Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection August 19, 2024
Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
19th August 2024 (Monday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Ezekiel 24:15-24
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?” Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God.’
Psalm Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21 (R. see 18b)
R/. You forgot the God who gave you birth.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : Matthew 19:16-22
At that time: A man came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Monday – Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: To belong to God, to be the people of God, to be a disciple of the Lord is not a one-time business, nor a matter of a long tradition. There can be no halfway, but it is to be radical in perfection
1. The question of the young man in the gospel at the outset looks very appreciable: “What good must I do to gain eternal life?” But a little deep attention reveals its lack of depth. He seems to think that it is something that he can gain and acquire by his own efforts. He thinks that it is a matter of doing and his own doing.
2. In sum, he thinks of eternal life as something which he can take hold of due to his doing some good actions, particularly the observance of the commandments. In fact, he is already doing enough and more, especially in a world where following the commandments is itself a very big thing.
3. But Jesus’ ideal is more than mere enough. He tries to raise the attention of the young man to the level of the most, the best, the maximum, the perfection. That is why, Jesus throws the challenge to the young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go and sell everything, and then come and follow me”.
4. Thereby, the mind of Jesus is very clear: a true disciple of Christ should soar for the highest, for the radical, for a total detachment and dispossession, and a stable, unceasing following of him. Let one not argue unnecessarily that it is not fair and reasonable to give up everything, that Jesus’ demand is very unrealistic. We should rather understand the spirit behind it.
5. Real perfection has no room for minimums, but full and total. It is not enough to observe some rules, not enough to do some good once a while, not enough to listen to God and follow him once a while as a “guest-disciple”.
6. But it needs a total surrender and commitment, always and everywhere. Many today are like the young rich man in the gospel; they want to be perfect but are not ready to let go of themselves and let Jesus in and follow him constantly.
Practice: Let us not cling to temporary riches and shallow pleasures, and thus lose touch with Jesus and fail to follow him. It would be an irreplaceable loss!
