Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (Green)

Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a & 8a, 11
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

1^st Reading: Ex 40:16-21, 34-38

Moses did this; he did exactly as Yahweh had commanded him. The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts. He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and on top of this the covering for the tent, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. He took the Covenant and placed it inside the Ark. He set the poles to the Ark in place and put the mercy seat on it. He brought the Ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the Ark of Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of Yahweh filled the Holy Tent. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and because of the Glory of Yahweh that filled the Holy Tent.

At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent the people of Israel would continue their march. If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did. For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the house of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.

Gospel: Mt 13:47-53

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net, let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish into buckets, but throw the bad away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So he said to them, “Therefore, every teacher of the law, who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old.”

When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

REFLECTION:

The kingdom-parable on the dragnet, a big fishing net catching every kind of fish, partly gives us an answer to the question regarding the scandalous presence of evil in the world. As someone once said, such reality begs questions such as: If indeed the Church is the sacrament of salvation, a holy institution, how can evil subsist in it? How can evil continue to exist in the very institution whose mission is to free the world from it?

The answer is implied in the parable itself. Until the Final Judgment the Church of God must carry in her womb the best and the worst of people. God allows saints and sinners into His family. But at the end of time, he will sort them out and reward everyone according to his/her deeds. Between now and the Final Judgement the Church endeavors to constantly purify herself, make every effort to sanctify all her members and invite all peoples to join in with her in joyfully discovering the joy and fulfillment that only the kingdom of God can offer.

Daily Reflection

Daily Gospel ® is a product Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

 

DAILY GOSPEL ® 2017
Readings and Reflections
Copyright © 2O16
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com

17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (Green/White)
St. Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop
St. Peter Julian Eymard, priest

Ps 99:5, 6, 7, 9
Holy is the Lord our God.

1^st Reading: Ex 34:29-35

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant after speaking with Yahweh.

Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw that Moses’ face was radiant and they were afraid to go near him.

But Moses called them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community drew near, and Moses spoke to them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near and he told them all that Yahweh had commanded him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Whenever Moses went before Yahweh to speak with him, he took off the veil until he came out again. And when he came out and told them what he had been commanded, the Israelites saw that his face was radiant. Moses would then replace the veil over his face until he went again to speak with Yahweh.

Gospel: Mt 13:44-46

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field. The one who finds it, buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader, who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it.

REFLECTION:

Encountering the Lord Jesus and being invited to his Kingdom is like finding a treasure or discovering a pearl of great price. When given this tremendous blessing we are not to allow it to escape us; on the contrary, we should do everything, and if need be, give up everything to possess it. Jesus himself is the Kingdom in person. To hear oneself being addressed by him amounts to coming across the most precious of all treasures. Obviously, the only reasonable thing to do is to stake everything on him.

The two parables suggest that in order to possess Christ and to enter His Kingdom, it is necessary to leave everything behind. Detachment from everything that is incompatible is an indispensable condition. The Gospel uses the phrase “sell everything” to illustrate this point. This could mean having to die to oneself, selfishness, craving for security, appetite for domination, desire for comfort, desire for adulation and worldly fame. One has to give up everything in order to have Christ as his or her sole possession. One must give up all personal idols so that he or she can worship only Him.

Daily Reflection

Daily Gospel ® is a product Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

 

DAILY GOSPEL ® 2017
Readings and Reflections
Copyright © 2O16
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com

17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop & doctor

Ps 103:6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13
The Lord is kind and merciful.

1^st Reading: Ex 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28

Moses then took the Tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp, at a distance from it, and called it the Tent of Meeting. Whoever sought Yahweh would go out to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. And when Moses went to the tent all the people would stand, each one at the entrance to his tent and keep looking towards Moses until he entered the tent.

Now, as soon as Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance to the tent, while Yahweh spoke with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the tent, they would arise and worship, each one at the entrance to his own tent. Then Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his neighbor, and then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, son of Nun, would not leave the tent. And Yahweh came down in a cloud and stood there with him, and Moses called on the name of Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed in front of him and cried out, “Yahweh, Yahweh is a God full of pity and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in truth and loving kindness. He shows loving kindness to the thousandth generation and forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin; yet he does not leave the guilty without punishment, even punishing the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Moses hastened to bow down to the ground and worshiped. He then said, “If you really look kindly on me, my Lord, please come and walk in our midst and even though we are a stiff necked people, pardon our wickedness and our sin and make us yours.”

