July 14 2020
Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin
Reading 1 IS 7:1-9
In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah,
Rezin, king of Aram,
and Pekah, king of Israel, son of Remaliah,
went up to attack Jerusalem,
but they were not able to conquer it.
When word came to the house of David that Aram
was encamped in Ephraim,
the heart of the king and the heart of the people trembled,
as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz,
you and your son Shear-jashub,
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,
on the highway of the fuller’s field, and say to him:
Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear;
let not your courage fail
before these two stumps of smoldering brands
the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans,
and of the son Remaliah,
because of the mischief that
Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah,
plots against you, saying,
“Let us go up and tear Judah asunder, make it our own by force,
and appoint the son of Tabeel king there.”
Thus says the LORD:
This shall not stand, it shall not be!
Damascus is the capital of Aram,
and Rezin is the head of Damascus;
Samaria is the capital of Ephraim,
and Remaliah’s son the head of Samaria.
But within sixty years and five,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm
you shall not be firm!
Responsorial Psalm 48:2-3, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
R. (see 9d) God upholds his city for ever.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
is the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
For lo! the kings assemble,
they come on together;
They also see, and at once are stunned,
terrified, routed.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Quaking seizes them there;
anguish, like a woman’s in labor,
As though a wind from the east
were shattering ships of Tarshish.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Alleluia PS 95:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 11:20-24
Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the nether world.
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church
42 God transcends all creatures. We must therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited, imagebound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God –“the inexpressible, the incomprehensible, the invisible, the ungraspable”– with our human representations.16 Our human words always fall short of the mystery of God.
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
TUESDAY, JULY 14TH Mt. 11:20-24 “If today, you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Today’s Alleluia verse)
- Have we heard His voice? Yes, we have. Are our hearts hard? Sometimes!
- Jesus reproaches the towns where He has done great works because they have not repented. They have had Christ as their Teacher and He has performed mighty deeds in their midst. Leading citizens asked for and received miracles for all to see!
- It was in Capernaum that the Centurion’s servant was near death when Jesus healed him. “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; say the word and my servant will be healed.” Likewise it was here that the daughter of the Synagogue official, Jairus, was raised from the dead! Yet the people refuse to repent and believe.
- What hard hearts they have! What stubborn, stiff necked people they are! Jesus says if Tyre and Sidon (pagan cities) had seen such mighty deeds, they would have repented. Even Sodom would have repented and not been destroyed if they had seen what the citizens of Capernaum saw! Therefore, these people will face a worse fate!
- How blessed we are! At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans.” (Jn. 14:18) And He instituted two Sacraments: the Most Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood.
- Pope Pius XI summed up the identity of the priest as follows: “‘This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.’ (1 Cor 4:1) The priest is the minister of Christ, an instrument, that is to say, in the hands of the Divine Redeemer. He continues the work of the redemption in all its world-embracing universality and divine efficacy, that work that wrought so marvelous a transformation in the world. Thus the priest, as is said with good reason, is indeed ‘another Christ’; for, in some way, he is himself a continuation of Christ. ‘As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you’ is spoken to the priest, and hence the priest, like Christ, continues to give ‘glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.’” (Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii)
- How blessed we are! In every Mass, there are two parts. In the Liturgy of the Word, through the power of the priesthood, we hear the preaching of Jesus and see His miracles in the Gospels, then hear the teaching of His present day apostle in the homily. In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, through the power of the priesthood and working of the Holy Spirit, Jesus comes down from heaven to earth in the hands of the priest at the words of Consecration. So that we can be nourished by His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion.
- We experience the merciful and healing touch of Jesus in the Sacrament of Confession and know the peace that comes from hearing the words of absolution spoken by the priest, in Persona Christi.
- Through our prayer life, we’ve heard His voice and felt His Presence in our holy hours. And if we stop and think about it, we have seen miracles of grace in our lives!
- Today, Jesus is cautioning us! The Gospel either blesses or curses those who hear it! A more terrible punishment awaits those who sin against the Truth they have heard! To those to whom much is given, much is expected!
- We have heard and seen far more than the cities Jesus condemns today! It is good to ask ourselves… Are we hard-hearted? Are there times when we don’t want to hear the Truth that Jesus presents in the Gospels and through His Holy Church? Maybe we don’t want to admit we’re living in sin? We don’t want to see that we’re tepid and lukewarm when it comes to praying and fasting? We have material comforts we don’t want to give up that keep us from serving Christ wholeheartedly? We’re not ready to cut ties to worldly friends and pursuits, even though they keep us from soaring high in the spiritual life?
- Unless we put on Christ by being more concerned about pleasing God than people… Unless we live and defend the Truth of Christ as preserved and taught by His Holy Church… Unless we make a sincere effort every day to pray more fervently and practice some small act of penance… Unless we show our faith and hope in God by patient acceptance of the changing circumstances in our lives and fortunes… Unless we’re growing in charity towards others by the kindness of our actions and words, especially forgiveness and mercy… we are hard-hearted like the Jews that Jesus condemns today!
- We are called to be living witnesses to Christ as St. Paul reminds us: “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” (2 Cor 2:14-16)
- Let us beg for the grace to be the aroma of Christ in our family, in our work, and in our world!
To help us on our path to sanctity, let us take to heart the counsel of St. Teresa of Avila…
The Necessity of Growing in Sanctity… by St. Teresa of Avila
I tell you, daughters (and sons), I have known people of a very high degree of spirituality who have reached this state, and whom, notwithstanding, the devil, with great subtlety and craft, has won back to himself. For this purpose he will marshal all the powers of hell, for, as I have often said, if he wins a single soul in this way he will win a whole multitude. The devil has much experience in this matter.
If we consider what a large number of people God can draw to Himself through the agency of a single soul, the thought of the thousands converted by the martyrs gives us great cause for praising God. Think of a maiden like Saint Ursula. And of the souls whom the devil must have lost through Saint Dominic and Saint Francis and other founders of Orders, and is losing now through Father Ignatius, who found the Company (of Jesus, the Jesuits)–all of whom, of course, as we read, received such favors from God!
What did they do but endeavor that this Divine Union should not be frustrated through their fault? Oh, my daughters (and sons), how ready this Lord still is to grant us favors, just as He was then! In some ways, it is even more necessary that we should wish to receive them, for there are fewer than there used to be who think of the Lord’s honor! We are so very fond of ourselves and so very careful not to lose any of our rights! Oh, what a great mistake we make! May the Lord in His mercy give us light lest we fall into such darkness!
St. Teresa of Avila, Pray for Us!
