25TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
St. Vincent de Paul, priest
Psalter: Week 1 / (White)
Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 & 17bc
In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
1st Reading: Eccl 1:2-11
All is meaningless — says the Teacher — meaningless, meaningless!
What profit is there for a man in all his work for which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, a generation comes and the earth remains forever. The sun rises, the sun sets, hastening towards the place where it again rises. Blowing to the south, turning to the north, the wind goes round and round and after all its rounds it has to blow again.
All rivers go to the sea but the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers come from, there they return again.
All words become weary and speech comes to an end, but the eye has never seen enough nor the ear heard too much.
What has happened before will happen again; what has been done before will be done again: there is nothing new under the sun.
If they say to you, “See, it’s new!” know that it has already been centuries earlier.
There is no remembrance of ancient people, and those to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Gospel: Lk 9:7-9
King Herod heard of all this, and did not know what to think, for people said, “This is John, raised from the dead.” Others believed that Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets, had come back to life. As for Herod, he said, “I had John beheaded. Who is this man, about whom I hear such wonders?” And he was anxious to see him.
Reflections
He was anxious to see him
Herod’s desire to see Jesus was driven curiosity, fear and anxiety. To see Jesus is to be inspired by his words and deeds. His way is caring and healing presence. Herod’s method of eliminating and silencing enemies was the exact opposite of Jesus‘ message of loving enemies and promoting non-violence. The way to meet Jesus is to have the eyes of faith that can see in the person of Jesus the presence and power of God. Let us ask to see Jesus today, a seeing that leads to a total acceptance of his way of life and following him all the way, through the cross, and seeing the power of his way of truth-telling and non-violence as the way forward in bringing a new world of justice and peace. Herod’s way is a dead-end.
Daily Reflection 2018
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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
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