Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me. … St. Patrick
(Spend some time in awareness of Christ's presence to you. Rest in His love.) |
GN 37:3-4, 12-13A, 17B-28A;
PS 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
MT 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
"Hear another
parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same
way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"
They answered him,
"He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will
give him the produce at the proper times."
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from
you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
Reflection on the
Scriptures |
Today’s readings are about speaking the truth and hearing it. Both in the Old Testament reading from Genesis and the Gospel reading from Matthew, Joseph tries to speak the truth to his brothers who do not want to hear it and Jesus speaks the truth through a parable that the priests and Pharisees do not want to hear. In both instances, the speakers are either threatened with death or killed. But truth is truth
and eventually it will be heard no matter how long those who don’t wish to hear it avoid it. In Joseph’s case, we learn in later chapters that the truth of his dream-based prophecies from God earn him the trust of those who initially enslave or imprison him. In Jesus’ case, the truth of his parables earn him the trust of the people – which prevents him from being arrested because the leaders fear a revolt.
But faith plays a central role as well. Faith in the truth being spoken carries the speakers through all the disbelief to eventual vindication. Without faith, the strength to continue speaking the truth in the face of adversity may wane. We are now living in an era where truth as fact is being heavily debated and counter-truths are being offered masquerading as truth. This makes adherence to the truth even more difficult. But
faith can keep us on the right path! In the end, like Joseph and Jesus, we will be vindicated.
- by Mike Kelly Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 36 “My sin shall
not hinder His Goodness working. . . . A deed shall be done—as we come to Heaven—and it may be known here in part;—though it be truly taken for the general Man, yet it excludeth not the special. For what our good Lord will do by His poor creatures, it is now unknown to me”
Thus was this deed seen and understood in our Lord’s signifying: and the cause why He shewed it is to make us rejoice in Him and in all His works. When I saw His Shewing continued,
I understood that it was shewed for a great thing that was for to come, which thing God shewed that He Himself should do it: which deed hath these properties aforesaid. And this shewed He well blissfully, signifying that I should take it myself faithfully and trustingly.
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