By his own choice the Father made us his children
by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits
of all that he created. JM 1:18
JEREMIAH 13:1-11
My Soul's Beloved,
In and through Baptism, Lord, we are grafted onto You. We are made a member of Your Body by becoming a member of the Church You founded. We are nourished, strengthened, and filled with grace each time we receive the Sacraments You instituted. Without them, we would wither and die on the vine and be cut off from You and thrown into the fire that never goes out.
Beloved, we are the linen loincloth that the Word of God speaks to Jeremiah about. We were made to cling to You, and You would cling to us. But we have sinned, O Lord, and often grievously. We separated from You. We deliberately wandered in ways that cut us off from You and were no longer fit to be called Your own. While the chosen people of God refused You, Lord, You formed a new people for Yourself. The Church is now the New Jerusalem, and it is in her that we are made one with You and in and through You one with the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Grant us this grace, O Lord, no matter how gravely we have sinned and fallen to rise up again. You assure us that a humble and contrite heart You will not spurn. May we make frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as we need to, Lord, so we can receive the Bread of Life and live in grace and truth in this valley of tears. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of Your Church and thank You, Lord, that God willed that we are its members. May we never forget Your graciousness and goodness for this gift of being Catholic.
The Lord said this to me, ‘Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.’ And so, as the Lord had ordered, I bought a loincloth and put it round my waist. A second time the word of the Lord was spoken to me, ‘Take the loincloth that you have bought and are wearing round your waist; up! Go to the Euphrates and hide it in a hole in the rock.’ So I went and hid it near the Euphrates as the Lord had ordered me. Many days afterwards the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to the Euphrates and fetch the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.’ So I went to the Euphrates, and I searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. The loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord was addressed to me, ‘Thus says the Lord: In the same way I will spoil the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for nothing. For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the whole House of Judah to cling to me – it is the Lord who speaks – to be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast. But they have not listened.’
PSALM DEUTERONOMY 32:18-21
You forget the God who fathered you.
You forget the Rock who begot you,
unmindful now of the God who fathered you.
The Lord has seen this, and in his anger
cast off his sons and his daughters.
‘I shall hide my face from them,’ he says
‘and see what becomes of them.
For they are a deceitful brood,
children with no loyalty in them.
‘They have roused me to jealousy with what is no god,
they have angered me with their beings of nothing;
I, then, will rouse them to jealousy with what is no people,
I will anger them with an empty-headed nation.’
MATTHEW 13:31-35
My Soul's Beloved,
Jesus put a parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:
I will speak to you in parables
and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.
The Lord said this to me, ‘Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.’ And so, as the Lord had ordered, I bought a loincloth and put it round my waist. A second time the word of the Lord was spoken to me, ‘Take the loincloth that you have bought and are wearing round your waist; up! Go to the Euphrates and hide it in a hole in the rock.’ So I went and hid it near the Euphrates as the Lord had ordered me. Many days afterwards the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to the Euphrates and fetch the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.’ So I went to the Euphrates, and I searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. The loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord was addressed to me, ‘Thus says the Lord: In the same way I will spoil the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for nothing. For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the whole House of Judah to cling to me – it is the Lord who speaks – to be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast. But they have not listened.’
PSALM DEUTERONOMY 32:18-21
You forget the God who fathered you.
You forget the Rock who begot you,
unmindful now of the God who fathered you.
The Lord has seen this, and in his anger
cast off his sons and his daughters.
‘I shall hide my face from them,’ he says
‘and see what becomes of them.
For they are a deceitful brood,
children with no loyalty in them.
‘They have roused me to jealousy with what is no god,
they have angered me with their beings of nothing;
I, then, will rouse them to jealousy with what is no people,
I will anger them with an empty-headed nation.’
You forget the God who fathered you.
MATTHEW 13:31-35
My Soul's Beloved,
As You, O Lord, the Eternal Word of the Father, assure us, there is nothing hidden from God's people about the Kingdom of Heaven and the place of Your faithful people in it. Before Your Ascension into Heaven, You left its key with Peter, the Rock, and You left with the Twelve all the secrets of how all who so desire may enter. It was as little as a mustard seed. So small that the people and the nation whom God had chosen for His own rejected it and, to this day, think nothing of it. But to those to whom the great commission was given, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Have obeyed Your command and carried and spread the Gospel faithfully. Having successfully completed that mission, Your one, holy, catholic Church, O Lord, is found in all the corners of the world.
The little mustard seed has grown greatly, and it continues to grow so that its branches are many enough and large enough to welcome anyone and everyone to make their home in it. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of Your Church to me and to the world. May we who belong to the Church also be the leaven that enables the Kingdom of God to spread from us to everyone we encounter each day.
Jesus put a parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:
I will speak to you in parables
and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.
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