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The Catholic Calendar for Monday, July 29, 2002 The Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time St. Martha, disciple of the Lord Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word: Jeremiah 13:1-11 Deuteronomy 32:18-21 John 11:19-27 A reflection on today's Scripture. . . . "Mary has chosen the better part...." (Luke 10:42) Nothing hinders the development of intimacy between individuals more than failure to communicate; too often people forget that this is a two-way street. Problems and frustrations develop in relationships when one is so intent on his own thoughts or feelings that he fails to listen to the other; he becomes distracted, preoccupied with thinking of what next to say or do and misses the real sense of what is being said; then lacking a mutual understanding, the two remain distant. This same situation applies to our relationship with God when our hearts remain focused on ourselves, our desires, ambitions and duties. We then become idolaters by tuning God out and hearing only ours and the world's selfish, self-fulfilling call. The prophet Jeremiah relays the Lord's severe reprimands to the Israelites who had put "strange gods" in His place. Nothing must take precedence over our seeking for God and His kingdom; for as His creatures our ultimate fulfillment is in Him alone. Today, as we celebrate Martha's discipleship, we recall that she too at one point became temporarily distracted by the less important concern of feeding her guests when Jesus had come to her and her sister Mary to give them spiritual nourishment. Yet, she thoroughly redeemed her error when she declared Jesus to be the Messiah and further implied that though her brother Lazarus had died, He, being the Lord of life Who through His Father and Spirit could accomplish whatever He willed and deemed best, could even raise the dead. Blessed Redeemer, cleanse us of all idolatry and focus our minds and hearts on all that leads to life in You, that we may one day see You face to face. Amen. - Marie Bocko, ocds YOU CAN HELP to evangelize the Word of God: Please recommend our website to your friends and Catholic webmasters at: http://www.borg.com/~joachim/DailyMeds.html (case sensitive). ARCHIVED Meditations: http://www.abcsoffaith.com/quiet/quietplace.html and at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] For ALL communications, including subscribe/unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (c)2002 The Way, The Truth, The Life. Permission granted to make reprints of the meditations or to post on any web page, except for profit. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms (c)1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Full text from the New American Bible: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm Lives of the Saints: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/ |
Title: Meditation: Monday, July 29, 2002
