Sunday
July 20^th

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Apollinaris

1^st Reading: Gen 18:1-10a:
Yahweh appeared to Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, in the heat of the day, when he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them. He bowed to the ground and said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought. Wash your feet and then rest under the trees. I shall fetch some bread so that you can be refreshed and continue on your way, since you have come to your servant.”

They then said, “Do as you say.”

Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said to her, “Quick, take three measures of flour, knead it and make cakes.” Abraham then ran to the herd, took a fine, tender calf, gave it to the servant who hurried to prepare it. He took butter and milk and together with the calf he had prepared laid it all before them. And while he remained standing, they ate.

They then asked, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

Abraham answered, “She is in the tent.”

And the visitor said, “At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”

2^nd Reading: Col 1:24-28:
At present, I rejoice when I suffer for you; I complete, in my own flesh, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church. For I am serving the church since God entrusted to me the ministry to make the word of God fully known. I mean that mysterious plan that, for centuries and generations, remained secret, and which God has now revealed to his holy ones.

God willed to make known to them the riches, and even the glory, that his mysterious plan reserved for the pagan nations: Christ is in you, the hope for glory. This Christ, we preach. We warn, and teach everyone true wisdom, aiming to make everyone perfect, in Christ.

Gospel: Lk 10:38-42:
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to his words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”

But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Reflection:
There are two basic ways of helping people, and each is illustrated somehow in today’s first and third reading. The first way of helping people is by actively doing things for them. This way is magnificently illustrated in the lavish hospitality with which Abraham welcomes his three unexpected guest (who later will prove to be God and two angels) as also by the industrious care with which Martha welcomes Jesus in her house at Bethany. In a lot of cases this way of helping people, namely, by active service, by doing things for them, is assuredly the best kind of help we can provide.

But there is another way of helping people which is just as beneficial–perhaps even more beneficial in some cases–and which consists in simply listening. Because many people are lonely, lost, desolate, depressed, what they need is a shoulder to cry on, a friendly ear to talk to. They do not need our services. They need our loving attention, our uninterrupted listening, our sympathetic presence. Nothing more.

Unfortunately, few people understand this. Yet, listening to a person in distress with all your heart is sometimes the greatest act of love you can perform. Let us ask for a listening heart. Today let us make it a point to listen to people who are lonely, lost, desolate, depressed.

Monday
July 21^st

Lawrence of Brindisi

1^st Reading: Ex 14:5-18:
When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. They exclaimed, “What have we done! Why, we have released Israel from our service!”

So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers—six hundred first-class chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all. So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh that he pursued the children of Israel even while they were marching away in triumph.

The Egyptians, then, pursued them; Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers, caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea, at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great fright they cried out to the LORD.

And they complained to Moses, “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,’ Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”

But Moses answered the people, “Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today. These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.

“But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers.”

Gospel: Mt 12:38-42:
Then, some teachers of the law and some Pharisees spoke up, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

Jesus answered them, “An evil and unfaithful people want a sign; but no sign will be given, them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. In the same way, as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

“At the judgment, the people of Nineveh will rise with this generation, and condemn it; because they reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah, and here, there is greater than Jonah.

“At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon.”

Reflection:
“Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up, ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want to see you perform a miracle.’”

To believe in Jesus only for the sake of the miracles is to reduce the word and will of God to some kind of magic act. Then like the Pharisees, we miss the meaning of the Word of Life completely.

Tuesday
July 22nd

Mary Magdalene

1^st Reading: Song 3:1-4b (or 2 Cor 5:14-17):
On my bed at night I looked for the one I love, I sought him without finding him; I called him and he did not answer. I will rise and go about the city, through the streets and the squares; I will seek the love of my heart… I sought him without finding him; the watchmen came upon me, those who patrol the city. “Have you seen the love of my heart?” As soon as I left them, I found the love of my heart.

Gospel: Jn 20:1-2, 11-18:
Now, on the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark, and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away. She ran to Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have laid him.”

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb; and as she wept, she bent down to look inside. She saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord and I don’t know where they have put him.” As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

She thought it was the gardener and answered him, “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and take him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned, and said to him, “Rabboni!”—which means Master.

Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.”

So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me.”

Reflection:
Perhaps no other woman in history has been more maligned and unjustly vilified than Mary Magdalene. (Incidentally, Magdalene means “from Magdalas,” a town situated on the Western shore of the Sea of Galilee).

For various reasons (v.g. there are six Marys mentioned in the New Testament), she was wrongly identified with the nameless, “sinful” woman, who anointed the feet of Jesus (cf. Lk 7:36-50). Thus Mary Magdalene was for centuries thought to have been a reformed prostitute. This error was first spread by Gregory the Great in the 16th century—a typical example of male chauvinism—and was finally corrected only by the Roman Calendar of 1969, where she is no longer called a “penitent.”

Since then at least seven highly scholarly works by female exegetes have set the record straight once and for all. Male chauvinism is slowly being eroded in the West (it is still rampant in many cultures and religions in the East) but remains an ugly blot on humankind.

We should all examine our thinking and our behavior in this respect—women as well as men, for some women “introject” that prejudice and accept it unconsciously. Let us look at Jesus’ unconditional acceptance of women disciples. He made of Mary Magdalene, in the words of the Byzantine liturgy, “apostle to the apostle.”

Wednesday
July 23^rd

Bridget of Sweden

1^st Reading: Ex 16:1-5, 9-15:
The children of Israel set out from Elim, and came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.

Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The children of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.”

When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud!

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God.”

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, “What is this?” for they did not know what it was.

