The Catholic Calendar for Monday, July 24, 2006
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Micah 6:1-4, 6-8
Psalm 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
Matthew 12:38-42
St. Sharbel Makhluf, priest

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow before God most high?" (Micah 6:6)

This is a question that is most relevant today. We live in a materialistic society that seems to be constantly demanding of our time. That sometimes reciting prayers and going to church might seem more of a ritual placed into our busy lives. But God doesn't want this. "When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it? Or do you think that I am like yourself?" (Psalm 50:16-17)

Yes, we’re created in the image and likeness of God, but it is our sin that separates us from Him. Jesus, in the gospel of Matthew, describes to us that His coming is far greater than anything that has happened in the past.

Jesus proclaims how He shall unite us with His Heavenly Father through His sacrifice of dying on the cross and His resurrection three days later. This is the greatest demonstration of the love that God has for His people. And just as it was for Jonah when he came out of the whale a changed man, so too shall the world change as a result of the fact that Jesus will be in the heart of the earth (which is the home of all of mankind) for three days and three nights.

So what does Jesus ask of us for this great gift that He has given us? ". . . to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

- Danielle