Thursday, July 23
Thursday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Jeremiah 2,1-3.7-8.12-13. This word of the LORD came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should anyone presume to partake of them, evil would befall him, says the LORD. When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The priests asked not, "Where is the LORD?" Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols. Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water. Psalms 36(35),6-7ab.8-9.10-11. O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven; Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13,10-17. The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He said to them in reply, "Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because 'they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.'" Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: 'You shall indeed hear but not understand you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it". Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear! Blessed are you, Jesus Christ my Lord, who predicted your death before its time; who, at the Last Supper, wonderfully consecrated with material bread your body which redeems us; who gave it out of love to the apostles in memory of your most precious Passion; you who, by washing their feet with your most holy and noble hands, humbly gave them a model of humility.... Eternal praise to you, Jesus Christ my Lord, for this hour when you suffered on the cross, for us sinners, the greatest bitterness and the most extreme anguish; for the very acute sufferings of your wounds severely affected your soul and cruelly pierced your sacred heart; finally your heart burst, you gave up your spirit and, bowing your head, you humbly placed yourself in the hands of God your Father, and then your body experienced the cold of death... Blessed are you, Jesus Christ my Lord, who for our salvation hast allowed your side and your heart to be pierced by the spear, and who has caused streams of your precious blood to flow from your side to redeem us. Glory to you, Jesus Christ my Lord, because you wanted your blessed body to be taken down from the cross by your friends and laid in the arms of your most sorrowful mother; and because you allowed her to wrap him in cloths, that he be placed in the tomb and guarded by soldiers. Eternal honor to you, Jesus Christ my Lord, who rose from the dead on the third day; who manifested yourself alive to the witnesses of your choice; who, after forty days, ascended into heaven in the sight of many, and established there with honor your friends whom you had delivered from hell. Jubilation and eternal praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, who sent the Holy Spirit into the hearts of your disciples and developed in them an infinite love of God. Blessed are you, worthy of praise and glory forever, Jesus my Lord, who sits enthroned in your heavenly kingdom in the glory of your divinity, living bodily with your most holy members which you took from the flesh of the Virgin. And so you will come on the day of judgment to judge the souls of all, living and dead. You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.First Reading
Psalm
your faithfulness, to the clouds.
Your justice is like the mountains of God;
your judgments, like the mighty deep.
How precious is your mercy, O God!
The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;
from your delightful stream you give them to drink.
For with you is the fountain of life,
and in your light we see light.
Keep up your mercy toward your friends,
your just defense of the upright of heart.Gospel
Commentary
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