Churches of the Day

Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2

Saints of the Day: Jul 29 - St Martha, Mary and Lazarus of Bethany (1st century)
C/f A short look at the life of these saints can be found below today's Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING

A reading from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah             15:10. 16-21
Why is my suffering continual? If you come back, I will take you back into my service.

Woe is me, my mother, for you have borne me to be a man of strife and of dissension for all the land.
I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of them curse me.
When your words came, I devoured them: your word was my delight
and the joy of my heart; for I was called by your name, Lord, God of Hosts.
I never took pleasure in sitting in scoffers' company;
with your hand on me I held myself aloof, since you had filled me with indignation.
Why is my suffering continual, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Do you mean to be for me a deceptive stream with inconstant waters?

 To which the Lord replied,
'If you come back, I will take you back into my service;
and if you utter noble, not despicable, thoughts, you shall be as my own mouth.
They will come back to you, but you must not go back to them.
I will make you a bronze wall fortified against this people.
They will fight against you but they will not overcome you, because I am with you to save you and to deliver you –
it is the Lord who speaks.
I mean to deliver you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the clutches of the violent.'

The Word of the Lord        Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm   Ps 58: 2-5. 10-11. 17-18. R/v 17
Response                           O God, you have been a refuge in the day of my distress.

1. Rescue me, God, from my foes; protect me from those who attack me.
O rescue me from those who do evil and save me from blood-thirsty men.                         Response

2. See, they lie in wait for my life; powerful men band together against me.
For no offence, no sin of mine, Lord, for no guilt of mine they rush to take their stand. Response

3. O my Strength, it is you to whom I turn, for you, O God, are my stronghold,
the God who shows me love.                                                                                                           Response

4. As for me, I will sing of your strength and each morning acclaim your love
for you have been my stronghold, a refuge in the day of my distress.                                   Response

5. O my Strength, it is you to whom I turn, for you, O God, are my stronghold,
the God who shows me love.                                                                                                          Response

Gospel Acclamation          Ps 118: 105
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path.
Alleluia!

Or                                                Jn 15: 15     
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia

GOSPEL 

The Lord be with you.                                And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew  13:44-46      Glory to you, O Lord
He sells everything he owns and buys the field.

Jesus said to the crowds:
'The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found;
he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.'

'Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls;
when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.'

The Gospel of the Lord.        Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection       Wednesday        Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time       Matthew 13:44-46

Farmers working away on their land or in a local bog have often stumbled upon some great treasure. Looking for treasure was the furthest thing from their mind. They were just going about their daily work. However, out of the blue, they hit upon something which turned out to be a very precious object. Many of the treasures in our national museum were found in that way. This is the kind of situation we find in the first parable that Jesus speaks. Probably a day labourer working in someone’s field finds an unexpected treasure and in his joy he sells everything he owns to buy the field with its treasure. Jesus is saying that we can sometimes stumble upon the treasure of the kingdom of heaven in this way.

We are going about our daily lives, without thinking of the Lord at all, and, suddenly, we have a sense of the Lord’s presence. The Lord touches our lives out of the blue in a way that leaves us feeling we have been blessed with a great treasure. The Lord can break through to us even when we are not looking for him. The second parable is a little different. The rich merchant was looking for a particular treasure, a pearl of great value. Eventually, after much searching he found it and he sells all he owns to buy it. The one who searched eventually found. Through this parable the Lord is saying to us that if we keep seeking him we will find him. As Jesus says elsewhere in the gospels, ‘Seek and you will find’. We need to keep seeking the Lord, but the first parable reminds us that the Lord is always seeking us and, sometimes, he will find us, touch our lives, at a time when he is far from our mind and heart. There is always a greater search going on than our search of the Lord and that is the Lord’s search of us.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saints of the Day: Jul 29 - St Martha, Mary and Lazarus of Bethany (1st century)

Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus of Bethany. Honoured for her confession of faith in the Lord in which she beseeched him to restore life to her dead brother (John 11:27). All three were great friends to Jesus and he enjoyed their family hospitality. Pope Francis upgraded the original feast to formally include Mary and Lazarus in 2021.

Martha is the patron saint of active, practical women, perhaps unfairly contrasted with her more laid back and "contemplative" sister Mary. Both were sisters of Lazarus of Bethany. Martha is the woman of faith, who said:
"I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world" (Jn 11:27).

Patrick Duffy reviews their profile.

Patron of food professionals and home-makers
In Aramaic the name Martha means "the lady, the mistress", the feminine counterpart of "the master". In the incident described by Luke 10:38-42, Martha is introduced as the woman who "welcomed Jesus into her house". So hospitality is her paramount virtue. This probably accounts for her cult as the patron saint of food professionals, butlers, hotel-keepers and home-makers and why she is often depicted in art with a ladle, a jug, a broom or a set of keys as her symbol.

