July 24, 2004
Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm: Saturday 32 
Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel
Reading I
Jer 7:1-11
The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD,
and there proclaim this message:
Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah
who enter these gates to worship the LORD!
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
Reform your ways and your deeds,
so that I may remain with you in this place.
Put not your trust in the deceitful words:
"This is the temple of the LORD!
The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"
Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds;
if each of you deals justly with his neighbor;
if you no longer oppress the resident alien,
the orphan, and the widow;
if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place,
or follow strange gods to your own harm,
will I remain with you in this place,
in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever.
But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!
Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,
burn incense to Baal,
go after strange gods that you know not,
and yet come to stand before me
in this house which bears my name, and say:
"We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again"?
Has this house which bears my name
become in your eyes a den of thieves?
I too see what is being done, says the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11
R (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Gospel
Mt 13:24-30
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
From: Matthew 13:24-30
The Parable of the Weeds
[24] Another parable he (Jesus) put before them, saying, "The kingdom
of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field;
[25] but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among
the wheat, and went away. [26] So when the plants came up and bore
grain, then the weeds appeared also. [27] And the servants of the
householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in
your field? How then has it weeds?' [28] He said to them, 'An enemy has
done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and
gather them?' [29] But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you
root up the wheat along with them. [30] Let both grow together until
the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the
weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat
into my barn.'"
Commentary:
24-25. "The situation is clear: the field is fertile and the seed is
good; the Lord of the field has scattered the seed at the right moment
and with great skill. He even has watchmen to make sure that the field
is protected. If, afterwards, there are weeds among the wheat, it is
because men have failed to respond, because they--and Christians in
particular--have fallen asleep and allowed the enemy to approach"
([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 123).
25. This weed--cockle--looks very like wheat and can easily be mistaken
for it until the ears appear. If it gets ground up with wheat it
contaminates the flour and any bread made from that flour causes severe
nausea when eaten. In the East personal vengeance sometimes took the
form of sowing cockle among an enemy's wheat. Roman law prescribed
penalties for this crime.
28. "When the careless servants ask the Lord why weeds have grown in
his field, the explanation is obvious: 'inimicus homo hoc fecit: an
enemy has done this.' We Christians should have been on guard to make
sure that the good things placed in this world by the Creator were
developed in the service of truth and good. But we have fallen
asleep--a sad thing, that sluggishness of our heart while the enemy and
all those who serve him worked incessantly. You can see how the weeds
have grown abundantly everywhere" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By",
123).
29-30. The end of this parable gives a symbolic explanation of why God
allows evil to have its way for a time--and for its ultimate
extirpation. Evil is to run its course on earth until the end of time;
therefore, we should not be scandalized by the presence of evil in the
world. It will be obliterated not in this life, but after death; at the
Judgment (the harvest) the good will go to Heaven and the bad to Hell.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
The Word Among UsSaturday, July 24, 2004
Meditation
Jeremiah 7:1-11
In his famous “Temple Sermon,” Jeremiah told it like it was. Going against the politically correct leadership of his day, he admonished the people of Jerusalem for hiding behind the reputation of the Temple while they went on offending the Lord with their sin. It’s as if they were children who treated the Temple as “home base” in a game of tag. As long as sacrifices were offered to appease the God of the Temple, they felt that they could get away with all the idolatry and injustice they wanted. All they had to do was touch home base and they would be safe.
But Jeremiah told the people in no uncertain terms that relying on the Temple instead of looking to God would lead to their destruction. And sadly enough, his warnings came to pass in 586 b.c., when the Babylonian army overran Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and sent the people into exile.
Jeremiah’s warnings to ancient Jerusalem can speak volumes to us as well. Jesus has made each of us into a temple of the Lord through his indwelling Holy Spirit. If we learn to listen to the Spirit and rely on the Spirit’s power, he promises that we can avoid the pitfalls that ensnared the Jews of Jeremiah’s time. Why? Because the Spirit wants to speak to us dynamically through Scripture and through the teachings of the Church. He wants to bring theological doctrines and ancient writings to life, making them into sources of light and hope for us.
How can you experience the Spirit transforming you into the temple of the Lord? One way is to make prayerful Scripture reading an essential part of your day. Every day, spend time with the daily Mass readings. Don’t just read the words, ponder them. Pause at a phrase or sentence that strikes you in a particular way and ask the Spirit to shine his light in you. Keep a prayer journal of the things that have touched you and review it from time to time. As you do, you’ll discover what a great teacher, comforter, and friend the Holy Spirit has been—and you will also discover how he has empowered you to “amend your ways and your doings” (Jeremiah 7:3).
“Holy Spirit, I need to be in tune with your presence. Open my heart to recognize your voice in Scripture. I trust in your promise to build me into your temple.”