First Reading – Jeremiah
38:4-6, 8-10 ©
Responsorial Psalm –
Psalm 39(40): 2-4, 18 ©
Second Reading – Hebrews
12:1-4 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Acts
16:14
Alternative Acclamation –
John 10:27
The Gospel According to Luke
12:48 - 53 ©
(NJB)
Be
careful how you read the scriptures, do not confuse the works of men, for the
will of the divine. Consider the trials of the prophet Jeremiah in the reading
for today; these are the works of men, give men the credit for the mercy they
exercised.
Only
credit God with building in us the capacity to be good, and to do good, in
spite of ourselves.
Know
this:
It
was wise for the king to free the prophet. There is wisdom in mercy, and
through mercy the satisfaction of justice.
The
powerless should never perish in the hands of the powerful.
Give
thanks for the wisdom of the psalmist who says.
God
is the God of mercy, God listens.
Bend
your ear to God; turn your ear to your heart.
Stretch
out your feelings, and you will find your way through the troubles of life on
Earth, through all its filth and misery, as the psalmist says:
Seek
salvation, which means wellness. Seek freedom from your own sins and do not
dwell on the sins of others.
When
you are beset with difficulties, look for other to blame, rather look to
yourself, to your own transgressions, seek relief from them by engaging in the way, the way which demands that we
love one another.
Listen!
Keep
the way in front of you, be less
mindful of the image of Jesus you cling to than of the way he asked us to keep; to be merciful, to love justice and to
walk humbly all the days of your life.
Keep
to the way, its course is not a race but a habit of life.
Be
mindful;, desire is the cause of all suffering, even the desire to be good,
especially the desire to prove your goodness to others, even that can end in
suffering, both for yourself and the community you live in.
Do
not be too eager to show it. Keep the way
in front of you, and the teaching of Jesus in your heart.
Let
your pray be a guide to you, to point you in the direction of justice.
God
will hear you, God is with you.
Consider
this.
The
sheep do not choose the shepherd, rather it is the shepherd who chooses the
sheep.
The
Word of God; in whom all that is comes to be, it is to the Word that everything
belongs, the shepherd chose the entire sheepfold.
Listen
for the voice of the shepherd, do not trouble yourself with how the shepherd
speaks to you, in what language, in what text, do not trouble yourself with how
the shepherd speaks to your sister or your brother, to your neighbors or the
stranger.
The
shepherd speaking to everyone, and all of listen as we are able (or willing).
Everyone
that is, all who are or ever have been, everyone without exception including
all who will be, every-one of us follows is in the way, moving toward God, there is no other way.
Do
not trouble yourself if you do not understand the journey that another person
is on, God is guiding them, as God is guiding you.
If
you resist, God will be patient, God will wait, as God waits for everyone. The good
shepherd has a loving hand; love is patient as love is kind.
Remember!
God
will not lose a single one of us. Neither will any one of us lose God.
Consider
the Gospel for the day:
This
is a cryptic passage.
It
is fraught with tension. It engenders worry in the reader. As if the fire it
points to is a thing to be feared.
In
scripture fire is not a symbol of destruction, of punishment or of the judgement
that leads to damnation.
This
claim is true, even of those few passages depicting fire that are commonly
interpreted as such, as the lake of fire is in the Book of Revelation.
Be
mindful!
Fire
is a symbol referring to our encounter with God. It represents our encounter with
the person of God; God, the creator of the universe.
In
scripture fire is a vehicle of refinement, of transformation and purification,
not destruction and damnation.
Fire
is the light of God.
In
this passage the blazing fire that Jesus wishes would engulf the world; that
fire is the fire of baptism, it is the grace of the Holy Spirit, a baptism
which he sees coming to him, and through his teaching to the rest of the world.
Jesus’
death, his trials, his suffering; these did not transform the world, but they did
light the way.
We
are all called to follow the way, every
generation is called.
The
more radical our response is to that call, the more clearly we are divided from
our old way of life.
Conflict
will often ensue between a person and their loved ones, when one member of a
community hears the call of the Spirit is move toward it, while others remain
caught up in the distractions of the world.
Anytime
the demands of truth and righteousness put us at odds with our conventions,
mores and customs we face opposition. Perseverance in the face of that
opposition is what Jesus is speaking to when he speaks of the consuming power
of the holy flame.
We
must endeavor to persevere.
First Reading – Jeremiah 38:4-6,
8-10 ©
'Do Not Let the Prophet Die'
The
king’s leading men spoke to the king. ‘Let Jeremiah be put to death: he is
unquestionably disheartening the remaining soldiers in the city, and all the
people too, by talking like this. The fellow does not have the welfare of this
people at heart so much as its ruin.’ ‘He is in your hands as you know,’ King
Zedekiah answered ‘for the king is powerless against you.’ So they took
Jeremiah and threw him into the well of Prince Malchiah in the Court of the
Guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the well, only mud,
and into the mud Jeremiah sank.
Ebed-melech
came out from the palace and spoke to the king. ‘My lord king,’ he said ‘these
men have done a wicked thing by treating the prophet Jeremiah like this: they
have thrown him into the well, where he will die.’ At this the king gave
Ebed-melech the Cushite the following order: ‘Take three men with you from here
and pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the well before he dies.’
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
39(40): 2-4, 18 ©
Lord, come to my aid!
I
waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.
Lord, come to my aid!
He
drew me from the deadly pit,
from the miry clay.
He
set my feet upon a rock
and made my footsteps firm.
Lord, come to my aid!
He
put a new song into my mouth,
praise of our God.
Many
shall see and fear
and shall trust in the Lord.
Lord, come to my aid!
As
for me, wretched and poor,
the Lord thinks of me.
You
are my rescuer, my help,
O God, do not delay.
Lord, come to my aid!
Second Reading – Hebrews 12:1-4
©
We Should Keep Running Steadily
in the Race We Have Started
With
so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should
throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily,
and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of
Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of
the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the
shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s
throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you
will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not
yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.
Gospel Acclamation – Acts
16:14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open
our heart, O Lord,
to
accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation –
John 10:27
Alleluia, alleluia!
The
sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says
the Lord,
I
know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke
12:48 - 53 ©
How I Wish It Were Blazing
Already!
Jesus
said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish
it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great
is my distress till it is over!
‘Do
you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against
two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against
father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against
daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
20th Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Year C)
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