2022년 7월 27일 연중 제16주간 수요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
예레미야서. 15,10.16-21
10 아, 불행한 이 몸! 어머니, 어쩌자고 날 낳으셨나요?
온 세상을 상대로 시비와 말다툼을 벌이고 있는 이 사람을.
빚을 놓은 적도 없고 빚을 얻은 적도 없는데 모두 나를 저주합니다.
16 당신 말씀을 발견하고 그것을 받아먹었더니
그 말씀이 제게 기쁨이 되고 제 마음에 즐거움이 되었습니다.
주 만군의 하느님, 제가 당신의 것이라 불리기 때문입니다.
17 저는 웃고 떠드는 자들과 자리를 같이하거나 즐기지 않습니다.
오히려 저를 가득 채운 당신의 분노 때문에 당신 손에 눌려 홀로 앉아 있습니다.
18 어찌하여 제 고통은 끝이 없고 제 상처는 치유를 마다하고 깊어만 갑니까?
당신께서는 저에게 가짜 시냇물처럼, 믿을 수 없는 물처럼 되었습니다.
19 그러자 주님께서 이렇게 말씀하셨다.
“네가 돌아오려고만 하면 나도 너를 돌아오게 하여 내 앞에 설 수 있게 하리라.
네가 쓸모없는 말을 삼가고 값진 말을 하면 너는 나의 대변인이 되리라.
그들이 너에게 돌아올망정 네가 그들에게 돌아가서는 안 된다.
20 그러므로 이 백성에게 맞서 내가 너를 요새의 청동 벽으로 만들어 주리라.
그들이 너를 대적하여 싸움을 걸겠지만 너를 이겨 내지 못하리라.
내가 너와 함께 있어 너를 구원하고 건져 낼 것이기 때문이다.
주님의 말씀이다.
21 내가 너를 악한 자들의 손에서 건져 내고
무도한 자들의 손아귀에서 구출해 내리라.”
복음
마태오 13,44-46
그때에 예수님께서 군중에게 말씀하셨다.
44 “하늘 나라는 밭에 숨겨진 보물과 같다.
그 보물을 발견한 사람은 그것을 다시 숨겨 두고서는
기뻐하며 돌아가서 가진 것을 다 팔아 그 밭을 산다.
45 또 하늘 나라는 좋은 진주를 찾는 상인과 같다.
46 그는 값진 진주를 하나 발견하자, 가서 가진 것을 모두 처분하여 그것을 샀다.”
July 27, 2022
Reading 1 J
a man of strife and contention to all the land!
I neither borrow nor lend,
yet all curse me.
When I found your words, I devoured them;
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,
Because I bore your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.
I did not sit celebrating
in the circle of merrymakers;
Under the weight of your hand I sat alone
because you filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain continuous,
my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook,
whose waters do not abide!
Thus the LORD answered me:
If you repent, so that I restore you,
in my presence you shall stand;
If you bring forth the precious without the vile,
you shall be my mouthpiece.
Then it shall be they who turn to you,
and you shall not turn to them;
And I will make you toward this people
a solid wall of brass.
Though they fight against you,
they shall not prevail,
For I am with you,
to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD.
I will free you from the hand of the wicked,
and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.
Responsorial Psalm
Rescue me from my enemies, O my God;
from my adversaries defend me.
Rescue me from evildoers;
from bloodthirsty men save me.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
For behold, they lie in wait for my life;
mighty men come together against me,
Not for any offense or sin of mine, O LORD.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
O my strength! for you I watch;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
As for my God, may his mercy go before me;
may he show me the fall of my foes.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
But I will sing of your strength
and revel at dawn in your mercy;
You have been my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of distress.
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
O my strength! your praise will I sing;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
my merciful God!
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
Alleluia
I call you my friends, says the Lord,
for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Full disclosure – I wrote a reflection on today’s reading from Matthew on July 27, 2011. The first reading in 2011 recounted the return of Moses from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. My reflection from 2011 on the Gospel built on my thoughts from that passage and was as follows:
Surely Moses must have felt a sense of what the kingdom of heaven will be like. Jesus tells us how valuable it is, in practical terms that we can relate to in our earthly lives. It is worth all we have in this life – it is worth sacrificing all we have and possess in order to obtain it. As Ignatius prayed “Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will. You have given all these things to me – to you O Lord, I restore them. All are yours. Dispose of them all according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace, for that is enough for me.”
There is a difficult jump from where we are and where Moses is – as Jesus reminds us, we are burdened with the things of life. If we truly value heaven, we would trade all of these things for life in the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps my difficulty in being radiant like Moses is because I am too attached to my life. The things, the people, the relationships, the power, the emotions, the sensation of living – all these are distractions from the kingdom. And so, as Ignatius reminds us, as Jesus teaches us – we need to let go to be free. We need to let go to be radiant.
When I revisited the Matthew passages this time, I felt pulled in a different direction. I kept returning to language from other sources of “the Kingdom of God on earth.” It is from this perspective that I spent time with this passage.
Jesus here equates the appreciation for the value of heaven as worth all a person owns. But elsewhere He also refers to the kingdom as like a mustard seed – the tiniest of seeds that grows into a tree-like shrub in a garden. The tiny seed, implanted in the right conditions, grows enormously in reference to its size.
What if, instead of focusing on heaven as something that we will experience in the future, we think of it as a process we can experience and help create now, the result of our planting little mustard seeds with our daily lives? My earlier thoughts about being detached and letting go of what binds us to our current life reminds us of the difficulty in following Jesus, but if we think of the consequences of what we do in each moment, we can perhaps see a positive forward movement not just for ourselves but for our sisters and brothers.
