Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 12, 2021
Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 389
Reading I
A new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
He said to his subjects, “Look how numerous and powerful
the people of the children of Israel are growing, more so than we ourselves!
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase;
otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies
to fight against us, and so leave our country.”
Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the children of Israel
to oppress them with forced labor.
Thus they had to build for Pharaoh
the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses.
Yet the more they were oppressed,
the more they multiplied and spread.
The Egyptians, then, dreaded the children of Israel
and reduced them to cruel slavery,
making life bitter for them with hard work in mortar and brick
and all kinds of field work—the whole cruel fate of slaves.
Pharaoh then commanded all his subjects,
“Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews,
but you may let all the girls live.”
Responsorial Psalm
- (8a) Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us–
let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us–
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive,
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept
the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us
a prey to their teeth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers’ snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Alleluia
- Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples,
he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.
Reflection: PEOPLE WHO FORGET THEIR STORIES
One cannot but think of the prevailing situations of inhumanity, cruel hegemony, political manipulation, socio-economic oppression and human right violations all over the world, when we read the first reading today! When we find ourselves in front of these suffering brothers and sisters, we cannot close our eyes or switch off our minds. No one can be neutral, in our own way we have to take our stand - if we try staying neutral, so many memories will come crowding into our minds: the world wars, the holocaust, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki, the Srilankan tamil carnage... how many of these can we ward off from our minds? Not only did the Pharaoh not know the history of Joseph and things that happened in his predecessors' times, even the people seemed to have forgotten their origins - of how they reached Egypt and why they reached there and that they were there only for a while, that the Lord had said they will move to "their" land later! They began to think Egypt was their land and they would be there for eternity. They forgot their story. The Lord had to remind them. The world today too has this spiritual amnesia! That is why the Lord comes with the sword, with fire... that we may wake up and wake up the world, and bring ourselves back as people who are mindful of our stories, our experiences, all that we have enjoyed from the Lord and all that we have promised the Lord and all that we have neglected so far. At times when we face turmoil, we need to turn back to our stories thus far and draw consolation and inspiration from there. In those moments of struggle, as people of God we need to realise that we are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken (2 Cor 4:8). Let us pay heed that we do not become people who forget their stories.