DAILY GOSPEL: 16/07/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Friday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Isaiah 38:1-6.21-22.7-8.
In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover."
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
"O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
"Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple; I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city."
Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover.
Then Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?"
(Isaiah answered:) "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised:
See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced." So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
Book of Isaiah 38:10.11.12.16.
Once I said, "In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years."
I said, "I shall see the LORD no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world."
My dwelling, like a shepherd's tent, is struck down and borne away from me; You have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. Day and night you give me over to torment;
Those live whom the LORD protects; yours. . . the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life;
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 12:1-8.
At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."
In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover."
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
"O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
"Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple; I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city."
Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover.
Then Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?"
(Isaiah answered:) "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised:
See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced." So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
Book of Isaiah 38:10.11.12.16.
Once I said, "In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years."
I said, "I shall see the LORD no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world."
My dwelling, like a shepherd's tent, is struck down and borne away from me; You have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. Day and night you give me over to torment;
Those live whom the LORD protects; yours. . . the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life;
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 12:1-8.
At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."
Mt 12,1-8
Saint Aelred of Rielvaux (1110-1167), Cistercian monk
The Mirror of charity, III, 3,4 (trans. Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker)
Keeping the Sabbath
We must expend our energy in good works before we can take our rest with a peaceful conscience... And this is the joyful solemnity of our first day of rest, on which day we put aside servile works... casting down the burden of our passions.
When we have celebrated our first Sabbath in the peace of our own hearts, we can go on to consider how this heart of ours must be enlarged, so as to become a great hospice in which to «rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep» (Rom 12,15). If our brethren are weak, we must be weak with them, and when they are led to sin, we must be indignant (cf. 2Cor 11,29). Each of us must feel in soul how charity binds us to all our fellows. There must be no room in our hearts for envy or indignation, for suspicion or moroseness. On the contrary, we must gather everyone to our hearts to share in our peace, and embrace and cherish them so as to have «one heart and mind» (Acts 4,32) with them all. In our hearts there will be absolute peace from everything evil and vicious and selfish, as we rest in the gentle enjoyment of fraternal love... In this Sabbath we have... the prophet David to sing to us in a joyful strain: «Behold how good it is, how pleasant, to dwell in unity!» (Ps 133[132],1).
When we have celebrated our first Sabbath in the peace of our own hearts, we can go on to consider how this heart of ours must be enlarged, so as to become a great hospice in which to «rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep» (Rom 12,15). If our brethren are weak, we must be weak with them, and when they are led to sin, we must be indignant (cf. 2Cor 11,29). Each of us must feel in soul how charity binds us to all our fellows. There must be no room in our hearts for envy or indignation, for suspicion or moroseness. On the contrary, we must gather everyone to our hearts to share in our peace, and embrace and cherish them so as to have «one heart and mind» (Acts 4,32) with them all. In our hearts there will be absolute peace from everything evil and vicious and selfish, as we rest in the gentle enjoyment of fraternal love... In this Sabbath we have... the prophet David to sing to us in a joyful strain: «Behold how good it is, how pleasant, to dwell in unity!» (Ps 133[132],1).
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Carmel was the place where the prophet Elijah proclaimed the faith of Israel in the one God, the meeting place of God and his people.
During the Crusades, Christian hermits established themselves in caves on the mountain. In the thirteenth century, they joined together in a religious community known as the Carmelites.
Mount Carmel overlooks the plains of Galilee, not far from Nazareth, and is particularly under the protection of the blessed Virgin Mary.
May the prayers of the Virgin Mary protect us
and help us to reach Christ her Son.
and help us to reach Christ her Son.
