GOSPEL

July 27, 2019 (Saturday) 16th Week in Ordinary Time Blessed Virgin Mary Psalter: Week 4/(Green/ White) Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15 Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.

1st Reading: Exodus 24:3-8

Moses came and told the people all the words of Yahweh and all his laws. The people replied with one voice: “Everything that Yahweh has said, we shall do.”

Moses wrote down all the words of Yahweh, then rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with 12 raised stones for the 12 tribes of Israel.

He then sent young men from among the sons of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks as peace offerings to Yahweh.

And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins; and with the other half of the blood he sprinkled the altar.

He then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, “All that Yahweh said we shall do and obey.”

Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people saying, “Here is the blood of the Covenant that Yahweh has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus told the people another parable, “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man, who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came, and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared. Then, the servants of the owner came, and said to him, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’

He answered them, ’This is the work of an enemy.’ They asked him,

‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ He told them, ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let them grow together, until harvest; and, at harvest time, I will say to the workers: Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Reflection:

“This is the work of an enemy.”

Evil is in opposition to God. Its primary intent is to destroy the good that God has made: everything that bears God’s love, anything that expresses his goodness.

Jesus recognizes and identifies the existence of evil in the world and its capacity to wield destructive power within the created order. He is aware of its power to inflict suffering and pain. The evil one is out there simply to destroy God’s beautiful creation, humans and nonhumans alike; and his main agent of destruction is humanity itself. Just as we can be instruments of God’s goodness, so too can we become means of unleashing this evil power. The evil one’s focus of ruination is “relationships.” Relationship is a basic element within creation. Human society, family, friendship collapse, when relationship breaks down. The environment, the natural world, decline, when human relationship with them is characterized by alienation. What are the forms and manner that the evil one uses to ruin relationships?