Faith Of The Canaanite Woman

AUGUST 03, 2022, WEDNESDAY
Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
CYCLE C - YEAR II
Lectionary: 409

Reading 1 
JER 31:1-7

At that time, says the LORD,

I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel,

and they shall be my people.

Thus says the LORD:

The people that escaped the sword

have found favor in the desert.

As Israel comes forward to be given his rest,

the LORD appears to him from afar:

With age-old love I have loved you;

so I have kept my mercy toward you.

Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt,

O virgin Israel;

Carrying your festive tambourines,

you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.

Again you shall plant vineyards

on the mountains of Samaria;

those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits.

Yes, a day will come when the watchmen

will call out on Mount Ephraim:

“Rise up, let us go to Zion,

to the LORD, our God.”

For thus says the LORD:

Shout with joy for Jacob,

exult at the head of the nations;

proclaim your praise and say:

The LORD has delivered his people,

the remnant of Israel.

Responsorial Psalm 
JER 31:10, 11-12AB, 13

R. (see 10d)  The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,

proclaim it on distant isles, and say:

He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,

he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob,

he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.

Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,

they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings.

R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,

and young men and old as well.

I will turn their mourning into joy.

I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Alleluia 
LK 7:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

A great prophet has arisen in our midst

and God has visited his people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
MT 15:21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!

My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not say a word in answer to her.

His disciples came and asked him,

“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

He said in reply,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”

He said in reply,

“It is not right to take the food of the children

and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps

that fall from the table of their masters.”

Then Jesus said to her in reply,

“O woman, great is your faith!

Let it be done for you as you wish.”

And her daughter was healed from that hour.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

A story like this is an occasion for us to look at our own attitudes to people of other races, ethnic groups and nationalities, those who are socially disadvantaged, or in anyway different. Does our parish community go out of its way to provide a welcome for the ‘outsider’? These are very real questions for today. What comes to mind for me as I pray today.

PRAYER:

Lord, help me. I stay with this simple yet profound prayer, letting my cry come to God as I ask for what I need from him, for me and for my loved ones. I ask for a faith similar to the woman from Canaan in its reckless trust. 

Jesus Walks On The Water

AUGUST 02, 2022, TUESDAY

Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)

Optional Memorial of Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop (White)

Optional Memorial of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (White)

CYCLE C - YEAR II

Lectionary: 408

Reading 1 

JER 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22

The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel:

Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.

For thus says the LORD:

Incurable is your wound,

grievous your bruise;

There is none to plead your cause,

no remedy for your running sore,

no healing for you.

All your lovers have forgotten you,

they do not seek you.

I struck you as an enemy would strike,

punished you cruelly;

Why cry out over your wound?

your pain is without relief.

Because of your great guilt,

your numerous sins,

I have done this to you.

Thus says the LORD:

See!  I will restore the tents of Jacob,

his dwellings I will pity;

City shall be rebuilt upon hill,

and palace restored as it was.

From them will resound songs of praise,

the laughter of happy men.

I will make them not few, but many;

they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.

His sons shall be as of old,

his assembly before me shall stand firm;

I will punish all his oppressors.

His leader shall be one of his own,

and his rulers shall come from his kin.

When I summon him, he shall approach me;

how else should one take the deadly risk

of approaching me? says the LORD.

You shall be my people,

and I will be your God.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 AND 22-23

R. (17)  The Lord will build up Zion again, and appear in all his glory.

The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,

and all the kings of the earth your glory,

When the LORD has rebuilt Zion

and appeared in his glory;

When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,

and not despised their prayer.

R. The Lord will build up Zion again, and appear in all his glory.

Let this be written for the generation to come,

and let his future creatures praise the LORD:

“The LORD looked down from his holy height,

from heaven he beheld the earth,

To hear the groaning of the prisoners,

to release those doomed to die.”