I recall the lyrics of the song “Everybody Talkin’ ‘Bout Heaven Ain’t Goin’ There.” They remind us of the admonition from Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:21 – 27) – it isn’t enough to talk the talk, we must WALK the talk. Jesus tells us to put His teachings into action.
So, what are the mustard seeds that we can put into action – obviously we do the important ones Jesus calls out – feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, consoling the grieving, burying the dead. But we also plant seeds when we act with others using simple common courtesy (good manners), such as opening a door, saying thank you sincerely, listening before talking, making eye contact. We plant mustard seeds when do not judge the actions of someone else (either with our words or our silent thoughts). We scatter mustard seeds when we refuse to pass along the latest office gossip or neighborhood scandal. We plant seeds for our children and grandchildren by living a simpler, more sustainable life. We probably store up big points in St. Peter’s ledger if we generously allow someone to merge into traffic in front of us, and do not grumble (or worse!) or share fun little gestures with someone who speeds up in the hope they will be allowed to enter the lane farther up the road.
If we are thoughtfully aware of even the tiniest of our actions, and appreciate them as mustard seeds, we can make choices to advance or hinder the growth of the kingdom of God on earth. If we do these things – if we plant these seeds – with the spirit of generosity and compassion that Jesus models for us, we will be making our lives, and more importantly those of our sisters in brothers with whom we share this planet, more like the vision that Jesus has for us. In other words, while we are aware and appreciate the heaven that is to come at the end of our earthly existence, we live today as if we already are there.
And so, my prayer today is for the grace to plant as many mustard seeds as I can.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
HE ATE THE WHOLE THING
“When I found Your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, because I bore Your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” —Jeremiah 15:16
Many of us find it hard to read the Bible, but the Lord wants us to eat the Bible, to consume, even devour it. “Not on bread alone is man to live but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). His Word is like honey from the comb (Ps 19:11), sweet at first although later soured by persecution (Rv 10:9-10). Nonetheless, God’s Word is still our joy and happiness because we bear His name (Jer 15:16).
If God’s words are not that important to us, possibly we don’t have a deep, personal relationship with Him. If we don’t spend time reading the Bible, then how can we bear His name? “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 133).
Have you read an article about someone you knew personally? You probably read it with much more enthusiasm than other articles. You would be even more interested if you knew the author. If you have a personal relationship with the Author of the Bible, God the Father, and know the Word made flesh, Jesus, then you will read, study, and devour God’s Word in the Bible. Delight in the Word of the Lord and meditate on it day and night (Ps 1:2).
Prayer: Jesus, Word of God, may I feel called to kiss the Bible as a sign of my love for You and Your Word.
Promise: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search for fine pearls. When he found one really valuable pearl, he went back and put up for sale all that he had and bought it.” —Mt 13:45-46
Praise: One lonely night, Joseph turned to the Bible rather than to the bottle. Jesus gave him the grace to remain sober.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
: What do you treasure above all else and how do you keep it secure? In a peasant community the best safe was often the earth. The man in the parable "went in his joy" to sell everything he had (Matthew 13:44). Why? Because he found a hidden treasure worth possessing above everything else he had. He did not, however, have enough to buy the treasure. Fortunately, he only needed enough money to buy the field. In a similar fashion, God offers his kingdom as incomparable treasure at a price we can afford! We can't pay the full price for the rich and abundant life which God offers us - but when we willingly exchange our life for the life which God offers, we receive a treasure beyond compare.
Searching for the greatest treasure of all
The pearl of great price also tells us a similar lesson (Matthew 13:45). Pearls in the ancient world came to represent the supremely valuable. Why would a merchant sell everything for a single pearl of peerless value? No doubt because he was attracted to what he thought was the greatest treasure he could possess for himself. On another occasion Jesus told his disciples, "do not throw your pearls before swine" (Matthew 7:6). Beautiful unblemished pearls were intended to enhance the beauty and value of those who wore them. Do you recognize and value the hidden treasure of God's kingdom and the peerless pearl which the Lord Jesus offers to all who believe in him?
Discovering heavenly treasure
Discovering God's kingdom is like stumbling across a hidden treasure or finding the one pearl of great price. When we discover the kingdom of God we receive the greatest possible treasure - the Lord himself. Selling all that we have to obtain this incomparable treasure could mean many things - our friends, possessions, job, our "style of life", what we do with our free time. Treasure has a special connection to the heart, the place of desire and longing, the place of will and focus. The thing we most set our heart on is our highest treasure.
In this parable what does the treasure of the kingdom of heaven refer to? It certainly refers to the kingdom of God in all its aspects (a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit - Romans 14:17). But in a special way, the Lord himself is the treasure we seek. "If the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, then you will delight yourself in the Almighty" (Job 22:22-23). Is the Lord the treasure and delight of your heart?
Lord Jesus, reveal to me the true riches of your kingdom. Help me to set my heart on you alone as the treasure beyond compare with any other. Free my heart of any inordinate desires or attachment to other things that I may freely give to you all that I have in joy and gratitude for all that you have given to me. May I always find joy and delight in your presence.
Psalm 99:5-7,9
5 Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies, and the statutes that he gave them.
9 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy!
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Finding the pearl of great price, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"Now among the words of all kinds that profess to announce truth, and among those who report them, he seeks pearls. Think of the prophets as, so to speak, the pearls that receive the dew of heaven and become pregnant with the word of truth from heaven. They are goodly pearls that, according to the phrase here set forth, the merchant seeks. And the chief of the pearls, on the finding of which the rest are found with it, is the very costly pearl, the Christ of God, the Word that is superior to the precious letters and thoughts in the law and the prophets. When one finds this pearl all the rest are easily released. Suppose, then, that one is not a disciple of Christ. He possesses no pearls at all, much less the very costly pearl, as distinguished from those that are cloudy or darkened." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 18.8)
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