Jesus's disconcerting reply a rebuke?
When Martha asked Jesus if it didn't concern him that Mary was leaving her to do the serving all by herself, Jesus's reply of praise for Mary for having "Chosen the better part that would not be taken from her" must have disconcerted her. It could even be interpreted as a rebuke. But in the Gospel of John, Martha appears in two incidents that puts her in a more favourable light.

Practical woman of faith
When Lazarus had died and was buried, it is Martha who goes out to meet Jesus when he was coming to their house and accosts him (Jn 11:21-22): "If you had been here my brother would not have died, but I know that even now whatever you ask of God, he will grant you". And when questioned by Jesus, she shows she is a woman of faith: "I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who was to come into this world." And when Jesus goes to the tomb and says to take away the stone, it is she who, ever practical, objects: "Lord, by now he will smell, it is now the fourth day."

At a meal held in Jesus' honour
Martha appears again in John 12:1-8, where she serves at a meal held in Jesus' honour at which her brother is also a guest. During this meal Mary (no further specification - can we presume it's again Martha's sister?) anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. This occasioned Judas's question, "Why wasn't this ointment sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor?" and Jesus's incisive remark: "She had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me." It is Martha who provides the context.

Did the three go as evangelisers to Provence?
According to legend, after Jesus's death, Martha left Judea around AD 48, and went to Provence with her sister Mary (conflated with Mary Magdalene) and her brother Lazarus who was under threat from the pharisees. They settled in and are said to have evangelised the Provence area of southern France. Among the legends associated with Martha is the one associated with the town of Tarascon-sur-Rhône. A mythological monster, the Tarasque, said to have lived in the town during the 1st century, was purportedly tamed by Martha in 48 AD.

Villajoyosa, Spain

 The town of Villajoyosa, Spain, honours St. Martha as its patron saint and celebrates a Festival of Moors and Christians annually in her honour. The 250-year old festival commemorates the attack on Villajoyosa by Berber pirates led by Zalé-Arraez in 1538, when, according to legend, St. Martha came to the rescue of the townsfolk by causing a flash flood which wiped out the enemy fleet, thus preventing the pirates from reaching the coast.

(Image right Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, by Jan Vermeer, AD 1654>)

Pope Francis upgraded this feastday

In February 2021 Pope Francis approved a decree changing the liturgical feast of Saint Martha to include her sister, Mary, and her brother, Lazarus. The decree states that 'Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the one who humiliated death’. The decree also states that, ‘In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus’.
The change to the name of the feast recognizes that Jesus was welcomed by a family. We all have individual friends, but it is a special blessing when a whole family befriends us. We come to share in the life journey of the family members, sharing in their joys and sorrows, their significant celebrations and times of struggle. Jesus had a close relationship with this family of two sisters and a brother. They welcomed him into their home.

Marthan tradition: Sunday of the Myrrhbearers
In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions, Martha and her sister Mary are commemorated collectively among the Myrrh-bearing Women on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (the Third Sunday of Pascha/Easter).

Lazarus Saturday:
Martha also figures in the commemorations of Lazarus Saturday (the day before Palm Sunday). This has a resonance in the Roman Lectionary when the gospel of Lazarus is read on that day.

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Memorable Proverb for today

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

~ Walter Winchell ~

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18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A

FIRST READING           

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah         55:1-3
Come and eat.


Thus says the Lord:
Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk.
Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
Pay attention, come to me; listen, and your soul will live.
With you I will make an everlasting covenant out of the favours promised to David.

The Word of the Lord                Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm            Ps 144: 8-9. 15-18. R/v 16
Response                                  You open wide your hand, O Lord, you grant our desires.

1. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.             Response

2. The eyes of all creatures look to you and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand, grant the desires of all who live.                    Response

3. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him, call on him from their hearts.                 Response

SECOND READING

A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Romans          8:35. 37-39
No created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ

Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Word of the Lord          Thanks be to God

Gospel Acclamation       Lk 19: 38
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!

Or                                        Mt 4:4
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God
Alleluia!

GOSPEL 

The Lord be with you                      And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 14:13-21          Glory to you, O Lord
They all ate as much as they wanted.

When Jesus received this news of John the Baptist's death, he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.

When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, 'This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food'.
Jesus replied, 'There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves'. But they answered 'All we have with us is five loaves and two fish'.
'Bring them here to me' he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds.

They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.

The Gospel of the Lord         Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here: https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.

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