GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Thursday - August 18, 2022

Thursday - August 18, 2022

He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully when he says even the very smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things. 

-- St. Louis de Montfort

August 18, 2022

THURSDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Lectionary: 422

 

Reading 1                                                     EZ 36:23-28

 

Thus says the LORD:

I will prove the holiness of my great name,

profaned among the nations,

in whose midst you have profaned it.

Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,

when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.

For I will take you away from among the nations,

gather you from all the foreign lands,

and bring you back to your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you

to cleanse you from all your impurities,

and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,

taking from your bodies your stony hearts

and giving you natural hearts.

I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,

careful to observe my decrees.

You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;

you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              PS 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

 

R.  (Ezekiel 36:25)  I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

 

A clean heart create for me, O God,

and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

Cast me not out from your presence,

and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,

and a willing spirit sustain in me.

I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners shall return to you.

R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;

should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;

a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

 

Alleluia                                                                      PS 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,

harden not your hearts.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       MT 22:1-14

 

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying,

“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king

who gave a wedding feast for his son.

He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,

but they refused to come.

A second time he sent other servants, saying,

‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,

my calves and fattened cattle are killed,

and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’

Some ignored the invitation and went away,

one to his farm, another to his business.

The rest laid hold of his servants,

mistreated them, and killed them.

The king was enraged and sent his troops,

destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,

but those who were invited were not worthy to come.

Go out, therefore, into the main roads

and invite to the feast whomever you find.’

The servants went out into the streets

and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,

and the hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to meet the guests

he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.

He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it

that you came in here without a wedding garment?’

But he was reduced to silence.

Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,

and cast him into the darkness outside,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

 

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Living in the Land of Holiness

What this world needs now, to deliver it from so much evil happening in so many different ways, is a stronger, holier Christian body of believers. In today's first reading, God speaks to us with assurances that, because of our desire to love him and follow him, we will grow in holiness. No doubt about it!

 

Are you holy now? Yes! When you were baptized, your sinful nature died and you received life in the HOLY Spirit. The problem is, we don't always act according to our true nature. We reject our own goodness and thus we sin -- or said more accurately, we reject the Holy Spirit within us.

 

If we accept the invitation of Jesus to join the great wedding banquet, like he explains in today's Gospel reading, our heavenly King graces us with a feast of his goodness. And our Queen Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who lived her entire life in the fullness of grace, adds her prayers to ours and shares with us her gift of grace.

 

This is how God proves his holiness to the world. He proves it, as Ezekiel prophesied, through us and our ever-increasing holiness. What sins are currently controlling you? God can help you overcome them! Read Ezekiel's words as a promise from God to you personally:

 

"I will take you away from that world of sinfulness, because it's foreign to your true nature, and I will bring you back into my kingdom, your real home.

 

"I will sprinkle purity (clean water) upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities. I will cleanse you from the muck of your idols, from everything that you hold dearer than your true God.

 

"I will remove your stony heart and give you a new heart -- the Sacred Heart of my Son -- and place within you a new spirit -- my Holy Spirit. This Spirit will empower you to live by my statutes and decrees.

 

"You shall live in the land of holiness -- my kingdom -- which I gave to your ancestors, the saints who went before you.

 

"You shall be my child, and I will be your God. Indeed, this is already so, because you desire it! All I ever needed from you was your permission to lead you, to change you, and to embrace you. Thank you for giving this to Me in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in the penance rites of Mass, and in your everyday love for Me."

 

Today's Prayer

 

Good Father, grant me the grace to be obedient to your will and to approach each mission filled with love and courage. 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!”