
God's gift exchange policy can be summed up like this: Freely give and freely receive. This is how the blessings spread and multiply throughout the world.
What if someone refuses to accept what you try to give them, or what if they abuse it? Don't wallow in unforgiveness. Move on, shaking the dirt from your shoes. This is yet another way to gift them with your love. It gives them more time to become ready to receive the blessings, which, by the way, most likely will come from someone else, not you. We all work together, even when we never meet the stranger who finally delivers the gift.
God distributes his gifts through the community. Receiving gifts from others is how he touches us with his love. And freely passing on to others what he's given to us is how he touches others. And thus God becomes more fully present in the world.
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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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