R. The Lord will build up Zion again, and appear in all his glory.

The children of your servants shall abide,

and their posterity shall continue in your presence,

That the name of the LORD may be declared on Zion;

and his praise, in Jerusalem,

When the peoples gather together

and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

R. The Lord will build up Zion again, and appear in all his glory.

Alleluia 

JN 1:49B

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Rabbi, you are the Son of God;

you are the King of Israel.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 14:22-36

Jesus made the disciples get into a boat

and precede him to the other side of the sea,

while he dismissed the crowds.

After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

When it was evening he was there alone.

Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,

was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

During the fourth watch of the night,

he came toward them, walking on the sea.

When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified.

“It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.

At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

He said, “Come.”

But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;

and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him,

and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

After they got into the boat, the wind died down.

Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,

“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret.

When the men of that place recognized him,

they sent word to all the surrounding country.

People brought to him all those who were sick

and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak,

and as many as touched it were healed.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

The disciples in their later trials would have remembered what happened next on the lake; how Jesus reached out and caught the drowning Peter; how he got into their boat and how somehow his presence made the wind die down. Jesus does the same for you, but less dramatically.

PRAYER:

In these moments of prayer, today bring those things in life that cause you to lose sight of Jesus and to sink. He is waiting for you to call out to him and to help restore calm in your life.

Jesus Feeds The Five Thousand

AUGUST 01, 2022, MONDAY

MEMORIAL OF SAINT ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH  (White)

CYCLE C - YEAR II

Lectionary: 407

Reading 1 

JER 28:1-17

In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah,

in the fifth month of the fourth year,

the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon,

said to me in the house of the LORD

in the presence of the priests and all the people:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Within two years I will restore to this place

all the vessels of the temple of the LORD which Nebuchadnezzar,

king of Babylon, took away from this place to Babylon. 

And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah,

son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,

and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD,

‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

The prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah 

in the presence of the priests and all the people assembled

in the house of the LORD, and said:

Amen! thus may the LORD do!

May he fulfill the things you have prophesied

by bringing the vessels of the house of the LORD

and all the exiles back from Babylon to this place!

But now, listen to what I am about to state in your hearing

and the hearing of all the people.

From of old, the prophets who were before you and me prophesied

war, woe, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms.

But the prophet who prophesies peace

is recognized as truly sent by the LORD

only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled.

Thereupon the prophet Hananiah took the yoke

from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it,

and said in the presence of all the people:

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so, within two years

I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,

from off the neck of all the nations.’”

At that, the prophet Jeremiah went away.

Some time after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke

from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah,

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:

Go tell Hananiah this:  

Thus says the LORD:

By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke!

For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

A yoke of iron I will place on the necks

of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,

and they shall serve him; even the beasts of the field I give him.

To the prophet Hananiah the prophet Jeremiah said:

Hear this, Hananiah!

The LORD has not sent you,

and you have raised false confidence in this people.

For this, says the LORD, I will dispatch you from the face of the earth;

this very year you shall die,

because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.

That same year, in the seventh month, Hananiah the prophet died.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102

R. (68b) Lord, teach me your statutes.

Remove from me the way of falsehood,

and favor me with your law.

R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

Take not the word of truth from my mouth,

for in your ordinances is my hope.

R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

Let those turn to me who fear you

and acknowledge your decrees.

R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

Let my heart be perfect in your statutes,

that I be not put to shame.

R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

Sinners wait to destroy me,

but I pay heed to your decrees.

R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

From your ordinances I turn not away,

for you have instructed me.

R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

Alleluia 

MT 4:4

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 14:13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,

he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,

his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.

When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,

“This is a deserted place and it is already late;

dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages

and buy food for themselves.”

He said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;

give them some food yourselves.”

But they said to him,

“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”

Then he said, “Bring them here to me,”

and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,

he said the blessing, broke the loaves,

and gave them to the disciples,

who in turn gave them to the crowds.

They all ate and were satisfied,

and they picked up the fragments left over–

twelve wicker baskets full.

Those who ate were about five thousand men,

not counting women and children.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Now when Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was leftover of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

PRAYER:

Lord teach me to value what I have to offer, though it seems so small. Use me in the service of others, an extension of your compassion.