The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and doctor of the Church

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Jeremiah 14:17-22
Psalm 79:8, 9, 11 and 13
Matthew 13:36-43

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

All of today's readings illustrate the consequences of sin--famine, destruction, exile--great sadness. We should not be surprised by this and yet we sometimes act as if the situations in our world are unprovoked happenings. Quite the contrary, they are often due to the deliberate rejection of God’s law and the desires of His heart.

And what are the desires of His heart? They certainly don't include the world and its inhabitants suffering or being at war with one another, but yet, we are.

What are we to do?

Jesus told His disciples when they inquired about the parable of the weeds of the field that was the way things were; sin exists and the consequences will be played out. It’s not a particularly happy thought except that in the end there will be a time when all things that are wrong will be gathered together and hurled into the “fiery furnace where they will wail and grind their teeth” and all who do what is right will “shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.”

I know what option I prefer. Yet, as Jesus knows our resolve to do good can quickly fade, He admonishes us to “let everyone heed what he hears.”

Let us all be sure to heed what we hear!

- Donna Nelson, OCDS
(drn3rd at hughes dot net)