SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Tuesday - July 20, 2021

Tuesday - July 20, 2021

"It is a lesson we all need - to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path." 
-     St. Katharine Drexel  

July 20, 2021

Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 396

 

Reading 1                                                     Ex 14:21—15:1

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,

and the LORD swept the sea

with a strong east wind throughout the night

and so turned it into dry land.

When the water was thus divided,

the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land,

with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.

 

The Egyptians followed in pursuit;

all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after them

right into the midst of the sea.

In the night watch just before dawn

the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud

upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;

and he so clogged their chariot wheels

that they could hardly drive.

With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel,

because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.

 

Then the LORD told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea,

that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians,

upon their chariots and their charioteers.”

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,

and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth.

The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea,

when the LORD hurled them into its midst.

As the water flowed back,

it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole army

that had followed the children of Israel into the sea.

Not a single one of them escaped.

But the children of Israel had marched on dry land

through the midst of the sea,

with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.

Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day

from the power of the Egyptians.

When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore

and beheld the great power that the LORD

had shown against the Egyptians,

they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

 

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD:

 

    I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;

        horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              Exodus 15:8-9, 10 and 12, 17

 

R.    (1b)  Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.

 

At the breath of your anger the waters piled up,

    the flowing waters stood like a mound,

    the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea.

The enemy boasted, “I will pursue and overtake them;

    I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them;

    I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!”

R.    Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.

When your wind blew, the sea covered them;

    like lead they sank in the mighty waters.

    When you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them!

R.    Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.

And you brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance—

    the place where you made your seat, O LORD,

    the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands established.

R.    Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Jn 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him

and we will come to him.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 12:46-50

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,

his mother and his brothers appeared outside,

wishing to speak with him.

Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,

asking to speak with you.”

But he said in reply to the one who told him,

“Who is my mother?  Who are my brothers?”

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,

“Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father

is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

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DECIPHERING GOD'S WILL

 

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells us that if we do the will of his Father, then we are truly members of his family -- the holy family -- adopted by God, inheritors of everything that belongs to God on this earth and in heaven. But knowing what his will is can sometimes be difficult simply because there are too many possibilities from which to choose.

 

God gave us our own individual will so that we're free to love him. This makes us vulnerable, however, to wrong decisions. We're free to make decisions without first discerning what is really best, right, and holy.

 

To be like our Divine Daddy and live as his child, we need to submit our will to his. This never means giving up our own will to dangle like a puppet under God's control. It never means that our desires and needs will be squashed or ignored by God. Rather, it means acknowledging that God has a better understanding of what's best, right, and holy. And since we want to benefit from God's better understanding, we want our will to be God's will, not by forcing God to agree with us and approve of our humanly-made decisions, but by forcing our will to agree with God's divine will.

 

That's not always easy. And sometimes it is! A good, healthy, holy prayer is: "Father, my Divine Daddy, here's what I want to do about ____, but you understand the whole situation infinitely better than I do, so please make sure your will is done. I give you permission to conform my will to yours."

 

God does not want us to be confused or uncertain about his will and his desires. Even when there are multiple good choices and God likes them all, he has a preference, a top choice that he'd like us to know so that we can have the best possible life here on earth and the best possible relationship with him in heaven (with as short a time in purgatory as possible). He also hopes that we will reach our full potential for the sake of how we can help his other children.

 

Because he cares so much, he does not hide his will, lest it cause us to make terrible mistakes or blindly fall into sin. He does everything he can -- which is more than we imagine -- to help us remain close to him all the time, in every decision we make throughout the day, each day, even in details as small as choosing what to eat and which clothes to wear.

 

To figure out the how, when, where, etc., of his will, we need to [1] know what God reveals about it in scripture and in Church teachings (FYI: Church documents, encyclicals, etc. explain the scriptures as applied to a particular theme or doctrine), and [2] have an active, alive, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, who is the teacher and explainer of all truth.

 

When think we know God's will and desires, how can we be sure that God is really speaking to us and it's not just a trick of our own minds? This requires growth, a well-formed conscience, awareness of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities and areas of unhealthy thinking, surrendering ourselves continually to God, waiting for confirmation from reliable Christian community friends or spiritual directors, and trusting that God will provide other confirmation as well if it's that important.

 

Today's Prayer

 

I praise You Lord Jesus, because when I follow You, You bind me to You in one big family. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit, who gathers and nurtures us in His love. Amen.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”