Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 120
14 AUG 2016 A.D.



First Reading JER 38:4-6, 8-10

In those days, the princes said to the king:
“Jeremiah ought to be put to death;
he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city,
and all the people, by speaking such things to them;
he is not interested in the welfare of our people,
but in their ruin.”
King Zedekiah answered: “He is in your power”;
for the king could do nothing with them.
And so they took Jeremiah
and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah,
which was in the quarters of the guard,
letting him down with ropes.
There was no water in the cistern, only mud,
and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

Ebed-melech, a court official,
went there from the palace and said to him:
“My lord king,
these men have been at fault
in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah,
casting him into the cistern.
He will die of famine on the spot,
for there is no more food in the city.”
Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Cushite
to take three men along with him,
and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before
he should die.



Responsorial Psalm PS 40:2, 3, 4, 18

R.  Lord, come to my aid!

I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
R. Lord, come to my aid!

The LORD heard my cry.
He drew me out of the pit of destruction,
out of the mud of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a crag;
he made firm my steps.
R. Lord, come to my aid!

And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Many shall look on in awe
and trust in the LORD.
R. Lord, come to my aid!

Though I am afflicted and poor,
yet the LORD thinks of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, hold not back!
R. Lord, come to my aid!



Second Reading HEB 12:1-4

Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.
For the sake of the joy that lay before him
he endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,
in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.



Alleluia JN 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.



Gospel LK 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Bible Study--20th Sunday in Ordinary Time--Cycle C


"Your heart is the altar of God. It is here that the fire of intense love must burn always. You are to feed it every day with the wood of the cross of Christ, and the commemoration of his Passion." -St. Bonaventure

Great post Brother BNA. Thanks for all the hard work !

Thanks.
How long do you spend on this a week?

Y'all are very much welcome, artman54 and eb73!

Q: How much time do I spend on this posting each week?

It's like the CCW guy carrying a pistol and was asked: "Why do you carry a .45?"

His answer was: "'Cuz they don't make a .46!"

No, seriously, just a few hours. You really have to contemplate each reading--see exactly what's trying to be conveyed as best you can, and then to link it to the Gospel reading.

Another dimension is subtlety. Our Blessed Lord was a very direct and straight-forward man here on earth. He gave answers that listeners could relate to and, thus, became believers as a result of what they actually saw and heard.

...and yet...entire scholarly lifetimes can be devoted to one line in any one of the four Gospels as there is just that much stuff crammed into a few words of Jesus.

As our local Priest always reminds us in his Homilies, "you won't get too far arguing points with God-he knows EVERYTHING!"

Reminds me of the "onion" theory about doctrines--you have to slowly and methodically peel back the layers of meaning one-by-one. Or, if you prefer, it's like physics exploring the atom--there are yet more and more levels of structure, meaning, and insight the more your pursue your research and understanding.

Funny, isn't it? You can become a world-class "explorer" just by sitting down and studying God's word to yourself!

It's an adventure I love! AND if one person reading this can put faith in God, or put a larger and better faith in God, well--that's reward enough.

(...and the retirement benefits cannot be beat!)



To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour....

Yeah, that would be nice.

Unfortunately, most of us don't know how to hold eternity in the palm of our hands. In fact, most of us feel lucky if we can just hold it together until the end of the day. The problem, of course, is that mostly we've lost our minds. And I mean that literally. Our attention is endlessly lost in the endless blur of appointments, families, to-do lists, worry, concern and agitation that makes up modern life.

Sometimes, however, for the briefest moment, we do pick up a scent that there is something more going on than this daily round of survival. But those moments pass and waves of mundane urgency swallow us again. Tumbling through the chaos of our day-to-days, we wonder if Blake's vision in his poem-above of a broader, more expansive experience is nothing more than a poet's fancy. Can we really see the Universe in a grain of sand, even as we slog through traffic? Can we really hold infinity in our hands, even as we drop off the kids to violin practice?

The answer, I believe, is "yes." In fact I am sure of the answer is yes. The connection between the everyday reality we experience and boundless landscapes of cosmic beauty, inspiration and joy is actually so close, so present for us. It's there in the dust on your car, the mess on your desk and the swirling water in your sink.

How do I know this? Because I am a Christian dammit and I know that faith — under all its beliefs, trust, doctrines, ideology, creed — is really trying to teach us to see the sacred in the mundane and the profound in the prosaic. To see God in everything in our everyday lives. He made everything. He causes it and we ourselves to exist each day.

The trick is in the noticing and that happens by unpacking the question hidden in Blake's poem.

Can we really see the whole world in a grain of sand? Can we see the Creator in each created object, no matter how small or insignificant it is? He made it--it MUST be good!

Through the lens of faith we can see how even the smallest thing can be a gateway to an experience of the extraordinary in God's magnificent plan for you and me, if only we can practice noticing.

See His fingerprints everywhere.

