Circumcise your heart

Welcome to my blog and peace be with you.

You will find here the daily readings from the Bible selected for us by the Catholic Church. If we follow them daily, we will go through the whole Bible in the course of time.

Each day we will get our spiritual nourishment. After the readings I give my reflection heard in prayer. As you prayerfully read the Word of God, he will speak to you too.

Your comments and insights are very welcome.

 

Tuesday 4 August 2020

Circumcise your heart 

 Lk 4: 18

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me

and sent me to preach the good news to the poor,

to heal the broken-hearted.

 

.

 

____________________

 

Prayer

Almighty and merciful God,

who made the Priest Saint John Vianney

wonderful in his pastoral zeal,

grant, we pray,

that through his intercession and example

we may in charity win brothers and sisters for Christ

and attain with them eternal glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

 

 

____________________

 

First reading

Jeremiah 30:1-2,12-15,18-22

Your wound is incurable but I will heal you

The word addressed to Jeremiah by the Lord: the Lord, the God of Israel says this: Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.

Yes, the Lord says this:

Your wound is incurable,

your injury past healing.

There is no one to care for your sore,

no medicine to make you well again.

All your lovers have forgotten you,

they look for you no more.

Yes, I have struck you as an enemy strikes,

with harsh punishment

so great is your guilt, so many your sins.

Why bother to complain about your wound?

Your pain is incurable.

So great is your guilt, so many your sins,

that I have done all this to you.

The Lord says this:

Now I will restore the tents of Jacob,

and take pity on his dwellings:

the city shall be rebuilt on its ruins,

the citadel restored on its site.

From them will come thanksgiving

and shouts of joy.

I will make them increase, and not diminish them,

make them honoured, and not disdained.

Their sons shall be as once they were,

their community fixed firm in my presence,

and I will punish all their oppressors.

Their prince will be one of their own,

their ruler come from their own people.

I will let him come freely into my presence and he can come close to me;

who else, indeed, would risk his life

by coming close to me? – it is the Lord who speaks.

And you shall be my people and I will be your God.

THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

Jeremiah wrote this about the Israelite people, but it applies to us sinners too. The habit of sin is the incurable sickness. Once fallen into the habit of sin or any kind of evil habit, there is no cure. We may try to be rid of sin, but it is beyond us. Again, and again, the sinner falls. He may confess his sin, but it is always the same.

The cure for sin comes from the Lord. Acknowledging our sinfulness, returning to the Lord immediately with true repentance in the Sacrament of Confession, avoiding rigorously the occasions of sin, and constant prayer daily enable God to heal us of this incurable disease which otherwise will lead us to the eternity of hell. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Heaven is full of repentant sinners while hell is full of unrepentant sinners.

 

Sin should be avoided like the worst of sicknesses but the result is worse than the worst disease.

 

Fortunately we are not alone in our struggle. Jesus has given us a Mother who cares night and day for her sick children. True devotion to Mary will bring about the cure we so long for.

Do you have a deep love and devotion to her?

 

 

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 101(102):16-21,29,22-23

The Lord shall build up Zion again and appear in all his glory.

The nations shall fear the name of the Lord

and all the earth’s kings your glory,

when the Lord shall build up Zion again

and appear in all his glory.

Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;

he will not despise their prayers.

The Lord shall build up Zion again and appear in all his glory

Let this be written for ages to come

that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;

for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.

He looked down from heaven to the earth

that he might hear the groans of the prisoners

and free those condemned to die.

The Lord shall build up Zion again and appear in all his glory

The sons of your servants shall dwell untroubled

and their race shall endure before you

that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Zion

and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem,

when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together

to pay their homage to the Lord.

The Lord shall build up Zion again and appear in all his glory

____________________

 

Jn8:12

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;

anyone who follows me will have the light of life.

Alleluia!

 

 

____________________

 

Gospel

Matthew 15:1-2,10-14

Any plant my Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots

Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus and said, ‘Why do your disciples break away from the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat food.’ He called the people to him and said, ‘Listen, and understand. What goes into the mouth does not make a man unclean; it is what comes out of the mouth that makes him unclean.’

Then the disciples came to him and said, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were shocked when they heard what you said?’ He replied, ‘Any plant my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them alone. They are blind men leading blind men; and if one blind man leads another, both will fall into a pit.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

Though the teaching of the prophets called for the circumcision of the heart and not just of the body, in practice the religion of many of the pharisees was an external keeping of rules and regulations. They had many such rules about food and ritual cleanliness. Jesus tells us today that it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean. We live in a sinful world among sinful people. Like Jesus himself who lived with all kind of sinners, yet had a heart  completely dedicated to his Father, so we are to keep our hearts pure from sin – sins  of the flesh and indulgence, and sins of pride which gives a false superiority over others. Like the pharisees we too can easily fall into an external form of religion – simply going to church, saying empty prayers, and following the externals of our traditions. It is our relationship with Jesus which is the touchstone. How close are you to him? Do you have a personal relationship with him? Is he a real person for you?

 

 

Mt 28: 20

Behold, I am with you always,

even to the end of the age, says the Lord.

 

 

Father in heaven, grant that

we who are nourished by your Word and Sacrament

may live saintly lives of witness

serving you and assisting all with untiring charity.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Christ Jesus our Lord.