Gen 27:1-5,15-29

Mt 9:14-17

July 4
Saturday

13th Week in Ordinary Time
Elizabeth of Portugal / Our Lady's Saturday

1st Reading: Gen 27:1-5, 15-29
    When Isaac was old and his eyes so weak that he could no longer see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, "My son." "Here I am," he answered. Isaac continued, "You see I am old and I don't know when I shall die; so take your weapons, your bow and arrow, go out into the country and hunt some game for me. Then prepare some of the savory food I like and bring it to me so that I may eat and give you my blessing before I die."
    Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went into the country to hunt game and bring it back.
    Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her elder son Esau that she had in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. With the goatskin she covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck, and she handed to him the bread and food she had prepared.
    He went to his father and said, "Father!" He answered, "Yes, my son, who is it?" and Jacob said to his father, "It is Esau, your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Come, sit up and eat my game so that you may give me your blessing." Isaac said, "How quick you have been my son!" Jacob said, "Yahweh, your God, guided me." Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near and let me feel you, my son, and know that it is you, Esau my son, or not."
    When Jacob drew near to Isaac, his father felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother and so he blessed him. He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" and Jacob answered, "I am." Isaac said, "Bring me some of your game, my son, so that I may eat and give you my blessing." So Jacob brought it to him and he ate. And he brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." So Jacob came near and kissed him.
    Isaac then caught the smell of his clothes and blessed him, saying,
    "The smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.
    May God give you of the dew of heaven;
    and of the richness of the earth;
    and abundance of grain and wine.
    Let peoples serve you
    and nations bow down before you.
    Be lord over your brothers,
    and let your mother's sons bow down to you.
    Cursed be everyone that curses you
    and blessed be everyone
    that blesses you!"

Gospel: Mt 9:14-17
    The disciples of John came to him with the question, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?"
    Jesus answered them, "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.
    "No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides you don't put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved."

Meditation: Which comes first, fasting or feasting? The disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus' disciples because they did not fast. Fasting was one of the three most important religious duties, along with prayer and almsgiving.  Jesus gave a simple explanation. There's a time for fasting and a time for feasting (or celebrating). To walk as a disciple with Jesus is to experience a whole new joy of relationship akin to the joy of the wedding party in celebrating with the groom and bride their wedding bliss. But there also comes a time when the Lord's disciples must bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility and fasting and for mourning over sin.  Do you take joy in the Lord's presence with you and do you express sorrow and contrition for your sins?

MEDITATION

Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the "closed mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image familiar to his audience — new and old wineskins.  In Jesus' times, wine was stored in wineskins, not bottles. New wine poured into skins was still fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure. New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because they were hard. What did Jesus mean by this comparison? Are we to reject the old in place of the new? Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as the new.  Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament or the New Testament, rather than both. The Lord gives us wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and the new. He doesn't want us to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the new work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be like new wine skins — open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit.  Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God's word and plan for your life?

PRAYER

"Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I may grow in the knowledge of your great love and truth.  Help me to seek you earnestly in prayer and fasting that I may turn away from sin and willfulness and conform my life more fully to your will. May I always find joy in knowing, loving, and serving you."

Psalm 85:9,11-13

9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 Yea, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him, and make his footsteps a way.

Sources:

http://www.bible.claret.org

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

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Daily WORD via Text*

Sat 4 Jul 09

DAILY WORD

Gen27:1-5,15-29

Mt9:14-17

Let our minds & hearts be like new wine skins, ready to receive d new wine of d Holy Spirit

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

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Additional Meditation Links

RCNet http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/jul4.htm

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

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

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