Monday, July 30, 2012 (Weekday)

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
God told me, "God replied to me," they assert--- and yet most of the time they are talking to themselves.
-- St. John of the Cross

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Jeremiah 13:1-11
The Linen Shorts 13
1 The Lord told me to go and buy myself some linen shorts and to put them on; but he told me not to put them in water.
2 So I bought them and put them on. 3 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said,
4 “Go to the Euphrates River and hide the shorts in a hole in the rocks.”

5 So I went and hid them near the Euphrates.
6 Some time later the Lord told me to go back to the Euphrates and get the shorts.
7 So I went back, and when I found the place where I had hidden them, I saw that they were ruined and were no longer any good.
8 Then the Lord spoke to me again. He said,
9 “This is how I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 These evil people have refused to obey me. They have been as stubborn and wicked as ever, and have worshiped and served other gods. So then, they will become like these shorts that are no longer any good. 11 Just as shorts fit tightly around the waist, so I intended all the people of Israel and Judah to hold tightly to me. I did this so that they would be my people and would bring praise and honor to my name; but they would not obey me.”

Psalm: Deuteronomy 32:18-21
18 They forgot their God, their mighty savior,
 the one who had given them life.
19 “When the Lord saw this, he was angry and rejected his sons and daughters.
20 ‘I will no longer help them,’ he said; ‘then I will see what happens to them, those stubborn, unfaithful people.
21 With their idols they have made me angry, jealous with their so-called gods, gods that are really not gods.
 So I will use a so-called nation to make them angry; I will make them jealous with a nation of fools.

Gospel: Matthew 13:31-35
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
 (Mark 4.30-32; Luke 13.18, 19) 31 Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field.
32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.”
 The Parable of the Yeast
 (Luke 13.20, 21)
33 Jesus told them still another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with a bushel of flour until the whole batch of dough rises.”
 Jesus' Use of Parables
 (Mark 4.33, 34)
34 Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable.
35  He did this to make come true what the prophet had said, “I will use parables when I speak to them; I will tell them things unknown since the creation of the world.”