DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

JULY 21, 2022

THURSDAY OF THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH)

FIRST READING

JEREMIAH 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 OR (2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-2, 5-7 / WISDOM 8:9-16 / 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21)

1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them, says the LORD." 7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8 The priests did not say, `Where is the LORD?' Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Ba'al, and went after things that do not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 35 (36):6-11 OR (PSALMS 40:2, 4, 7-11 / PSALMS 67:2-5, 7-8)

Response: With thou is the fountain of life, O Lord.

Thy steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
thy faithfulness to the clouds.
Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God,
thy judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast thou savest, O LORD.

R. With thou is the fountain of life, O Lord.

How precious is thy steadfast love, O God!
The children of men take refuge in the shadow of thy wings.
They feast on the abundance of thy house,
and thou givest them drink from the river of thy delights.

R. With thou is the fountain of life, O Lord.

For with thee is the fountain of life;
in thy light do we see light.
O continue thy steadfast love to those who know thee,
and thy salvation to the upright of heart!

R. With thou is the fountain of life, O Lord.
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GOSPEL

Many longed to hear what you hear

MATTHEW 13:10-17 OR (MARK 4:1-10, 13-20 / MARK 4:1-9 / LUKE 9:1-6)

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11 And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: `You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. 15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.' 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

Ears that refuse to hear, by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD)

"Faith perceives the mysteries of the kingdom. A person will make progress in those things he has been immersed in and will abound with an increase in that progress. But in those things he has not been immersed in, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. In other words, he suffers the loss of the law from the loss of his faith. Lacking faith, the people of the law lost even the efficacy of the law. Therefore, gospel faith receives a perfect gift, because it enriches with new fruit those things that have been undertaken. But once it is rejected, even the help of one's former means of support is taken away."

(excerpt from a commentary ON MATTHEW 13.2)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.