Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection July 27, 2024
Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
27th July 2024 (Saturday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Jeremiah 7:1-11
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever. “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11 (R. 2)
R/. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : Matthew 13:24-30
At that time: Jesus put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Saturday – Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: Good and evil co-exist. Good seems to lose its ground while evil seems to dominate and defeat. But the ultimate victory is good’s
1. The parable of the good seeds and weeds in the gospel is not just a moral story with some lesson. It is a perennial and existential reality of human life. There is good and evil everywhere and every time. There is constant tension, struggle, and conflict between the two. Evil always tries to suppress the growth of the good. Weeds try to overpower the good seeds and choke their flourishing.
2. Unfortunately, in spite of all progress and education, evil is prevalent and aggressive. And its growth is often very subtle and in disguised forms. Just as the weeds are planted by the enemy while all are asleep, so too the evil slowly but steadily spreads often unnoticed. Very often, evil is presented in the garbs of modernity, change, and fashion. Sin is equated with fun. Pleasure is taken as self-fulfillment. Aberrations are okayed as doing differently. Selfishness is justified as self-promotion.
3. In such a context, certainly, we wish that God must intervene and should eliminate all weeds sooner the possible. A world that is on a fast track and is accustomed to fast food and quick results, seeks also instant action and justice.
4. But there is no use of simply lamenting and criticizing about the uncontrolled reign of evil? There is no use in blaming God that He is not acting; that He is noncommittal about the eradication of evil. We need to understand that God’s outlook and way of acting are different. He is patient.
5. He continuously offers possibilities and opportunities for clearing the weeds in life, both individually and collectively. Personally, he waits patiently so that we become self-responsible and weed out the wrong and the negative and cultivate the good grain.
6. God cautions us not to trust deceptive words and worldly assurances. He urges us to put a stop to our evil-doings. We must stop our worship of false gods like money, sex, pleasure, and power. We must give up our ways of injustice, manipulation, and violence. We must stop turning our house of life and society into a “den of robbers”.
7. Instead, let us truly amend our ways and deeds. Let us feel personally responsible and be committed to this kind of renewal? Let us question and see how much are we are sincere and humble to see the evil in our own hearts and lives? How much do we feel concerned to eradicate evil from us?
Practice: Let us not apply to God our human logic and terms of justice. Let us not be intolerant toward injustice in the world or in others but indulgent toward our own injustice and unfairness
