17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
The Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major / Memorial of Blessed Virgin Mary
Ps 67:2-3, 5, 7-8
O God, let all the nations praise you!
1st Reading: Lev 25:1, 8-17
Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai:
When seven Sabbaths of years have passed, that is, seven times seven years, there shall be the time of the seven weeks of years, that is forty-nine years. Then on the tenth day of the seventh month sound the trumpet loudly. On this Day of Atonement sound the trumpet all through the land. Keep holy the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom for all the inhabitants of the land. It shall be a jubilation year for you when each one shall recover his property and go back to his family. In this fiftieth year, your year of Jubilee, you shall neither sow nor reap the aftergrowth, nor gather the grapes from the uncultivated vines. This Jubilee year shall be holy for you, and you shall eat what the field yields of itself without cultivation.
In this year of Jubilee each of you shall recover his own property. When you sell something to your neighbor or buy something from him, do not wrong one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy it from your neighbor and according to the number of years left for harvesting crops he shall sell to you. When the years are many the price shall be greater and when the years are few the price shall be less, for it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another but you shall fear your God, for I am Yahweh, your God.
Gospel: Mt 14:1-12
At that time, the reports about Jesus reached king Herod. And he said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. John has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in John.”
Herod had, in fact, ordered that John be arrested, bound in chains and put in prison, because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had said to Herod, “It is not right for you to have her as your wife.” Herod wanted to kill him but he did not dare, because he feared the people, who regarded John as a prophet.
On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced among the guests; she so delighted Herod that he promised under oath to give her anything she asked for. The girl, following the advice of her mother, said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist, here, on a dish.”
The king was very displeased, but because he had made his promise under oath, in the presence of his guests, he ordered it to be given to her. So he had John beheaded in prison, and his head brought on a dish and given to the girl. The girl then took it to her mother.
Then John’s disciples came, took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
REFLECTION:
The evangelist Matthew recalls the story of John the Baptist’s execution under Herod after Jesus was rejected by his town mates. He seems to suggest that there is a similar fate that awaits Jesus. He too will suffer the death of an innocent. Rejection and suffering, deserved or undeserved, will always be part of the fate of the Church, the Body of Christ. It is best to look at them against the background of Jesus’ own experience and those of the prophets and martyrs. Our own crucifixion as Church and the proper attitude that must accompany it can become powerful tools of witnessing to the Crucified Lord.
Making sense of meaningless suffering and death especially that of innocent victims appears to be quite impossible. We think of the victims of genocide, suicide bombings and abortion. Their death is, in a way, similar to the death of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus. Somebody suggested that the best we can do is recall that it was because of such insanity that Jesus came into the world. He came precisely to defeat evil by his own suffering, death and resurrection. Our mission as his disciples is to continue his work until the end of time when He will bring everything into victorious conclusion.
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Readings and Reflections
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