THE GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Saturday - July 23, 2022

Saturday - July 23, 2022

Never address your words to God 

while you are thinking of something else.

 

-- St. Teresa of Avila

July 23, 2022

Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 400

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Jer 7:1-11

 

The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD,

and there proclaim this message:

Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah

who enter these gates to worship the LORD!

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

Reform your ways and your deeds,

so that I may remain with you in this place.

Put not your trust in the deceitful words:

"This is the temple of the LORD!

The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"

Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds;

if each of you deals justly with his neighbor;

if you no longer oppress the resident alien,

the orphan, and the widow;

if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place,

or follow strange gods to your own harm,

will I remain with you in this place,

in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever.

 

But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!

Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,

burn incense to Baal,

go after strange gods that you know not,

and yet come to stand before me

in this house which bears my name, and say:

"We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again"?

Has this house which bears my name

become in your eyes a den of thieves?

I too see what is being done, says the LORD.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11

 

R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

My soul yearns and pines

for the courts of the LORD.

My heart and my flesh

cry out for the living God.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest

in which she puts her young—

Your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my king and my God!

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Blessed they who dwell in your house!

continually they praise you.

Blessed the men whose strength you are!

They go from strength to strength.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

I had rather one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere;

I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2: Jas 1:21bc8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you

and is able to save your souls.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Mt 13:24-30

 

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.

"The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man

who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?'

He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'

His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds

you might uproot the wheat along with them.

Let them grow together until harvest;

then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,

"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;

but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

 

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WHY ARE WE IN CONSTANT BATTLE?

As I read the Gospel passage for this Saturday, the first word that comes to my mind is “battle.” We are in a constant battle so that the good seed will bear fruit and that it will not be smothered by weeds. But it is not possible to pull the latter up completely, because we run the risk of ripping out the wheat too. What a challenge!

 

In this beautiful world that God the Father has given us, two realities coexist: good and evil. The good is “sown” by the Father and the evil is “sown” by the enemy during the night, when nobody notices it. And the first thing we want to do when observing our world is to get rid of evil.

 

It’s good what the workers propose to the owner of the field about the weeds: “Do you want us to go pull them up?” They are worried about the produce; they do not want it to be lost. But their master knows the risks of acting hastily, so he stops them and alerts them: “Beware! You can take away the very harvest.” Therefore, like our Heavenly Father, we must have patience and mercy — patience and mercy with others and with ourselves.

 

If we look at our world today and focus on the situations that worry us, on the different issues that take away our peace — that is, on the weeds — we stop looking at the good that is germinating, growing and strengthening. There is a good harvest, because the Lord has sown good seed! The Lord has never failed to sow good seed. God knows his people and has faith in his children. God has hope in his children. He knows what seed he has sown and knows with what blood the earth has been watered!

 

Let the Life of Christ grow and be strengthened in you. Let’s give time for the Holy Spirit to work in each one of us and in the Church as a whole, and let’s dedicate ourselves to collaborate with him in “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Let us leave the time of harvest to God; let us leave to God the time of judgment. His timing is perfect.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord Jesus, I need a personal encounter with You. My life is not full if I haven't experienced the immense Love You have for me. Fill my life in such a way that I may not refuse to proclaim Your Name. 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!”