SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Sunday - August 22, 2021

 

Sunday - August 22, 2021

Silence is the beginning of 

purifying the soul.

~~St. Basil the Great

August 22, 2021

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 122

 

Reading 1                                                     Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,

summoning their elders, their leaders,

their judges, and their officers.

When they stood in ranks before God,

Joshua addressed all the people:

“If it does not please you to serve the LORD,

decide today whom you will serve,

the gods your fathers served beyond the River

or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.

As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

 

But the people answered,

“Far be it from us to forsake the LORD

for the service of other gods.

For it was the LORD, our God,

who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt,

out of a state of slavery.

He performed those great miracles before our very eyes

and protected us along our entire journey

and among the peoples through whom we passed.

Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

 

R. (9a)  Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

 

I will bless the LORD at all times;

       his praise shall be ever in my mouth.

Let my soul glory in the LORD;

       the lowly will hear me and be glad.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

The LORD has eyes for the just,

       and ears for their cry.

The LORD confronts the evildoers,

       to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,

       and from all their distress he rescues them.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

       and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Many are the troubles of the just one,

       but out of them all the LORD delivers him;

he watches over all his bones;

      not one of them shall be broken.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

 

Reading 2                                                     Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32

Brothers and sisters:

Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.

For the husband is head of his wife

just as Christ is head of the church,

he himself the savior of the body.

As the church is subordinate to Christ,

so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives,

even as Christ loved the church

and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,

cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,

that he might present to himself the church in splendor,

without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,

that she might be holy and without blemish.

So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one hates his own flesh

but rather nourishes and cherishes it,

even as Christ does the church,

because we are members of his body.

    For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother

        and be joined to his wife,

    and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery,

but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

 

OR:

 

Brothers and sisters:

Live in love, as Christ loved us.

Husbands, love your wives,

even as Christ loved the church

and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,

cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,

that he might present to himself the church in splendor,

without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,

that she might be holy and without blemish.

So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one hates his own flesh

but rather nourishes and cherishes it,

even as Christ does the church,

because we are members of his body.

    For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother

        and be joined to his wife,

    and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery,

but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

 

 

Alleluia                                                                      Jn 6:63c, 68c

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;

you have the words of everlasting life.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Jn 6:60-69

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said,

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,

he said to them, “Does this shock you?

What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending

to where he was before?

It is the spirit that gives life,

while the flesh is of no avail.

The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe

and the one who would betray him.

And he said,

“For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by my Father.”

 

As a result of this,

many of his disciples returned to their former way of life

and no longer accompanied him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe

and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

 

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LOOKING BENEATH THE SURFACE TO FIND JESUS

In this Sunday's Gospel reading, we see the tragic rejection of Christ's true mission by many who had been listening to him and watching him. How could they miss the message that he taught? "The words I have spoken are Spirit and life," he said. But they only heard his words on the surface level, in their flesh-nature. And thus they missed the life that he was offering: the healed life, the joyful life, the victorious life, the eternal life.

 

They weren't looking at Jesus spiritually. They saw him as a man, not a messiah, as a healer of bodies, not of souls, as a deliverer from the Romans instead of from their own sins.

 

Thus, the idea of eating his flesh and drinking his blood (which he had spoken of in the previous verses, in last Sunday's readings) truly was gross and unthinkable. They couldn't grasp the Spirit and life behind those words. It seemed that Jesus had become too bizarre to follow.

 

The true disciples -- those who remained to learn more from him -- also didn't understand what he meant, not yet, but they recognized the presence of the Holy Spirit in his words.

 

How many times has Jesus come to you in another person and you didn't recognize him, because what you saw was the human individual and what you focused on was the un-Christ-like behaviors of that person?

 

Everyone has been created in the image of God. They would not be alive if the Holy Spirit had not given them life. Even non-Christians have the presence of Christ in them. To live a more victorious life, we have to look beneath the surface to find the Jesus who is hidden inside everyone we meet.

 

Do you have any difficulty recognizing the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass? Practice recognizing Jesus when he comes to you in others, and you will see the Eucharist in new ways.

 

Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." How has the Father gifted you with the ability to recognize Jesus? What has happened in your life that opened your eyes to who Jesus really is?

 

Today's Prayer

 

Thank You, Lord, because Your word nurtures me and gives sense to my life. Give me the grace of following You when I walk aimlessly, and of accepting humbly Your ways even when I don't understand. 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!”