My Tueday Daily Blessings, August 2, 2011

My Tuesday Daily Blessings

Be still, quiet your heart and mind, the Lord is here loving you, talking to you.............

  

Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Roman Rite Calendar) 

 

*First Reading: Nm 12:1-13

 

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on the pretext of the marriage he had contracted with a Cushite woman.
They complained, “Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks?
Does he not speak through us also?”
And the LORD heard this.
Now, Moses himself was by far the meekest man on the face of the earth.
So at once the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the meeting tent.”
And the three of them went.
Then the LORD came down in the column of cloud, and standing at the entrance of the tent,
called Aaron and Miriam.
When both came forward, he said, “Now listen to the words of the LORD:

Should there be a prophet among you, in visions will I reveal myself to him,
in dreams will I speak to him; not so with my servant Moses!
Throughout my house he bears my trust: face to face I speak to him; plainly and not in riddles.
The presence of the LORD he beholds.

Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?”

So angry was the LORD against them that when he departed,
and the cloud withdrew from the tent, there was Miriam, a snow-white leper!
When Aaron turned and saw her a leper, he said to Moses, “Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed!
Let her not thus be like the stillborn babe that comes forth from its mother’s womb
with its flesh half consumed.”
Then Moses cried to the LORD, “Please, not this! Pray, heal her!”

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 51: 3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13 

              
"Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned."

 

 

 **Gospel: Mt 15:1-2, 10-14

  

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."  Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?"  He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." 

**Reflection:  

Which is more important to God – clean hands or a clean mind and heart? The Scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus' disciples of breaking their ritual traditions. They were concerned with avoiding ritual defilement, some no doubt out of fear of God, and others out of fear of pleasing other people. Jesus points his listeners to the source of true defilement – evil desires which come from inside a person's innermost being. Sin does not just happen or force itself upon us. It first springs from the innermost recesses of our thoughts and intentions, from the secret desires which only the individual soul can conceive.  

**Prayer:  

 

"Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and make my heart like yours. Strengthen my heart and my will that I may I choose to love what is good and to hate what is evil." 

AMEN.

Sources: 

 

The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world.

 

*Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970  Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

 

**Don Schwager

 Author and Writer for  The Word Among Us

Member, Servants of the Word (c) 2006

God in his mercy sent his Son Jesus Christ to free us from our sinful cravings and burden of guilt, and to restore us to wholeness of life and goodness. But to receive his mercy and healing, we must admit our faults and ask for his forgiveness. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8-9).  When Cain was jealous of his brother, Abel, God warned him to guard his heart: "Sin is couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:7). Do you allow any sinful desires to couch at your door? We do not need to entertain or succumb to sinful desires or thoughts, but instead, through the grace of God, we can choose to put them to death rather than allow them mastery over us.

Only God can change our hearts and make them clean and whole through the power of the Holy Spirit. Like a physician who probes the wound before treating it, God through his Word and Spirit first brings to light our sinful condition that we may recognize sin for what it is and call upon God's mercy and pardon. The Lord is every ready to change and purify our hearts through his Holy Spirit who dwells within us. His power and grace enables us to choose what is good and to reject what is evil. Do you believe in the power of God's love to change and transform your heart?