Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Thursday 16th Week in Ordinary Time
July 27, 2006
Thursday 16th Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II
JEROME 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
This word of the LORD came to me: Go, cry out this message for
Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved
me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to
the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should any
presume to partake of them, evil would befall them, says the LORD. When
I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You
entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The
priests asked not, "Where is the LORD?" Those who dealt with the law
knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied
by Baal, and went after useless idols. Be amazed at this, O heavens,
and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. Two evils have my people
done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug
themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.
MATTHEW 13:10-17
The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Why do you speak to the crowd
in parables?" He said to them in reply, "Because knowledge of the
mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them
it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he
will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken
away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do
not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah's prophecy is
fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not
understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of
this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed
their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and
understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them. "But
blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they
hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to
see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did
not hear it."
REFLECTION
Some people read today's Gospel and think that Jesus is saying he
teaches in parables in order to confuse the listeners. Of course, this
doesn't make sense. No teacher teaches so that the listener will not
learn.
So what is Jesus saying? We've talked with someone about a matter of
great importance to both of us. After the conversation we think the
matter is understood, settled, there will be no problem with it. Then
later on we find out that nothing was settled by the conversation,
because we heard only what we wanted to hear, not what the other person
actually said. So both of us were talking on different wavelengths.
There was no conversation at all.
This is the sort of thing Jesus is talking about in today's Gospel. "I
use parables," Jesus is saying, "because they look and do not see, they
listen and do not hear or understand ..."
The danger to Christians who live but do not listen is very real. The
more closed we are, the less will we grow in the Spirit; the less we
grow in the Spirit, the more closed we shall become. Thus, we will be
able to see and hear and understand less and less as time goes on. As
Jesus puts it, "The person who has not, will lose what little he has."
Jesus teaches using parables, because Jesus hopes the picture will
seduce the mind of the listener away from his self-interests. "I use
parables to get them to see and hear and understand."
It is important, therefore, to pray for openness of spirit to Jesus'
teaching, for this is the only path along which any one of us can
follow him.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for the continued recovery of Aida.
- for the speedy recovery of Cadio.
- for the continued and complete healing of Ding Vidanes and her
mother.
- for the special intentions of the Balingit family.
- for the conversion of Tes.
- for the personal intentions of Jose.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Nita Hing
- In Memoriam (+): Esperanza Ong
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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