Thursday of the 16th Week of Ordinary Time
July 23, 2020
First Reading: Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them, says the LORD.” 7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8 The priests did not say, `Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Ba’al, and went after things that do not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
5 Thy steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, thy faithfulness to the clouds. 6 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God, thy judgments are like the great deep; man and beast thou savest, O LORD. 7 How precious is thy steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of thy wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of thy house, and thou givest them drink from the river of thy delights. 9 For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see light. 10 O continue thy steadfast love to those who know thee, and thy salvation to the upright of heart!
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: `You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Reflection for the day: “For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.” — St. Maximilian Kolbe
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