FIRST READING
Jeremiah 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!” 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 words to 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
Psalm 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!
ALLELUIA
James 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.
GOSPEL
Matthew 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 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.”’”
REFLECTIONS:
What can malicious weed-sowing tell us about the
kingdom of God? The image Jesus uses here is a common everyday example
of planting, harvesting, and sorting the good fruit from the bad. Weeds
can spoil and even kill a good harvest if they are not separated and destroyed
at the proper time. Uprooting them too early, though, can destroy the good
plants in the process. Just as nature teaches us patience, so God's patience
also teaches us to guard the word which he has planted in our hearts and
to beware of the destructive force of sin and deception which can destroy
it. God's word brings life, but Satan, the father of lies, seeks to destroy
the good seed which God plants in the hearts of those listen to his word.
God's judgment is not hasty, but it does come. And in the end, God will
reward each according to what they have sown and reaped in this life. In
that day God will separate the evil from the good. Do you allow God's word
to take deep root in your heart?
"Lord Jesus, may your word take deep root in my heart and that I may
bear good fruit for your glory. May I hunger for your righteousness now
that I may look forward to the day of judgment with joy rather than with
dismay."
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