Friday, July 04, 2014
Saturday 13th Week in Ordinary Time
July 5, 2014
Saturday 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria; St. Elizabeth of Portugal]
Am 9: 11-15 / Ps 85: 9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14 / Mt 9: 14-17
Reading: Am 9: 11-15
On that day I shall restore the fallen hut of David and wall up its breaches and raise its ruined walls and so build it as in days of old. They shall conquer the remnant of Edom and the neighboring nations upon which my name has been called." Thus says Yahweh, the one who will do this. Yahweh says also, "The days are coming when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes overtake the sower. The mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall melt. I shall bring back the exiles of my people Israel; they will rebuild the desolate cities and dwell in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will have orchards and eat their fruit. I shall plant them in their own country and they shall never again be rooted up from the land which I have given them," says Yahweh your God.
Gospel: Matthew 9: 14-17
Then the disciples of John came to him with the question, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?" Jesus answered them, "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast. No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides you don't put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved."
Reflection:
Tradition and familiarity-these offer solace in a world of constant change. Many of us stay within our comfort zones, doing things as we always do, believing our tried-and-tested methods are the only way.
But just as he shook the foundations of the world back in the time of the Pharisees, so Jesus shakes our mindsets today. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of discarding the old and embracing the new, of letting go of our rigid beliefs and considering our faith in the context of our world today.
This may come as a controversy, during a time when many Catholics feel that morals are giving way to dangerously lax relativism. But what Jesus urges us to do is to look beyond tradition and rules, and embrace instead the spirit behind the doctrines. Our faith is not something to adhere to blindly, with fear and suffering. It's something to celebrate with love and joy. For indeed, how can we mourn when our Savior is always upon us, and in us?
Have we ever valued rules and methods over love and joy? Whenever we are unsure in our faith, perhaps it's best to turn to Jesus himself, and remember the values he stood for.
Prayer Requests:
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary
... for families who are in need of healing
... 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!
**************************************************
These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only. Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends, colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the following:
+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| http://www.marythequeen.org
| Distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+
-- Saturday 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria; St. Elizabeth of Portugal]
Am 9: 11-15 / Ps 85: 9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14 / Mt 9: 14-17
Reading: Am 9: 11-15
On that day I shall restore the fallen hut of David and wall up its breaches and raise its ruined walls and so build it as in days of old. They shall conquer the remnant of Edom and the neighboring nations upon which my name has been called." Thus says Yahweh, the one who will do this. Yahweh says also, "The days are coming when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes overtake the sower. The mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall melt. I shall bring back the exiles of my people Israel; they will rebuild the desolate cities and dwell in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will have orchards and eat their fruit. I shall plant them in their own country and they shall never again be rooted up from the land which I have given them," says Yahweh your God.
Gospel: Matthew 9: 14-17
Then the disciples of John came to him with the question, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?" Jesus answered them, "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast. No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides you don't put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved."
Reflection:
Tradition and familiarity-these offer solace in a world of constant change. Many of us stay within our comfort zones, doing things as we always do, believing our tried-and-tested methods are the only way.
But just as he shook the foundations of the world back in the time of the Pharisees, so Jesus shakes our mindsets today. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of discarding the old and embracing the new, of letting go of our rigid beliefs and considering our faith in the context of our world today.
This may come as a controversy, during a time when many Catholics feel that morals are giving way to dangerously lax relativism. But what Jesus urges us to do is to look beyond tradition and rules, and embrace instead the spirit behind the doctrines. Our faith is not something to adhere to blindly, with fear and suffering. It's something to celebrate with love and joy. For indeed, how can we mourn when our Savior is always upon us, and in us?
Have we ever valued rules and methods over love and joy? Whenever we are unsure in our faith, perhaps it's best to turn to Jesus himself, and remember the values he stood for.
Prayer Requests:
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary
... for families who are in need of healing
... 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!
**************************************************
These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only. Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends, colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the following:
+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| http://www.marythequeen.org
| Distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleGroup Address: http://groups.google.com/group/daily_homily
Archive: http://biblereflection.blogspot.com/
To subscribe from this free mailing service, send email to: dailyhomily@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe: daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
© 2014 Daily-Homily
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DAILY-HOMILY" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to daily_homily+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
