The purifying fire of God

Welcome to my blog.

The Catholic Church provides each day with God’s Word. If we put aside time each to read, meditate and pray over his Word we will come to know the truth and grow in love.

Here in my blog, you will find the readings from Bible chosen for us by the Church. The New Testament was written by members of the Church. It was the Catholic Church, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which decided which books were inspired and which not. We should read the Scripture listening to the Spirit, who inspired those who first wrote these words. May he speak to you too.

Wednesday 1 July 2020

The purifying fire of God

Ps 46: 2

All peoples, clap your hands.

Cry to God with shouts of joy!

Prayer

Father in heaven, in Baptism you recreated us

in Jesus as your children and we became

children of light in a world of darkness.

Grant that we may never go back to the darkness

of unbelief and error, but remain for ever in the light of your truth.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Christ Jesus, our Lord.

First reading

Amos 5:14-15, 21-24

Away with your noisy songs! Let justice surge like an unfailing stream.

Seek good and not evil,

that you may live;

Then truly will the Lord, the God of hosts,

be with you as you claim!

Hate evil and love good,

and let justice prevail at the gate;

Then it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will have pity on the remnant of Joseph.

I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the Lord,

I take no pleasure in your solemnities;

Your cereal offerings I will not accept,

nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.

Away with your noisy songs!

I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.

But if you would offer me burnt offerings,

then let justice surge like water,

and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Prayerful reflection

The prophet is telling us that our life is to be our basic prayer. Our prayer comes from the fullness of our heart. Our words and actions are the overflow from our heart. We must have a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:35). We must have the Spirit of God in us (Ezekiel 36:36). Then only will our life change (Galatians 5:22). Then only will we love justice and reach out to others in love. It is not a matter of new actions and new prayers. It is a matter of being a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). If you have the Spirit of God in your heart, then you will think, speak and act as if God was present. He is, through you. Like fire bringing warmth on a cold night, so you will be a source of joy and peace.

Do you pray earnestly each day for the Holy Spirit?

 Psalm

Psalm 50:7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16bc-17

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Hear, my people, and I will speak;

Israel, I will testify against you;

God, your God, am I.”

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,

for your burnt offerings are before me always.

I take from your house no bullock,

no goats out of your fold.”

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“For mine are all the animals of the forests,

beasts by the thousand on my mountains.

I know all the birds of the air,

and whatever stirs in the plains, belongs to me.”

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“If I were hungry, I should not tell you,

for mine are the world and its fullness.

Do I eat the flesh of strong bulls,

or is the blood of goats my drink?”

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Why do you recite my statutes,

and profess my covenant with your mouth,

Though you hate discipline

and cast my words behind you?”

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

James 1:18

Alleluia, alleluia.

The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth

that we may be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Alleluia, alleluia.

____________________

Gospel

Matthew 8:28-34

Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?

When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And he said to them, “Go then!” They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town, they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their district.

Prayerful reflection

Matthew is writing many years after the event, may be fifty. He is not writing a literal account of what happened. He is writing through the eyes of what he knew about Jesus, at the time of writing. He now knows that the man who walked the roads of Galilee was God himself in human form. This colours the way he writes his Gospel and the events he describes. He is writing to nourish our faith.

There are two savage people, not just one as in Mark. They are possessed by evil spirits so that no person could pass that way. Jesus comes, but he is no ordinary human person. Before God, the evil spirits are timid cowardly creatures. They need to plead and beg. Jesus only needs to speak a word, “Go”. They flee, unable to bear the presence of God. The men are naturally healed.

The men of the place could also not bear the presence of God in their midst. He is a purifying fire. They beg him to leave. Can you bear to have God really enter your life?

If we ask him earnestly, he will come, but then we need to take the consequences.

Cf. Ps 102: 1

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all within me, his holy name.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, may our Baptism in which we offered our lives to you,

fill us with life so that we may always be bound to you

in everlasting love.

We make our prayer of you who

live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit

one God for ever and ever.