Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 9th July, 2024
Tuesday of the 14th week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional memorial of Ss Augustine Zhao Rong, priest and Companions, martyrs
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Hosea 8:4-7. 11-13
They sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind.
Thus says the Lord:
They have set up kings, but not with my consent, and appointed princes, but without my knowledge.
Out of their own silver and gold they have made idols, which are doomed to destruction.
I spurn your calf, Samaria, my anger blazes against it.
(How long will it be before they purge themselves of this, the sons of Israel?)
A workman made the thing, this cannot be God! Yes, the calf of Samaria shall go up in flames.
They sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind;
their wheat will yield no ear, the ear will yield no flour,
or, if it does, foreigners will swallow it.
Ephraim has built altar after altar, they have only served him as occasion for sin.
Were I to write out the thousand precepts of my Law for him,
they would be paid no more attention than those of a stranger.
They love sacrificing; right, let them sacrifice! They love meat; right, let them eat it!
The Lord takes no pleasure in these.
He is now going to remember their iniquity and punish their sins;
they will have to go back to Egypt.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 113b
Response Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord.
Or Alleluia!
l. Our God, he is in the heavens; he does whatever he wills.
The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Response
2. They have mouths but they cannot speak; they have eyes but they cannot see;
they have ears but they cannot hear; they have nostrils but they cannot smell. Response
3. With their hands they cannot feel; I with their feet they cannot walk.
Their makers will become like them: so will all who trust in them. Response
4. Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord; he is their help and their shield.
Sons of Aaron, trust in the Lord; he is their help and their shield. Response
Gospel Acclamation Eph 1: 17. 18
Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia!
Or Jn 10: 27
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord. I know my own and my own know me.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 9:32-38 Glory to you, O Lord
The harvest is rich but the labourers are few.
A man was brought to Jesus, a dumb demoniac. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb man spoke and the people were amazed.
‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel’ they said.
But the Pharisees said,
‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts out devils.’
Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness. And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 9:32-38
In today’s first reading, the Lord bemoans the fact that the people of Samaria consider a human-made idol to be God. The opposite is the case in the gospel reading. The Pharisees identify what is of God as from the prince of devils, considering Jesus’ healing ministry to be inspired by Satan. We can be prone to treating as divine what is merely human while failing to recognize the ways that God is indeed actively working among us. According to the responsorial psalm, ‘God… is in the heavens; he does whatever he wills’. Yet, God became flesh in Jesus and God continues to work powerfully in and through the risen Jesus. We need to keep praying for eyes to recognize the various ways that God continues to work among us through his Son, while not assigning divine status to what is purely human.
In the words of the alleluia verse for today, we need to pray that ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ would ‘enlighten the eyes of our mind’. Jesus had this clarity of vision. He often recognized that those who claimed to speak for God were not in fact speaking for God. He also recognized that certain human experiences could speak powerfully to us of God, such as the shepherd who leaves his flock to look for the one sheep who has strayed and the father who welcomes back his renegade son with a feast. To begin to see with the eyes of the Lord, we need, in the words of today’s psalm, to ‘constantly seek his face’. In seeking the Lord’s face in prayer we acquire something of his vision, and we need his vision if we are to become those labourers in the harvest he speaks of in the gospel reading.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
