Saturday - August 12, 2017
into the ocean of His goodness, where every failing will be canceled and anxiety turned into love.
-- St. Paul of the Cross
TODAY'S READINGS
August 12, 2017
Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 412
Reading 1DT 6:4-13
Moses said to the people:"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.
Drill them into your children.
Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign
and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.
Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
"When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore
to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
that he would give you,
a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,
with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner,
with cisterns that you did not dig,
with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant;
and when, therefore, you eat your fill,
take care not to forget the LORD,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
The LORD, your God, shall you fear;
him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear."
Responsorial PsalmPS 18:2-3A, 3BC-4, 47 AND 51
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim!
And I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD live! And blessed be my Rock!
Extolled be God my savior!
You who gave great victories to your king,
and showed kindness to your anointed,
to David and his posterity forever.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
AlleluiaSEE 2 TM 1:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 17:14-20
A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,"Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him."
Jesus said in reply,
"O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me."
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
"Why could we not drive it out?"
He said to them, "Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
'Move from here to there,' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."
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How to move mountains
and work other miracles
The disciples asked, “Why could we not drive the demon out?” Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:19-20 )
Jesus intends for us to move mountains. Jesus wants every Christian to be his presence here on earth, doing what he did and more (John 14:12). He gave us his Holy Spirit so that we could do it. The New Testament is full of reports about miracles done through faith-filled followers. So why are we so powerless today? We have faith, right? Is it at least the size of a mustard seed?
Jesus didn’t go around changing the geographic landscape of Israel. Scripture never tells us that he moved an actual mountain. What he changed was the landscape of people’s hearts — but only when people were willing to have their inner mountains laid low and their paths made straight. They had to be willing. God does not move inside closed or rebellious hearts, because he won’t go against our free will. He can (and does) change the landscape around the rebellious in order to invite them to change. He never quits trying to win our hearts.
Faith the size of a mustard seed
Let’s look at the reason why Jesus challenged his disciples to seek more faith. They had tried and failed to get rid of a demon. The reason why demons attach themselves to people is a mountain: a mountain of sin. But Jesus didn’t say that the demonized boy needed more faith. It was his trainees who needed it, the people whom he would later depend on to continue his ministry.
This includes you and me. Every baptized Christian is called to continue the ministry of Christ.
We need to accept this responsibility and see ourselves as dependent on Christ’s Holy Spirit for fulfilling the mission (all the responsibilities of the mission, including the working of miracles), or else we’ll be accountable for miracles that didn’t happen and hearts that were not converted. Saying “yes” to this is the seed that God himself will nourish so that it grows.
Is our “yes” the size of a mustard seed?
The disciples of Matthew 17 had not yet received the Holy Spirit. Faith is a fruit of life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We are a post-Pentecost people. We already have the Spirit who works miracles (Galatians 3:5).
A big reason why we don’t move mountains is the world in which we live and how much we’ve been influenced by it. I, too, am a product of a secular culture. To have the kind of faith that Jesus expects from us, we need to ask ourselves: “What has the world been telling me that reduces my belief in miracles? What have I heard or witnessed that convinced me that the Christian faith is not powerful enough to move mountains? Or that I should not think about demons and learn to do spiritual warfare? What has made my faith impotent?”
And then let’s go to Mass and pay attention to the miracle that takes place on the altar. Mass is the perfect place for increasing our faith. If you can, go to Mass every day, or at least more often than you have been, to build up your faith by witnessing and participating in the miracle of the Eucharist. Receive the full presence of Jesus into yourself. The world does not know this supernatural gift. You do. The Eucharist is a giant seed that really can move mountains. Ask him to move within your mind the mountains of worldly influences that have made your faith less than what he promised it could be.
While you’re there, pay attention to the other people at Mass. Who else has overcome the world? Surround yourself with others who believe in miracles.
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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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