Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection July 23, 2024
Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
23rd July 2024 (Tuesday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
Psalm 85:2-4, 5-6, 7-8 (R. 8a)
R/. Let us see, O Lord, your mercy.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : Matthew 12:46-50
At that time: While Jesus was speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Tuesday – Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: When higher things come, lower things must concede to take a secondary place. When a new family ushers in, the natural family boundaries must be submerged
1. “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”. Here is a clear call for a “new family”, a new way of belonging to God and to one another. Our allegiance to God is not on the basis of our religious allegiances or titles or positions or traditions.
2. The only criterion for belonging to God and for being His family is “doing God’s will”. What does this imply? Some implications are given in the first reading from Micah. These notes are not direct but are implicit in the description of God’s nature and acting.
3. He is a God who shepherds His people. He shows them marvelous things. He is a matchless God who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression and treads them underfoot. He does not retain His anger but shows compassion. He delights in steadfast love.
4. Therefore doing God’s will signifies in the first place to understand and experience God in this benevolent way. This leads to deep humility and repentance. This will make us closely related to Him. This shall make us delight in doing His will. Finally, it will also make us resemble Him.
5. Therefore, to do God’s will essentially implies experiencing Him, relating with Him, becoming like Him, and seeking to do what pleases Him. I cannot claim to belong to Him and do His will without humble repentance, a personal experience, an intimate relationship, a resemblance to Him, and a commitment to do His will.
6. This is the only ground and the only means that makes us one spiritual and fraternal family. This means that we can become this new family of God only when we do His will. Conversely, this means that whenever we fail in doing God’s will, we fail in being His family. This also means that whenever we fail in being a family of God, we are failing in doing His will.
7. This is also the test that testifies to our belonging to God and love for Him. All our divisions and discriminations in the name of different affinities like caste, creed, region, language, culture, rite, et cetera are counter-witnessing and counter-productive.
Practice: Fostering a profound sense of one Family of God’s children and brothers and sisters to one another is the best antidote to our divided and divisive culture to regain our lost spirituality and fraternity
