Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 1st July, 2024
Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2
Memorial of St Oliver Plunkett, bishop and martyr
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Amos 2: 6-10. 13-16
They trample on the heads of ordinary people
The Lord says this:
‘For the three crimes, the four crimes, of Israel I have made my decree and will not relent:
because they have sold the virtuous man for silver and the poor man for a pair of sandals,
because they trample on the heads of ordinary people and push the poor out of their path,
because father and son have both resorted to the same girl, profaning my holy name,
because they stretch themselves out by the side of every altar on clothes acquired as pledges,
and drink the wine of the people they have fined in the house of their god.
Yet it was I who overthrew the Amorites when they attacked,
men tall as cedars and strong as oaks, I who destroyed them,
both fruit above ground and root below.
It was I who brought you out of the land of Egypt
and for forty years led you through the wilderness
to take possession of the Amorite’s country.
See then how I am going to crush you into the ground
as the threshing-sledge crushes when clogged by straw;
flight will not save even the swift, the strong man will find his strength useless,
the mighty man will be powerless to save himself.
The bowman will not stand his ground, the fast runner will not escape,
the horseman will not save himself, the bravest warriors will run away naked that day.’
It is the Lord who speaks.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 49
Response Mark this, you who never think of God.
1. ‘How can you recite my commandments and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my law and throw my words to the winds? Response
2. ‘You who see a thief and go with him; who throw in your lot with adulterers,
who unbridle your mouth for evil and whose tongue is plotting crime. Response
3. ‘You who sit and malign your brother and slander your own mother’s son.
You do this, and should I keep silence? Do you think I am like you? Response
4. ‘Mark this, you who never think of God, lest I seize you and you cannot escape;
a sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me and I will show God’s salvation to the upright. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 8: 12
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord,
anyone who follows me will have the light of life .
Alleluia!
or Ps 94: 8
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 8:18-22 Glory to you, O Lord
Follow me.
When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side.
One of the scribes then came up and said to him,
‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go.’
Jesus replied,
‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Another man, one of his disciples, said to him,
‘Sir, let me go and bury my father first.’
But Jesus replied,
‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
********************
Gospel Reflection Monday Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 8:18-22
The request of one of Jesus’ disciples seems very understandable, ‘let me go and bury my father first’, before continuing on as Jesus disciple. After all, the burial of the dead was considered a sacred duty in the Jewish tradition. However, the disciples’ request does not necessarily mean that his father has just died and is in need of burial. More likely the man is asking to delay his departure to follow Jesus until after he has discharged his duty of caring for his aged parent until his death. His father’s death could be some time away. Jesus was saying to this disciple, who had already decided to follow Jesus, that the call to follow is more urgent than that. It can’t be put off until some indefinite time in the future.
The call is for the present moment. The disciple had a strong desire to become a close follower of Jesus but he was putting off acting on it, for family reasons. The Lord often calls us to do something in the here and now and we can be tempted to put off responding to the call until sometime in the indefinite future. When we put off acting in a way we feel called, the opportunity to act can pass us by. We may have had the experience of being prompted to do something worthwhile, without delaying, and, in spite of certain resistances in us, we responded to the prompt and then we discovered that it was well worth doing. Our calling is to be as open as possible to what the Lord is asking of us that particular day. In the words of a well-known hymn, ‘This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it’.
________________________________
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
