1st READING
Isaiah 41:13-20
God is the ultimate provider of all that is good and all that we need to live. This does not absolve us of the responsibility to be good stewards of all that He gives us. In fact stewardship will be one of the bases by which we are judged on the Last Day. it is essential that we use the gifts that God has given us well. If we waste them then we will have to give an account of this eventually. This will not be a comfortable experience; far better to avoid it by being a good steward in the first place.
13 For I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; it is I who say to you, ?Fear not, I will help you.? 14 Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, to thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. 16 When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17 The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water. 19 I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine, 20 That all may see and know, observe and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
P S A L M
Psalm 145:1, 9, 10-11, 12-13
R: The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
1 I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. 9 The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (R) 10 Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. 11 Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might. (R) 12 Let them make known to men your might and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, and your dominion endures through all generations. (R)
G O S P E L
Matthew 11:11-15
Jesus links His own ministry to that of Elijah through the ministry of John the Baptist. Roots are important for the Jewish people as it tells us something about the person. Matthew and Luke?s Gospels give genealogies of Jesus for precisely this reason. In the same way, Jesus needs to situate His ministry within a context that has meaning for those who listen to Him. It will help them understand what He is trying to teach them! This is why Tradition is so important in the Church ? it means that we can trace our heritage back to its origins in Jesus and the Early Church. Without this unbroken Tradition, we cannot be sure of the legitimacy of the claims of any preacher. Upon what is he or she basing the Gospel they are proclaiming?
11 Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. 13 All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. 15 Whoever has ears ought to hear.
my reflections
think: It is essential that we use the gifts that God has given us well.
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God?s special verse/thought for me today________________
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T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________
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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR 2 Thessalonians 1-3