Reading 1 Mic 2:1-5
and work out evil on their couches;
In the morning light they accomplish it
when it lies within their power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
houses, and they take them;
They cheat an owner of his house,
a man of his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the LORD:
Behold, I am planning against this race an evil
from which you shall not withdraw your necks;
Nor shall you walk with head high,
for it will be a time of evil.
On that day a satire shall be sung over you,
and there shall be a plaintive chant:
“Our ruin is complete,
our fields are portioned out among our captors,
The fields of my people are measured out,
and no one can get them back!”
Thus you shall have no one
to mark out boundaries by lot
in the assembly of the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14
Why, O LORD, do you stand aloof?
Why hide in times of distress?
Proudly the wicked harass the afflicted,
who are caught in the devices the wicked have contrived.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
For the wicked man glories in his greed,
and the covetous blasphemes, sets the LORD at nought.
The wicked man boasts, “He will not avenge it”;
“There is no God,” sums up his thoughts.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
His mouth is full of cursing, guile and deceit;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
He lurks in ambush near the villages;
in hiding he murders the innocent;
his eyes spy upon the unfortunate.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,
taking them in your hands.
On you the unfortunate man depends;
of the fatherless you are the helper.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
Alleluia 2 Cor 5:19
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mt 12:14-21
The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesusto put him to death.
When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.
Many people followed him, and he cured them all,
but he warned them not to make him known.
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I shall place my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not contend or cry out,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope.
THE MEETINGS OF THE MINDS
"Woe to those who plan iniquity, and work out evil on their couches." –Micah 2:1
At this moment, groups of intelligent and gifted people are meeting to "plan iniquity and work out evil." International institutions and CEOs of mass media conglomerates are planning a "conspiracy against life." Pope St. John Paul II called this an "objective" conspiracy. It is not merely his or anyone else's opinion. He is not paranoid but facing the facts (Gospel of Life, 17).
We Christians are also called to meet and plan. Though meetings are sometimes much maligned, nonetheless, those meetings conducted to the glory of the Father, under the lordship of Jesus, and in the power of the Spirit can be used by God to transform the face of the earth (Ps 104:30).
Before the first Christian Pentecost, the Lord led His disciples not only to have a prayer meeting but a business meeting (Acts 1:15ff). Peter led the meeting. He brought up some Scriptures and applied them to the need to replace Judas. The disciples in the upper room had to decide on how the Lord wanted His Church to be structured, the criteria for being an apostle, and the process of making this decision. After the work of this meeting, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, and the Church was born. Meet in the Spirit, and receive the Spirit in new ways.
| PRAYER: | Jesus, may every meeting proclaim that You are Lord (see Phil 2:11). |
| PROMISE: | "In His name, the Gentiles will find hope." –Mt 12:21 |
| PRAISE: | The Carmelites purchased a seminary and prayed fervently for vocations. When enrollments dried up, they were forced to sell it to a Protestant group who used the building as a seminary. This seminary has produced over fifty Protestant ministers who have since converted to the Catholic Church. |
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