Reading 1
Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
When Hezekiah was mortally ill,
the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him:
"Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order,
for you are about to die; you shall not recover."
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord:
"O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly
I conducted myself in your presence,
doing what was pleasing to you!"
And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: "Go, tell Hezekiah:
Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David:
I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.
I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the Lord's temple;
I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria;
I will be a shield to this city."
Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken
and applied to the boil, that he might recover.
Then Hezekiah asked,
"What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?"
Isaiah answered:
"This will be the sign for you from the LORD
that he will do what he has promised:
See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun
on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz
go back the ten steps it has advanced."
So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
Gospel
Mt 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
"See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
He said to the them, "Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."
Meditation: 1 Kings 18:20-39
Answer me, that this people may know that you, Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to their senses. (1 Kings 18:37)
Elijah prayed these words on Mount Carmel when he was asking the Lord to send a fire upon the sacrifice that he had doused with water. He knew that if the Israelites witnessed the Lord’s power, they would repent of their idolatry and turn back to the one, true God.
Elijah’s faith and God’s spectacular response to that faith may seem to have little to do with our lives. After all, Elijah was a great prophet, and we’re just ordinary believers trying to get by in this world. But none of us should think that we can’t manifest God’s power and bring people “back to their senses” (1 Kings 18:37).
Two thousand years of Christian history have shown that nothing is more convincing than the witness of Christian love. Not even Elijah’s pyrotechnics can compare with the way a single, humble believer can be a “living gospel” demonstrating the love that Jesus showed on the cross. What’s more, it doesn’t have to be a super heroic, one-in-a-million love. An unexpected word of kindness, a ready willingness to forgive, a small sacrifice of time or resources, a decision to turn the other cheek over a minor offense: All these actions reveal a God who is alive and who works through the people who call on his name.
If you prefer a more direct approach, something closer to the dramatic scene in today’s first reading, there is always prayer. It takes a certain kind of courage to offer to pray with a person who is struggling in some way. And the situation doesn’t always lend itself to this kind of intervention. But we should always be ready should the opportunity arise. Why? Because not only does shared prayer speak volumes about our love for that person; it also opens the floodgates of God’s blessings, just as Elijah’s prayer brought down the fire of God.
May we all become vessels of God’s love and grace. May the world come to see him through us!
“Father, I want everyone to know about your wondrous deeds. Give me at least one opportunity today to manifest your power and love to someone whose faith is weak.”
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