Notice everything of God's creation here: sunrise, sunset, wonderful rain, terrible storms, birds singing--you get the picture.

We walk past a thousand, thousand natural miracles everyday, from the sun climbing in the sky to the arc of birds seen out our windows. Those miracles are there waiting for us to see them, to notice them and, most importantly, to find our delight in theirs.

To see and experience God's love for creation and His absolute and unconditional love for each one of us.

You want some transcendence? You want a life-altering experience?  I got if for ya. Let's start with those words written down some two thousand years ago by a miraculous Man/God called Jesus.

Pick up the Holy Scriptures.

(with profound help and inspiration to Adam Frank of NPR.)

Thanks for the wonderful article BNA!!
Today is the feast day of the Assumption of Mary into heaven.  Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinner now and at the hour of our death. Amen.








May all have a blessed week! I am grateful for all of you.

AF



 

Thank you sister AF and the same to you and yours.

Great post, angelfire!

What a grand and blessed day: The Assumption of our Blessed Lady.

The "Eastern Lung" of the Church calls today the Dormition of the Mother of God.

"Hail, Mary, Full of Grace..."

God works in Mysterious ways....

Last Thursday my wife & I had a falling out with my Daughter, future Son in law & his mother & father. All over having the Eucharist @ their wedding. He is Baptist but agreed to the wedding in a Catholic Church. They don't have to have it but he agreed when he asked for my blessing. I am in charge of paying for the Church & services. I have told them that I will still pay, but I rescind my blessing. His mother was not pleased. She stated how offended she was that they had to "compromise" their Faith but I wasn't willing to. I told her that I didn't think either of us should comprise. But, unfortunately, that means no marriage. I told her, that her son was told my blessing comes with stipulations. 1. Being married in the Catholic Church with a mass 2. Raising any children Catholic. He agreed 8 months ago, but now says he never agreed to that. I told him he doesn't need my blessing. He &  my daughter are adults & can do what they want. My daughter has stopped speaking with us now.

After speaking with my priest & deacon. I did what I need to do to stand for my Faith. I have no problem with not having  the mass. But, that is what my daughter "used" to want. His family believes the Eucharist would "divide them on their first day of marriage". As is God would do that. His mother scoffed @ the "raising any children Catholic". I advised my daughter that at her Confirmation she promised to uphold the tenets of the Catholic Faith & that Canon Law requires children to be raised Catholic when one of the parents arent Catholic.

My heart has been broken with they way my daughter has treated my wife & I. We thought we taught our children right.

This Gospel has helped my wife & I  in amazing ways. I have started a Novena to "Mother Mary the Undoer of Knots". I have Faith & Trust in God that everything will work out.


Thank you, BNA

Oh Skid, I totally get the heart break of seeing your kid wander when you invest so much in raising them in the faith. Don't leave out St. Monica in your prayers along with Our Lady Undoer of knots.



She isn't lost. Time and prayer will fix a lot of things. You are always in my prayers. I never know what mine are going to do. It keeps me on my knees. You are doing well just to have the nuptials and the liturgy of the Word in the Catholic church.
 

Thank you so much Angelfire! I pray for you & your family, also. I will look into St Monica. I have not heard of her devotion.

I know God & Mary will take care of it. Heck, I have 8 more chances to get it right. Lol.


ETA: I just thought it was crazy how we began going through this & then... POW! This Gospel comes around & speaks about EXACTLY what we are dealing with. Kind of cool.

My prayers are with you skid2041. Trust in God and all things will be fine.

Our Bishop asked for a votive Mass in time of war this past Sunday in place of 13th Sunday after Pentecost.  We also went to the Assumption Mass on Monday and I found those readings interesting.  It had never occurred to me that Judith was a prefigurement of Mary, but this reading does a good job of showing that.  Interesting stuff.  



Are you attend Extraordinary Form regularly now?  A new FSSP parish just opened near us (thanks to the awesome Bp. Libasci) a couple weeks ago so now instead of driving an hour for Latin Mass, it's <15 minutes.  What an unexpected blessing!  

Thank you, artman! I really appreciate it.

God Bless

Brother skid2041--what Can I say that hasn't already been said?

Our new priest, Fr. Patrick (yeah--a great Irish guy) said something very profound at last week's Mass:

"Much of life is about waiting...."

think about it and let that sink in.

we, the sums of body, spirit, and soul, are in a spider-like dimension here on earth. we cal this dimension "time."

however, God, our creator, exists OUTSIDE of both time and space. no limits. eternity, infinity.

for those of us who have even the remotest spark of his presence and want to love, honor, and adore Him--He will never forsake us.

BE PATIENT. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are working behind the scenes to accomplish GOOD in your family's life.

Good for you, BushBoar!

Thank you, BNA.

I finish my Novena tomorrow & already things are healing. God & the Blessed Mother always take care of us.