My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. – Psalm 84:3

       I looked up the definition of the word “yearn” in Google and this is the first one I got: “have an intense feeling of longing for something, typically something that one has lost or been separated from.”

       The last part of this definition struck me. It reminded me of what St. Augustine once said: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.” I believe that there will always be a part of us, believer or unbeliever alike, that will yearn to be with God because we were all made for heaven. And unless we find our way back to Him, we will never be at peace. He is the missing piece that will complete us.

       I love the song “As the Deer.” May we long for God as a deer longs for water; for in truth, we cannot last long without God in our lives. I invite you to sing with me these lines: “As the deer panteth for the water. So my soul longeth after thee. You alone are my heart’s desire. And I long to worship thee.” Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag (teregmps@yahoo.com)

Reflection: Do you yearn for God above all? Or are there other things or people you yearn for more than God? Why?

May I desire no one and nothing more than You, my Lord and my God. May I find my home in Your altar.

Jeremiah cannot understand why the people continue to listen to and follow false prophets. This is the perverse nature of sin. As disciples of Jesus, let us discern His word well so that we will always walk in God’s ways and not the world’s. It is God’s ways that will redeem us; the world will only take us away from Him.

Jeremiah 7:1-11

1 The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 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! 3 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. 4 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! 5 Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; 6 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, 7 will I remain with you in this place, in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever. 8 But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss! 9 Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not, 10 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’? 11 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.

Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6, 8, 11

R: How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

2 [3] My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (R) 3 [4] 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) 4 [5] Blessed they who dwell in your house! Continually they praise you. 5 [6] Blessed the men whose strength you are! 7 [8] They go from strength to strength. (R) 10 [11] 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)

GOSPEL

We are sinners and have patterns of sin in our lives. This is not good but it is not a reason to despair. God is a merciful judge and will help us to overcome our sins if we allow Him. We have to surrender our lives to His grace if we want victory over sin. We need to persevere in fighting against sin. It takes time to overcome the bad habits of our past.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.

Matthew 13:24-30

24 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. 26 When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. 27 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?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. 30 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.’”

think: God is a merciful judge and will help us to overcome our sins if we allow Him.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Tobit 8-11

OUR HEARTS – A MIXTURE OF GOOD AND BAD

While driving from Nazareth towards Galilee, I saw a strange field. I stopped, got out of the car, and took a closer look. It was a barley field, but there were more weeds than barley plants. It was a totally neglected field and I remembered the parable Jesus told about the wheat and weeds.

       It is quite clear what Jesus tries to tell with this parable. When God created the world, “He saw that it was very good.” And yet, the next pages of the Bible tell about so many evil things in the world. When Jesus preached, He wanted nothing more than to bring God’s love into the world distorted by evil. He wanted to create a family of followers who would reflect God’s love and compassion. But He was very realistic. He knew that this was utopia, that nowhere in this world something could be 100 percent good. We just have to look at his chosen Twelve Apostles.

       The late Fr. Benedict Groeschel, known to many from EWTN, once wrote, “The day He (Jesus) told them, ‘Do this in memory of Me’ — on that day they ran out on Him… It is the anniversary of the day when the first priests failed miserably… Does that tell you something about the Church? Is it the true Church? Yes. But in this world, it is a collection of poor sinners.” Nowhere in the world, nowhere in the Church, nowhere among and in ourselves do we find ‘pure wheat.’ It is always mixed with the weeds of evil. The sentence about God’s ‘very good’ creation and this parable make it clear that evil does not come from God, as some dare to conclude when they see so much evil in the world. The world as well as our heart is the battlefield where good and evil constantly fight. We are, and that’s the reality, a mixture of good and evil, of ‘wheat and weeds.’”

       Is evil stronger? No. It all depends on how much we human beings allow evil to win a battle. It depends on how strong we reject temptations to do something contrary to the will of God. We should never blame God when we see evil. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you allow temptations to win the battle in your heart?

Lord, You were very realistic and knew that nothing and nobody will ever be totally good. But You gave us the sacraments to strengthen us for the ongoing battles in our hearts. May I never be overwhelmed by evil but respond with Your love and compassion. Amen.