Wednesday - July 26, 2017
'If you want with a few words to benefit one who is eager to learn, speak to him about prayer, right faith, and the patient acceptance of what comes. For all else that is good is found through these.'
-St. Mark the Ascetic
TODAY'S READINGS
July 26, 2017
Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lectionary: 397
Reading 1EX 16:1-5, 9-15
The children of Israel set out from Elim,and came into the desert of Sin,
which is between Elim and Sinai,
on the fifteenth day of the second month
after their departure from the land of Egypt.
Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel
grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The children of Israel said to them,
"Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt,
as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!
But you had to lead us into this desert
to make the whole community die of famine!"
Then the LORD said to Moses,
"I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them,
to see whether they follow my instructions or not.
On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in,
let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
Then Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole congregation
of the children of Israel:
Present yourselves before the LORD,
for he has heard your grumbling."
When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel,
they turned toward the desert, and lo,
the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!
The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
"I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,
and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,
so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.
In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,
and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert
were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.
On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, "What is this?"
for they did not know what it was.
But Moses told them,
"This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."
Responsorial PsalmPS 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28
R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.They tempted God in their hearts
by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the desert?"
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Yet he commanded the skies above
and the doors of heaven he opened;
He rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
He stirred up the east wind in the heavens,
and by his power brought on the south wind.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
And he rained meat upon them like dust,
and, like the sand of the sea, winged fowl,
Which fell in the midst of their camp
round about their tents.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
All who come to him will live for ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
"A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
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Passing the Tests!
In the Gospel reading today, let's compare the different types of soil to the tests we face on our faith journeys. Like the farmer sowing seeds, God is always trying to bring about new growth in us, and he does everything possible to help us to become richer soil so that our lives produce an abundant harvest for his kingdom. But rich soil is fertilized soil, and you know what fertilizer is made of? Oh how stinky it smells!
The natural fertilizers that hit the proverbial fans in our everyday lives can enrich our soil. For example, when we're so busy that we don't take enough time to sit quietly with the Lord and pray, life gets harder. Things go wrong. Mishaps bump into us -- or rather I should say, we stumble into mishaps because we're not paying attention to God's directions. How stinky must life get before we slow down and listen to the Lord?
When we don't take time to humbly listen, our hardened hearts are like the path that's been packed down so hard (usually from other people trampling on us) that the seeds lie on the surface as bird food. God's help never has a chance to take root in us.
When we do ask God for help, he doesn't answer our prayers like a magic genie. He waits to see how much we're willing to trust him. He wants to increase our trust, and the only way for that to happen is for us to discover that trusting him despite obstacles and fears and personal wishes really does produce good results. But if our faith is rocky, we soon begin to tell God how he should solve our problems, as if we know better than he does about which solutions are best! This is the rocky soil in which the seeds of faith sprout and then our faith withers because we're scorched by the trials of life.
Sometimes we listen to what others are telling us instead of trusting the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. If what we hear in prayer does not contradict scripture and Church teachings, we should dare to trust it. We all have good-intentioned advisors amongst our friends and family who have not heard what the Lord is telling us; their worldly or misinformed advice is like thorns that choke out the truth. Our soil can be rich and fertile, but if we don't trust what God is telling us, the seeds he gave us will have no chance to do any good.
This is the lesson God taught in today's first reading. The Israelites had need of food while they journeyed through their desert experience. They asked for help and God answered their prayers in a way that would enable them to mature in faith: "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Gather your daily portion, but if you store up more than that because you don't trust me to continue to provide for you daily, you'll not be happy about the consequences."
We all have desert experiences. But no matter how bleak it seems, God's help is readily available and sufficient in exactly the portion that is right for us right now. It only seems bleak when we fail to follow his instructions or fail to turn to him and trust him.
To succeed as rich soil that produces good results, benefiting from God's abundance, we have to submit to his hoe, letting him turn under everything bad that happens to us so that it rots into fertilizer that nourishes us and strengthens who we become.
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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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