THE GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Monday - July 10, 2023

 

Monday - July 10, 2023

Lord, what wilt Thou have me do? Behold the true sign of a totally perfect soul: when one has reached the point of giving up his will so completely that he no longer seeks, expects or desires to do ought but that which God wills.

--St. Bernard

July 10, 2023

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 383

 

Reading I     

                                                                                                Gn 28:10-22a

 

Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran.

When he came upon a certain shrine, as the sun had already set,

he stopped there for the night.

Taking one of the stones at the shrine, he put it under his head

and lay down to sleep at that spot.

Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground,

with its top reaching to the heavens;

and God's messengers were going up and down on it.

And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying:

"I, the LORD, am the God of your forefather Abraham

and the God of Isaac;

the land on which you are lying

I will give to you and your descendants.

These shall be as plentiful as the dust of the earth,

and through them you shall spread out east and west, north and south.

In you and your descendants

all the nations of the earth shall find blessing.

Know that I am with you;

I will protect you wherever you go,

and bring you back to this land.

I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you."

 

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he exclaimed,

"Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!"

In solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine!

This is nothing else but an abode of God,

and that is the gateway to heaven!"

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone

that he had put under his head,

set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on top of it.

He called the site Bethel,

whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.

 

Jacob then made this vow: "If God remains with me,

to protect me on this journey I am making

and to give me enough bread to eat and clothing to wear,

and I come back safe to my father's house, the LORD shall be my God.

This stone that I have set up as a memorial stone shall be God's abode."

 

Responsorial Psalm                                                          Ps 91:1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab

 

R.(see 2b) In you, my God, I place my trust.

 

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

Say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust."

R. In you, my God, I place my trust.

 

For he will rescue you from the snare of the fowler,

from the destroying pestilence.

With his pinions he will cover you,

and under his wings you shall take refuge.

R. In you, my God, I place my trust.

 

Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;

I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in distress.

R. In you, my God, I place my trust.

 

Alleluia         

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death

and brought life to light through the Gospel.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 9:18-26

 

While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward,

knelt down before him, and said,

""My daughter has just died.

But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.""

Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples.

A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him

and touched the tassel on his cloak.

She said to herself, ""If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.""

Jesus turned around and saw her, and said,

""Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you.""

And from that hour the woman was cured.

 

When Jesus arrived at the official's house

and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion,

he said, ""Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.""

And they ridiculed him.

When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,

and the little girl arose.

And news of this spread throughout all that land.

 

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

Fighting the crowds to reach Jesus

In the two incidents that occur in our Gospel reading today, what was the greatest gift that Jesus provided: healing or resurrection?

 

Neither. It was love.

 

Duh! But that was a trick question, right? This scripture doesn’t mention love. Okay, but why did he heal people? Because he loved them! Not because they asked, not because they asked in the “right” way, not because they asked long enough and hard enough to convince him to give in to their supplications. Nor did they beg his mother to make him change his mind.

 

Jesus gives us miracles, too. He is very good to us! Remember what you prayed about last year? He’s still actively involved in that, even if you haven’t thought about it for awhile.

 

Do we pay attention to the love that comes from Jesus during our prayer requests? His love is obvious when our prayers are answered, but do we pay attention to the love that comes with unanswered prayer?

 

Imagine seeing Jesus through the eyes of the woman who was healed when she touched the tassel on his cloak. Was it his love or his clothing that healed her? How do we know it was love, since he didn’t even realize she was there until after the miracle? Perhaps the woman experienced something like the following:

 

“When Jesus told me, ‘Your faith has healed you,’ my heart leapt for joy. But something even more wonderful happened. Jesus gave me his personal attention! He stopped what he was doing to find me in the crowd and talk to me! Then he listened to me — he wanted to know what in me was being healed. He was concerned about me!”

 

No matter what we pray for, the greatest healing is to know — beyond all doubt — that Jesus is concerned about us. And he really is concerned about each of us, even when he doesn’t give us what we ask for, the way we want it, as quickly as we’d like it.

 

Miracles do happen: Jesus shocked my daughter’s pediatrician when she was six months old, answering our prayers with an instant cure that prevented the need for surgery to correct a stomach defect. But 16 years later he did not heal her from a twisting spine that required major surgery. Although we don’t understand why she had to endure so much pain, we do understand that Jesus cares.

 

To feel the embrace of his love, we have to work our way to the hem of his cloak: We have to make it past what we want, past the crowd of doubts in our head, past our low self-esteem that says we’re not worthy of his attention. We have to ignore the advice of people who tell us that our faith is stupid or too weak for miracles. We have to persist despite everything that gets in our way, not because it makes a difference to God but because of the difference it makes in us.

 

When we keep pushing toward Jesus, we overcome obstacles that hinder our faith. Then he says to us, “My beloved, your faith has saved you.”

 

Prayer

 

Thank you Jesus, because You walk among us, eager to work miracles and to show us Your great love. I praise and bless You for this love. Make my faith in You grow, even when situations seem lost or perhaps too late. May I accompany You in the marvelous mission of showing the world that You are alive and present in our lives. 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!”