Moses remained there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the Covenant—the Ten Commandments.

Gospel: Mt 13:36-43

Then he sent the crowds away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” Jesus answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed are the people of the kingdom; the weeds are those who follow the evil one. The enemy who sows the weeds is the devil; the harvest is the end of time, and the workers are the angels.

Just as the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom all that is scandalous and all who do evil. And these will be thrown into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the just will shine, like the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears, then hear.

REFLECTION:

Like the disciples of Jesus we find it hard to accept that the Lord allows morally corrupt people to exist in the world. It is difficult to understand the impunity of the wicked. Worse still, they seem to thrive in our world where they seem to enjoy all the fun that it offers. From our perspective, evidently they are obstacles to the proclamation of the Good News. They impede the advent of the Kingdom of God. Today’s parable reminds us of the mercy and compassion of God. He does not immediately condemn sinners. Instead God allows enough time for them to find their way to conversion. The Day of Judgement, when God will finally separate the good and the bad, will certainly arrive but until then the disciples of Jesus Christ and the followers of the evil one will co-exist in the same world.

This serves as a warning for Jesus’ disciples not to be complacent. As in the parable of the Seeds the Evil One can snatch away interest and love for God’s Word. What is a good approach to the presence of the “weeds” in the wheat field of God’s Kingdom? Saint Paul advice to the Romans (12:21) is quite apropos: “Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.” The Apostle Peter puts it differently: “Be calm but vigilant because your opponent the devil is prowling around like a lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith.”

Daily Reflection

Daily Gospel ® is a product Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

 

DAILY GOSPEL ® 2017
Readings and Reflections
Copyright © 2O16
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com

17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest

Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

1^st Reading: Ex 32:15-24, 30-34

Moses then returned and came down from the mountain carrying in his hands the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets written on both sides, back and front. These tablets were the work of God and the writing graven on the tablets was the writing of God.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people who were shouting he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But Moses answered, “It is not a victory song, nor the cry of defeat that I hear, but the sound of singing.”

When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burst forth and he threw down the tablets he was holding, shattering them at the foot of the mountain. Then he seized the calf they had made and burned it in the fi re, grinding it into a powder that he scattered over the surface of the water, and this he made the Israelites drink.

Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin on them?”

And Aaron said, “Don’t let your anger be roused. You know these people and how evil they are. They said to me: ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me. I threw it in the fi re and out came this calf!”

And Aaron said, “Don’t let your anger be roused. You know these people and how evil they are. They said to me: ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me. I threw it in the fi re and out came this calf!”

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very grave sin, but now I am going up to Yahweh; perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.”

So Moses went towards Yahweh and said, “Ah! These people have committed a very great sin; they made a god out of gold. And now please forgive their sin… if not, blot me out of the book you have written.”

Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out from my book. Go now! Lead the people where I told you. My angel will walk before you and on the day of punishment I will punish them for their sin.”

Gospel: Mt 13:31-35

Jesus offered them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it is fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.“ He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took, and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole mass of dough began to rise.“

Jesus taught all these things to the crowds by means of parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. This fulfilled what was spoken by the Prophet: I will speak in parables. I will proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world.

REFLECTION:

These two parables of Jesus (mustard seed and yeast) seem to emphasize the “littleness“ and insignificance of the kingdom of God–at least in its beginnings. What appears to be insignificant to us is actually at the very core and is the essential element of what God intends to do. These parables speak too of humility and simplicity as the preferred way in which God reveals himself to us and to the world. In the eyes of the people of his time Jesus, the Savior of the world, had “humble beginnings.“ He was born in a little town of Bethlehem and grew up in an insignificant town, Nazareth. They belittled him, assuming that he was merely a carpenter’s son.

“Big things come from small beginnings.“ The Church, whose mission is to continue the ministry of Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God began with a small and motley group of disciples who were not even the best and the brightest. But now we can see how this Church, the Mystical Body of Christ has spread out to the ends of the earth. It is an invitation for us to acknowledge and to believe in the power of God’s grace in transforming what appears small and insignificant to human eyes into something magnificent and awe-inspiring. It should also give us confidence and trust in God who calls “little“ people like you and me to take part in the great mission of proclaiming the Gospel and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Daily Reflection

Daily Gospel ® is a product Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

 

DAILY GOSPEL ® 2017
Readings and Reflections
Copyright © 2O16
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com