Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 30th July, 2024
Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
(Optional memorial of St Peter Chrysologus, bishop and doctor of the Church)
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah 14:17-22
Remember, Lord, do not break your covenant with us.
The Lord said to me ‘Say this word to them,
“Tears flood my eyes night and day, unceasingly, since a crushing blow falls on the daughter of my people,
a most grievous injury.
If I go into the countryside, there lie men killed by the sword; if I go into the city, I see people sick with hunger;
even prophets and priests plough the land: they are at their wit’s end.’
‘Have you rejected Judah altogether? Does your very soul revolt at Zion?
Why have you struck us down without hope of cure?
We were hoping for peace – no good came of it! For the moment of cure – nothing but terror!
Lord, we do confess our wickedness and our fathers’ guilt:
we have indeed sinned against you.
For your name’s sake do not reject us, do not dishonour the throne of your glory.
Remember us; do not break your covenant with us. Can any of the pagan Nothings make it rain?
Can the heavens produce showers? No, it is you, Lord.
O our God, you are our hope, since it is you who do all this.’
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 78
Response Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.
1. Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us. Let your compassion hasten to meet us.
for we are in the depths of distress. Response
2. O God our saviour, come to our help, come for the sake of the glory of your name.
O Lord our God, forgive us our sins; rescue us for the sake of your name. Response
3. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; let your strong arm reprieve those condemned to die.
But we, your people, the flock of your pasture, will give you thanks for ever and ever. We will tell your praise from age to age. Response
Gospel Acclamation 1 Pt 1: 25
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever: What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Alleluia!
Or
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds the seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 13:36-43 Glory to you, O Lord
Just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time.
Leaving the crowds, Jesus went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said,
‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.’
He said in reply,
‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man.
The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom;
the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil;
the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels.
Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time.
The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Listen, anyone who has ears!’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:36-43
Today’s gospel reading of the interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the darnel acknowledges that all is not well with the world. We don’t need reminding that there is much evil in our world. However, it is not a case that the church is a field of goodness and all beyond it is a field of evil. This gospel of Matthew readily acknowledges that sin is to be found in the community of believers. Peter’s question, unique to Matthew, was a very relevant one for Matthew’s community, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ (Mt 18:21).
In recent times, we have been made only two well aware of how the sins of some of the church’s most trusted members have been a source of enormous scandal for believers. We can easily make our own as a community of faith the words of Jeremiah in today’s first reading, ‘Lord, we do confess our wickedness… we have indeed sinned against you’. Yet, we can also make our own the words Jeremiah goes on to speak, ‘O our God, you are our hope’. The existence of evil, even in the holiest of places, is not a cause for disillusionment or despair. The Lord remains faithful to his flawed church and to his broken world. He continues to work among us to recreate us in his image through the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul expresses it so succinctly in his letter to the Romans, ‘where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’ (Rom 5:20). There is a great onus on us all to co-operate with the Lord who is always striving to bring the good work he has begun in us to completion.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
