Daily Readings July 28, 2012

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July 28, 2012
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Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 400

Reading 1 Jer 7:1-11

The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah received a message from God.

Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD,
and there proclaim this message:
Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah
who enter these gates to worship the LORD!

Stand at the Temple door  in Jerusalem where Judaeans come to worship God, that they may hear you when the enter. And tell them:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
Reform your ways and your deeds,
so that I may remain with you in this place.

Repent!  And amend your ways!  So that I, the Lord, may stay with you in this Temple!

Put not your trust in the deceitful words:

Do not trust those who would deceive you.

"This is the temple of the LORD!
The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"

This is God's house, God's dwelling.

Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds;
if each of you deals justly with his neighbor;
if you no longer oppress the resident alien,
the orphan, and the widow;

Only if you will begin to love your neighbor by doing good to them.

if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place,

And no longer murdering them.

or follow strange gods to your own harm,

And no longer worship idols.

will I remain with you in this place,
in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever.

Only if you begin to do good will I the Lord remain with you in this land of milk and honey which I gave your forefathers, long ago.

But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!
Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,
burn incense to Baal,
go after strange gods that you know not,
and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, 

But you have listened to deceitful words and broken every Commandment I gave you.  And yet you come to this place and stand before me in my own house.

and say:
"We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again?"

We have offered up our sacrifice, confessed our sins to the priest, now, we can start all over again.

I need to stop right here and explain to Catholics.  It is a common perception in Protestant communities, that Catholics go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to confess their sins and then turn around and commit them all over again.

If this is true, the Catholic who does this does not understand the Catholic Faith.  God is not toyed with.  We must go to Confession having resolved not to commit the same sins again.

Has this house which bears my name
become in your eyes a den of thieves?
I too see what is being done, says the LORD.

God is not toyed with.  As the Scripture says:

Hebrews 10:31

King James Version (KJV)

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

People who do not believe and yet are Baptized, should remember:

Mark 16:16

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And those who do not believe and yet consume the Eucharist, should remember:

1 Corinthians 11:29

King James Version (KJV)

²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

It is the same with every Sacrament.  Every Sacrament is a Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  And anyone being thus baptized without believing, condemns himself.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a And 8a, 11

Response. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young?
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Although we have many beautiful houses of God, many beautiful Church buildings.  This Psalm is extolling the beauty of heaven.  As Scripture says elsewhere:

1 Corinthians 2:9

King James Version (KJV)

⁹ But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Gospel Mt 13:24-30

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.

Jesus spoke in parables to the people, but explained His parables to the Apostles so that they could in turn, explain them to the people.  In this way, Jesus was establishing the authority of the Church to teach His Commands (Matt 28:19-20).

"The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.

The man is Jesus.  The seed is the Gospel, the Word of God.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

The enemy is Satan.  He sows seed which produces weeds. He takes God's word and twists it and perverts the good to evil.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The crops are the people who have received the Word of God and the fruits are the good deeds practiced by those who have received the Word of God.

The weeds are the people who have received the word of the enemy and begun to also produce their bad fruit, their sins.  Murder, lie, steal, adultery, idolatry, etc.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

The slaves are the angels of the Lord.

'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

The angels ask, "do you want us to go and destroy the sinners?"

He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.

The Master says, "no, because you might then hurt the righteous as well.  That takes me back to Abraham, negotiating with God:

Genesis 18:23

King James Version (KJV)

²³ And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
'First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.'"


This is interesting also because it inverts that which the Protestants believe.  They think the good will be whisked away in the so called, "Rapture".  But it is here revealed, as elsewhere, that it is the evil who will be taken first, and then the good will be gathered into heaven.  As St. Paul also reveals:

1 Thessalonians 4:17

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.


Sincerely,


De Maria