As God is loving and forgiving, so may we be.

Welcome to my blog.

You will find here the daily readings from the Bible, chosen for us by the Catholic Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If we set aside a regular time each day to read, meditate and pray over the readings, we will receive the fruits of peace and joy. The Holy Spirit who inspired the passage in the first place, will inspire you too as you read in faith.

A prayerful reflection is given. I hope you may find it helpful.

 

Sunday 19 July 2020

As God is loving and forgiving, so may we be.

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Ps 53: 6, 8

See, I have God for my help.

The Lord sustains my soul.

I will sacrifice to you with willing heart,

and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.

 

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Prayer

Father in heaven, give us your Holy Spirit

so that on fire with faith, hope and love

we may always keep your commandments.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

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First reading

Wisdom 12:13,16-19 ·

You will grant repentance after sin

There is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing,

to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly;

Your justice has its source in strength,

your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.

You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned

and you expose the insolence of those who know it;

but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement,

you govern us with great lenience,

for you have only to will, and your power is there.

By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people

how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men,

and you have given your sons the good hope

that after sin you will grant repentance.

THE WORD OF THE LORD.

 

 

Prayerful reflection men

There is no other god. Men may worship any number of gods but they are naught. No more that a name, that they give. The whole universe including all the human race is not more than a speck of dust on the scales, before the God  who created it out of nothing. The modern gods of wealth, power, fame and pleasure are also useless to give us salvation.

In his mighty power God can do all things and no one can resist him. He is supreme.

 

He knows of what we human beings are made. He knows that we are but dust, a breath that passes and is gone. He sweeps us away like a dream. But he loves us intensely and wants to give us eternal life, as he has himself. And so, in his love for us, he is infinitely patient with our failings, even with our rebellion. When we rebel against God, we are no more than little ants who raise their fists against us. What can we do? What can any creature do? Satan, the self-chosen enemy of God, is nothing before him. Satan is such a creature that his mind is fixed. He will never repent. But we in this world can repent and come back to God.

 

God is patient with us all so that we might come ack to him in repentance and love and receive his blessing of eternal life.

 

As he is, so he wants his children to be. Jesus in the Lord’s prayer will reinforce this: forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

 

Do you try to be like God in your thoughts and actions?

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Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 85(86):5-6,9-10,15-16

O Lord, you are good and forgiving.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving,

full of love to all who call.

Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer

and attend to the sound of my voice.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving.

All the nations shall come to adore you

and glorify your name, O Lord:

for you are great and do marvellous deeds,

you who alone are God.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving.

But you, God of mercy and compassion,

slow to anger, O Lord,

abounding in love and truth,

turn and take pity on me.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving.

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Second reading

Romans 8:26-27 ·

The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words

The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God. THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

 

The fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit of God are the greatest gifts God can give us. He desires to fill each human being with his Spirit who is God, the only God.

We need to receive the Spirit each day. Our first thought should be an invitation to him to come and be with us in a holy communion. If the Spirit of God is in us, he will lead us in every way. When we turn to God our Father and come to Jesus, his only Son, the Spirit will teach us how to pray. Surrender to the Spirit is the secret of a happy life. Though ever ready to be in us and with us, few seem to have the union with him which the Church wishes us in every Holy Mass.

Do you invite the Spirit into your life every morning as you wake? Do you have communion with him throughout the day?

.Ep1:17,18

Alleluia, alleluia!

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our mind,

so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.

Alleluia!

 

 

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Gospel

Matthew 13:24-43

Let them both grow till the harvest

Jesus put another parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”’

He put another parable before them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’

He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’

In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:

I will speak to you in parables

and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.’ He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

 

Prayerful reflection

The key to understanding what Jesus is saying is to realise that darnel looks exactly like wheat while it grows. It is very difficult to tell the difference and furthermore being so close to the wheat, roots get entwined. Pull up the darnel and you will also very often pull up the wheat. So the owner of the field in his wisdom allows them to grow together till harvest and then it is easy to separate the two.

And so it is with human beings. We don’t really know who are saints and who are sinners. Further more since human beings are not wheat nor darnel, the parable, like any other example, does not perfectly fit. Darnel cannot change its nature, whereas we can change our attitudes. While breath is still in us, there is hope that we will respond to God’s loving invitation. And so, God is patient with us sinners and gives encouragement to give up sin and be reconciled. Then all is forgiven and forgotten and we can live forever in the glory of God.

 

Do you welcome God’s overtures that come from Jesus? Sin is a dead end, but Life is there for all you accept it. We live now. Yesterday has gone, tomorrow we hope will come.

 

Rv 3: 20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, says the Lord.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door to me,

I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.

 

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Father in your love for us, open our eyes

that we may realise that you are present

with us always. As a loving Father you

fill us with your gifts each moment.

May we leave the realm of dark sin

and come into the light of your love.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Christ Jesus our Lord.

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