GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Monday - June 27, 2022

Monday - June 27, 2022

The face is the mirror of the mind, 

and eyes without speaking confess 

the secrets of the heart.

~~St. Jerome 

June 27, 2022

MONDAY OF THE THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Lectionary: 377

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Am 2:6-10, 13-16

Thus says the LORD:

For three crimes of Israel, and for four,

I will not revoke my word;

Because they sell the just man for silver,

and the poor man for a pair of sandals.

They trample the heads of the weak

into the dust of the earth,

and force the lowly out of the way.

Son and father go to the same prostitute,

profaning my holy name.

Upon garments taken in pledge

they recline beside any altar;

And the wine of those who have been fined

they drink in the house of their god.

 

Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them,

who were as tall as the cedars,

and as strong as the oak trees.

I destroyed their fruit above,

and their roots beneath.

It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,

and who led you through the desert for forty years,

to occupy the land of the Amorites.

 

Beware, I will crush you into the ground

as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.

Flight shall perish from the swift,

and the strong man shall not retain his strength;

The warrior shall not save his life,

nor the bowman stand his ground;

The swift of foot shall not escape,

nor the horseman save his life.

And the most stouthearted of warriors

shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  50:16bc-17, 18-19, 20-21, 22-23

 

R. (22a) Remember this, you who never think of God.

 

“Why do you recite my statutes,

and profess my covenant with your mouth,

Though you hate discipline

and cast my words behind you?”

R. Remember this, you who never think of God.

“When you see a thief, you keep pace with him,

and with adulterers you throw in your lot.

To your mouth you give free rein for evil,

you harness your tongue to deceit.”

R. Remember this, you who never think of God.

“You sit speaking against your brother;

against your mother’s son you spread rumors.

When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?

Or do you think that I am like yourself?

I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.”

R. Remember this, you who never think of God.

“Consider this, you who forget God,

lest I rend you and there be no one to rescue you.

He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;

and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

R. Remember this, you who never think of God.

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2:8 Ps 95:8       

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

If today you hear his voice,

harden not your hearts.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Mt 8:18-22

 

When Jesus saw a crowd around him,

he gave orders to cross to the other shore.

A scribe approached and said to him,

“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,

but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

Another of his disciples said to him,

“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”

But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,

and let the dead bury their dead.”

 

**********************************

Getting Ridiculous with Jesus

How well do you handle rejection? This Sunday's Gospel reading shows us how the disciples reacted to rejection. They had entered a Samaritan village ahead of Jesus, as he had asked them to do, to gather an audience. But because the Samaritans had an anti-Jewish prejudice, they didn't want to listen to Jesus. Their hearts were closed to anything he might want to say. And so they missed an opportunity to experience the Savior of the world.

 

How do you feel when close-hearted people reject your efforts to bring Jesus to them? What do you feel like doing when someone refuses to listen to you? Or when you try to explain a teaching of the Church but they don't even want to try to understand?

 

The disciples who traveled with Jesus didn't like rejection any more than we do. Two of his closest friends, James and John, thought they would do Jesus a favor by asking, "Do you want us to zap them with a lightning bolt?"

 

Jesus had previously told them to deal with rejection by wiping the dirt from their sandals and walking away. Now he lived what he preached by walking away these Samaritans. He didn't force his beliefs upon the villagers, even though they definitely needed the truths he could have taught them.

 

There's a lot we have to give up when we follow Jesus, including the grudges we like to hold and our desire to deal with rejection by retaliating. Why give others that kind of control over our moods? Wiping the dirt from our shoes means we get rid of the bad feelings that steal our joy.

 

At the end of this scripture, Jesus explains that following him is always a forward motion. We're always walking away from something -- away from rejection, away from our unloving reactions to prejudice, away from the close-heartedness of those who are as yet unteachable -- and moving into the loving embrace of Christ.

 

To move forward, remember that the Holy Spirit is the only one who can prepare a heart to receive Jesus. When we try to bring someone to Jesus and fail, we're not really failing; we're planting seeds rather than harvesting the crop. Let the Holy Spirit finish the work while you move on to other fields.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Eternal Father, Today I decide to leave my past in Your hands. I don't want to live looking backwards any more. Give me the grace to persevere faithfully, walking toward the goal You have for me today. Praised be to You, my Lord. Amen.

 

 

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!”