Key:
What these passages tell us about God
What these passages tell us to do
What these passages tell us not to do
Commentary
Reading 1 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!"
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 wordsto 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.
But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful wordsto 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!
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!
Alleluia JAS 1:21BC
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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 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."'"
1. There is both good and evil at work in the world. (first reading, gospel).
2. The good comes from God and it is exceedingly good. (psalm, gospel) It continues to grow and bear fruit in spite of the existence and efforts of the evil. (psalm, gospel).
3. How are we to respond to the evil? By growing the good. That was the householder’s focus in today’s gospel. That was also the primary thrust of the instruction God delivered through Jeremiah in the first reading; He instructed folks to turn from evil things to good things, things that would bless others. That inevitably happens if we “[h]umbly welcome the word” as the alleluia verse describes. That sounds a lot like the response to evil laid out in Psalm 37 and Matthew 5 & 7.
4. What are some specific ways that you can do that? The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Everyone can do one or more of those works every day and that would exponentially grow the good in the world. Plus those works will give you joy, as described in
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