Collaborators of Christ in His Gut-Bursting Mercy, 14th Tuesday (II), July 5, 2022

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Chapel of the Vincentian Seminary, Krakow, Poland
Tertio Millennio Seminar
July 5, 2022
Hos 8:4-7.11-13, Ps 115, Mt 9:32-38

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following points were attempted: 

  • We’ve just watched together the gripping documentary John Paul II: Liberating A Continent from Communism. Today in the Gospel we enter into the story on which it is ultimately based, which would could entitle, Jesus Christ: Liberating the World from the Evil One.
  • His exorcism meant that he was quite special, and the Pharisees opposed him. We see similar opposition to God’s work in the passage from Hosea and from the Psalm, in which the people became like the lifeless statues they worshipped.
  • Jesus came to liberate us from the evil one by his mercy. We ready in the Gospel that his heart was moved with pity — splangchnizomai — for the crowds who were mangled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus encouraged them to pray to the harvest master for laborers. Tomorrow we’ll see he will call those very ones who prayed. He similarly taught, fed, healed and forgave out of the same gut-bursting-sick-to-his-stomach love. St. John Paul II received the Lord’s mercy in these five ways and sought to extend it. The Lord hopes that we will do likewise.
  • Every Mass we have all five forms of these mercy in action. If we receive the Lord’s merciful love consequentially, then, God-willing, we will be listed in the credits at the end of the great drama of the divine liberation of the human race by Mercy Incarnate.

 

Reading 1

Thus says the LORD:
They made kings in Israel, but not by my authority;
they established princes, but without my approval.
With their silver and gold they made
idols for themselves, to their own destruction.
Cast away your calf, O Samaria!
my wrath is kindled against them;
How long will they be unable to attain
innocence in Israel?
The work of an artisan,
no god at all,
Destined for the flames—
such is the calf of Samaria!

When they sow the wind,
they shall reap the whirlwind;
The stalk of grain that forms no ear
can yield no flour;
Even if it could,
strangers would swallow it.

When Ephraim made many altars to expiate sin,
his altars became occasions of sin.
Though I write for him my many ordinances,
they are considered as a stranger’s.
Though they offer sacrifice,
immolate flesh and eat it,
the LORD is not pleased with them.
He shall still remember their guilt
and punish their sins;
they shall return to Egypt.

Responsorial Psalm

R. (9a) The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
R. The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They have mouths but speak not;
they have eyes but see not;
They have ears but hear not;
they have noses but smell not.
R. The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They have hands but feel not;
they have feet but walk not.
Their makers shall be like them,
everyone that trusts in them.
R. The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
The crowds were amazed and said,
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said,
“He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

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