July 19 – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time : God gives many chances

 
First Reading  Wisdom 12:13,16-19 God has shown himself to be a God of justice and mercy.
Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 86:5-6,9-10,15-16 A prayer to God for mercy.
Second Reading  Romans 8:26-27 The Spirit intercedes for us with God.
Gospel ReadingMatthew 13:24-43 (shorter form: Matthew 13:24-30)
 
 
Central to today’s parable of the wheat and the weeds is the preciousness of the wheat. God is patient, kind, and loving like a grandparent. If you want to know what God is like, picture that farmer in the Gospel. The servants wanted to go and pull up the weeds, and the farmer says, "Well, let's not be too hasty, too quick to judge. Let's give it some time. The landowner refuses to lose any of it in order to get rid of the weeds. “We might pull out some wheat thinking it's a weed." That's God speaking. And it's a picture of God that Jesus himself gives us. And it's the way God treats us, because God loves us very, very much. In its present stage, the world is composed of the good and the bad. The judgment of God alone will eliminate the sinful. Until then there must be patience and the preaching of repentance. We can learn much from God’s patience as we see him allow both the good and the evil to grow together. God wants all to be saved that’s why He keeps the sinner in the world. God gives us many chances and opportunities to repent. What is the weed in me?

July 12 - Fifteenth Sunday of the Ordinary Time: God’s Word

 
First Reading  Isaiah 55:10-11 The Word of the Lord shall achieve its purpose.
Responsorial Psalm   Psalm 65:10-14 A prayer of praise to God for his abundance.
Second Reading   Romans 8:18-23 Together with all of creation, we await God’s redemption.
Gospel ReadingMatthew 13:1-23 (shorter form: Matthew 13:1-9)
 
In today’s Gospel Jesus describes four possible responses to the word of God. The seed on the foot path refers to those people who quickly lose the word because they do not understand it. The seed on rocky ground describes those who have no firm foundation. The seed fallen among thorns relates to those who receive the good news, but later abandon it for the lure of the world. Finally, the seed on good soil describes those who hear the word of God, accept it, and conform their lives to it. 

July 5 – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time : Being gentle

First Reading
Zechariah 9:9-10 The Lord shall come to reign in Zion.
Responsorial PsalmPsalm 145:1-2,8-11,13-14 A prayer of praise to God who is our king.
Second ReadingRomans 8:9,11-13 Those in whom the Spirit of God dwells must now live according to the Spirit, not the flesh.
Gospel ReadingMatthew 11:25-30
 
Todays Gospel contains an important invitation for all of us. It invites us to learn from Jesus because he is "gentle and humble of heart". a beautiful example of the gentleness of Jesus is the way he handled the case of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus didn't shout and rave. he didn't scream and yell. He simple bent over, gentle, and wrote in the sand with his finger. His action stood out like a clap of thunder in the silence of a summer's night. Let us learn from Jesus how to be gentle when the world wants us to be proud and humble when the world wants us to be aggressive.