Lectionary: 325
Reading 1
Heb 12:4-7, 11-15
Brothers and sisters:
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children:
My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when reproved by him;
for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;
he scourges every son he acknowledges.
Endure your trials as “discipline”;
God treats you as his sons.
For what Ason” is there whom his father does not discipline?
At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who are trained by it.
So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.
Strive for peace with everyone,
and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God,
that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble,
through which many may become defiled.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a
R. (see 17) The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,
For he knows how we are formed;
he remembers that we are dust.
R. The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
But the kindness of the LORD is from eternity
to eternity toward those who fear him,
And his justice toward children’s children
among those who keep his covenant.
R. The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Alleluia
Jn 10:27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mk 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
THEME: HAVING OUR DIFFERENCES
"Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord." –Hebrews 12:5
When many of today's Christians hear about the discipline of the Lord, they think of getting up early for Mass, being faithful to daily prayer and Bible reading, fasting, and persevering in a commitment. When the writer of Hebrews thought of discipline, he thought of Christians having their blood shed (Heb 12:4) and being martyred. The people to whom the book of Hebrews was addressed also knew discipline to be public insult and trial, imprisonment, and the confiscation of their possessions by the government (Heb 10:33-34). Our disciplines seem to be luxuries compared with their discipline.
The difference in the ways we and the Hebrews look at discipline shows that we live in different times. Violent persecution has not hit that close to home for most of us. However, our differences may also indicate that our lives in Christ are watered-down, sissified, non-threatening to the devil, and sinfully bland. What do you think?
PRAYER: Father, I come to light a fire on the earth (see Lk 12:49).
PROMISE: "Strive for peace with all men, and for that holiness without which no one can see the Lord. See to it that no man falls away from the grace of God; that no bitter root springs up through which many may become defiled." –Heb 12:14-15
PRAISE: Jesus gave Benny a special birthday present. Jesus delivered him from smoking three packs of cigarettes a day for thirty-five years.
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