But Moses told them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”

Gospel: Mt 13:1-9:
That same day, Jesus left the house and sat down by the lakeside. Many people gathered around him. So he got into a boat, and sat down, while the crowds stood on the shore; and he spoke to them in parables about many things.

Jesus said, “The sower went out to sow; and, as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path; and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil, and the seeds sprouted quickly, because the soil was not deep.

“But as soon as the sun rose, the plants were scorched; and they withered, because they had no roots. Again, other seeds fell among thistles; and the thistles grew and choked the plants. Still, other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop: some a hundredfold, others sixty, and others thirty. If you have ears, then hear!”

Reflection:
A number of elements in the parable may be an excellent focus for reflection, namely: sower, the seed, the ground, the act of sowing itself, the receiving of the seeds, and the meeting of the seeds and the ground. All, being important, make possible the meeting or the encounter. At any stage, or circumstance—might be people or events—in our life, an encounter with Jesus becomes a defining moment. It may or may not be transforming, depending on our response.

But it is something we can take advantage of. An encounter with Jesus can make us whole again, bringing together our “scattered pieces.” As fruits of the encounter, we are re-grounded in the truth and meaningfulness of life; we are able to re-orient ourselves toward the good, the truth, and that which is meaningful. Let us, therefore, pray that we truly encounter Jesus, even just once in our lifetime, because it will radically change us and our life, and allow us to see things in a new light.

Thursday
July 24^th

Sharbel Makhlúf

1^st Reading: Ex 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b:
In the third month after their departure from the land of Egypt, on its first day, the children of Israel came to the desert of Sinai. After the journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai, they pitched camp. While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain, the LORD told Moses, “I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also.”

When Moses, then, had reported to the LORD the response of the people, the LORD added, “Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.”

On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the LORD came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him with thunder. When the LORD came down to the top of Mount Sinai, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain.

Gospel: Mt 13:10-17:
Then his disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has will be given more; and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has. That is why I speak to them in parables; because they look and do not see; they hear; but they do not listen or understand.

“In them, the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled: However much you hear, you do not understand; however much you see, you do not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back, and I would heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you, many prophets and righteous people have longed to see the things you see, but they did not see them; and to hear them.

Reflection:
In today’s gospel reading we hear Jesus say something somewhat shocking because it seems to approve unfair treatment of people. This is what Jesus says: “For the one who has will be given more; and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived even of what he has.“

How can we explain this saying of Jesus? First, the verbs “will be given… will be deprived” are in the passive voice. And this is a commonly used biblical device to refer to God without naming him out of respect because, at time of Jesus, it was considered disrespectful to refer to God directly by name.

Second, we are talking here of inner dispositions of openness to God’s revelation, however mysterious it may be. If you are willing to accept whatever God will reveal about himself and about his designs on you, he will give you further understanding. If you are not generously open to whatever God wants to reveal to you, then he will take away the little understanding you have and leave you to your own devices—because God totally respects our human freedom. It is all a matter of generosity.

Friday
July 25^th

James

1^st Reading: 2 Cor 4:7-15:
Brothers and sisters:
We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.

For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we too believe and therefore speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence.

Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.

Gospel: Mt 20:20-28:
Then the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down, to ask a favor. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?”

And she answered, “Here, you have my two sons. Grant, that they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?”

They answered, “We can.”

Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink my cup; but to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those, for whom my Father has prepared it.”

The other ten heard all this, and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to him and said, “You know, that the rulers of nations behave like tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you: whoever wants to be great in your community, let him minister to the community.

“And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man, who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to redeem many.”

Reflection:
Jesus sets the criteria for greatness, that is service. It is not power or the position one assumes. He laid this down as distinctive feature of how things run in the kingdom.

In the community of disciples, human affairs are not to proceed through ambition and power, but service as the principle that should characterize the community, particularly those who hold leadership position(s). A stark contrast is made clear, and Jesus modeled the manner by which the disciples/we are to conduct themselves/ourselves.

Service, as motivated by love, addresses and fills a need. It seeks and is directed toward the good of the other. It is a going out of oneself because it sees a need outside of himself/ herself. Whereas ambition’s and power’s primary objective is self-interest.

Because they are directed toward self-benefit, ambition and power corrupts the human person. Their oppressive exercise manipulates, abuse and destroy. And their end result is the disintegration of Earth-human relationship and community.

Saturday
July 26th

Anne and Joachim

1^st Reading: Ex 24:3-8:
When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the Lord, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has told us.” Moses then wrote down all the words of the Lord and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Then, having sent certain young men of the children of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar.

Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, “All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do.” Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.”

Gospel: Mt 13:24-30:
Jesus told the people another parable, “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man, who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came, and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared.

“Then, the servants of the owner came, and said to him, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’

“He answered them, ‘This is the work of an enemy.’

They asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’

He told them, ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let them grow together, until harvest; and, at harvest time, I will say to the workers: Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Reflection:
Evil is in opposition to God. Its primary intent is to destroy the good that God has made: everything that bears God’s love, anything that expresses his goodness.

Jesus recognizes and identifies the existence of evil in the world and its capacity to wield destructive power within the created order. He is aware of its power to inflict suffering and pain. The evil one is out there simply to destroy God’s beautiful creation, humans and nonhumans alike; and his main agent of destruction is humanity itself.

Just as we can be instruments of God’s goodness, so too can we become means of unleashing this evil power. The evil one’s focus of ruination is “relationships.”

Relationship is a basic element within creation. Human society, family, friendship collapse, when relationship breaks down. The environment, the natural world, decline, when human relationship with them is characterized by alienation. What are the forms and manner that the evil one uses to ruin relationships?