The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, July 31, 2001
The Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Ignatius Loyola
Complete story: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Exodus 33:7-11;34:5b-9,28
Psalm 103:6-13
Matthew 13:35-43
Full text: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
A Reflection on Today's Scripture:
In today's Gospel reading we hear Jesus say something that too often
I think we forget: namely, that sin is never a private act. As much
as the evil one wants to delude us into believing that a sinful act
is our own personal business and really doesn't affect anyone.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sin by its very nature affects everyone who comes in contact with our
sinfulness and even those who we may never see or know us; for in
failing to live God's commandments, we diminish the kingdom of God.
With this awareness, it's not hard to see that the evil of our time
is an accumulative result of the sins of many, a sometimes slow but
insidious, eroding, and corrupting process.
The consequences our sinfulness is so far reaching that if we stop to
comprehend it, we will see not only our every action in the light of
all eternity, but will recognize that what we do, can affect the
salvation of others. Every act of greedy self-centeredness, every
failure to proclaim the truth, every act of careless irreverence,
gives witness to the evil one instead of proclaiming the glory, power
and authority of God.
Loving and merciful Lord, forgive me not only the immediate
consequences of my sinfulness, but those that I may never know. Let
your divine mercy and love and the example of your Beloved Son cover
the bad example that I have given others and with your grace let me
realize that all my actions are accountable not only in the light of
my own salvation, but in that of the world.
- Donna Raye Nelson, ocds (1995)
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