Thursday - February 21, 2019
"If this is the way you
treat your friends,
No wonder
you have so few!"
~~ St. Teresa of Avila
"If this is the way you
treat your friends,
No wonder
you have so few!"
~~ St. Teresa of Avila
February 21 2019
Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 338
Reading 1GN 9:1-13
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them:
“Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.
Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth
and all the birds of the air,
upon all the creatures that move about on the ground
and all the fishes of the sea;
into your power they are delivered.
Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat;
I give them all to you as I did the green plants.
Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting:
from every animal I will demand it,
and from one man in regard to his fellow man
I will demand an accounting for human life.
If anyone sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.
Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it.”
God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”
God added:
“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.”
“Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.
Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth
and all the birds of the air,
upon all the creatures that move about on the ground
and all the fishes of the sea;
into your power they are delivered.
Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat;
I give them all to you as I did the green plants.
Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting:
from every animal I will demand it,
and from one man in regard to his fellow man
I will demand an accounting for human life.
If anyone sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.
Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it.”
God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”
God added:
“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.”
Responsorial PsalmPS 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 AND 22-23
R. (20b) From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The children of your servants shall abide,
and their posterity shall continue in your presence,
That the name of the LORD may be declared in Zion,
and his praise, in Jerusalem,
When the peoples gather together,
and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The children of your servants shall abide,
and their posterity shall continue in your presence,
That the name of the LORD may be declared in Zion,
and his praise, in Jerusalem,
When the peoples gather together,
and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
AlleluiaSEE JN 6:63C, 68C
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 8:27-33
Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
******************************
WHAT'S YOUR PERSONAL RAINBOW?
In today's first reading, God renews with Noah the covenant that he had made with Adam and Eve. Notice the change, though: He replaced the commandment about not eating from the Tree of Knowledge with a commandment about not eating animal flesh that still has "its lifeblood" in it. This will be further renewed when he makes the covenant of Moses.
God is still renewing covenants today. When we sin, we turn away from God, but he's always eager to restore the relationship. Since things can never be the same again, thanks to the damage we caused by our sins, we need a new, enhanced covenant.
For example, years ago when a friend betrayed me, I was filled with resentment and wanted to drive him out of my life. However, God wanted me to obey the Christian commandment about loving our enemies. So I wanted to know: "If there's no indication that this fellow is going to overcome the problems that are harming our relationship, why stay in this mess? It's hopeless!"
Then one day, as my husband and I were driving to a store, God showed us a rainbow. I said to Ralph sarcastically, "Oh goodie, look at that. A rainbow. God is telling us not to give up. R-i-i-i-ight." We turned the car in a different direction and there in front of us was another rainbow.
"Okay, I get it!"
The rainbow became a symbol of my new, enhanced covenant with the Lord. By relying on his supernatural love, I could love the troublesome friend unconditionally even while the relationship continued to disintegrate. I could keep trying to help him until God, instead of my resentment, told me to stop. And he did, a few years later, at which time I was able say good-bye in a spirit of forgiveness, knowing that God would try to help him some other way now.
God is sovereign. His plans always succeed, but sometimes people interrupt Plan A, and so he comes up with Plan B. That's what happened in the Garden of Eden. Plan A was a holy life in paradise. Noah's Ark was part of Plan B, but that didn't keep us holy either. Eventually, God gave us Plan J (Jesus). The new covenant is to love as Jesus loves.
Who do you say Jesus is? This is the question for us in today's Gospel reading. Is he truly your Lord and Savior -- in EVERYthing? With EVERYone? If not, this is where a renewed covenant is needed.
We restore our relationship with God in the ark of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Because it's a sacrament, Jesus is truly present there, in the form of a priest, to give us a new rainbow, i.e., the promise of his supernatural help to love and live in holiness.
Today's Prayer:
Forgive me, Lord, for the times that I have been an obstacle instead of an instrument for Your divine designs. Amen.
------------------------------
God Bless You.....
Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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