Ex 11:10-12:14

Mt 12:1-8

July 17
Friday

15th Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Ex 11:10-12:14
    Moses and Aaron had worked all these marvels in the presence of Pharaoh, but Yahweh had made Pharaoh obstinate and he would not let the people of Israel leave his country.
    Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, "This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year.  Speak to the community of Israel and say to them:
    On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a lamb for each house. If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbor, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and to what each one can eat.
You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month.
    On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs and take some of the blood to put on the door posts and on top of the door frames of the houses where you eat.
That night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
    Do not eat the meat lightly cooked or boiled in water but roasted entirely over the fire—the head, the legs and the inner parts. Do not leave any of it until the morning. If any is left till morning, burn it in the fire.
    And this is how you will eat: with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily for it is a passover in honor of Yahweh. On that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, Yahweh! The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.
This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honor of Yahweh. It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.

Gospel: Mt 12:1-8
    It happened that Jesus walked through the wheat fields on a sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and began to pick some heads of wheat and crush them to eat the grain. When the Pharisees noticed this, they said to Jesus, "Look at your disciples; they are doing what is prohibited on the sabbath!"
    Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He went into the house of God, and they ate the bread offered to God, although neither he nor his men had the right to eat it, but only the priests. And have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath rest, yet they are not guilty?
    "I tell you, there is greater than the Temple here. If you really knew the meaning of the words: It is mercy I want, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent.
"Besides the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

REFLECTION
    Passover is one of the most important festivals in the Jewish year. At this time Jews remember how the children of Israel left slavery behind them when they left Egypt. God told Moses that they should mark their doorposts with lamb's blood, so that God could 'pass over' their houses. This is why the festival is called Passover. They left Egypt in such a rush that their bread didn't have time to rise. This is why, during Passover, Jews eat unleavened bread called Matzah.
    On the evening before Passover, a special service called a Seder ('Order') takes place over a meal around a table at home. Wine, symbolizing joy, freedom and happiness is drunk. An extra goblet is provided for Elijah, the forerunner of the Messiah, and, at one point, the front door is opened to greet him. The story of the Israelites fleeing from Egypt is retold from a book called the Haggadah ('Narration'). Everyone at the Seder each has a cushion to lean on, to remind them that they are now free people no longer enslaved in Egypt. Passover is a feast of charity, without the leaven of malice; and of sincerity, without the leaven of hypocrisy!
 

PRAYER

"Lord, make us to walk in your way: Where there is love and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance; where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor annoyance; where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice; where there is peace and contemplation, there is neither care nor restlessness; where there is the fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter; where there is mercy and prudence, there is neither excess nor harshness; this we know through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (Prayer of Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226)

Psalm 116:1-6, 12-13, 17-19

1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;  I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: "O LORD, I beseech thee, save my life!"
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. "
12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Sources:

http://www.bible.claret.org

http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/

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Daily WORD via Text*

Fri 17 July 09

DAILY WORD

Ex 11:10-12:14

Mt 12:1-8

Jesus said- It is mercy I want, not sacrifice-you would not have condemned d innocent

source: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dailywordviatext/

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Additional Meditation Links

RCNet http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/jul17.htm

The Word Among Us http://www.wau.org/meditations/current/

Fullness of Life http://www.junmanacsa.blogspot.com/

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