Prayer & Readings – You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.

When: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:00 AM-1:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Dear Lord God, I see You more then I feel You, I hear You more than I see You, I seek You so that I can feel You. So I practice Your presence and try to accept that I will always be asking Your forgiveness and in this I am humbled to forgive all others as You forgive me. And to love all others as You love me. For what more can I do than to try and give to others what You give to me. In the name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior, Amen.
You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.
— St. Therese
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the testimony in his hands, tables that were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." 18 But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear." 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the people of Israel drink it. 21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?" 22 And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, `Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 And I said to them, `Let any who have gold take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and there came out this calf." 30 On the morrow Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." 31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." 33 But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."
Bible Study: [29] Dedicated to the LORD: because of their zeal for the true worship of the Lord, the Levites were chosen to be special ministers of the ritual service. However, the meaning of the Hebrew here is somewhat disputed. [32] The book that you have written: the list of God’s intimate friends. In a similar sense St. Paul wished to be anathema from Christ for the sake of his brethren. Cf Romans 9:3.
19 They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a molten image. 20 They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. 21 They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore he said he would destroy them — had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
Bible Study: [Psalm 106] Israel is invited to praise the God whose mercy has always tempered judgment of Israel (Psalm 106:1-3). The speaker, on behalf of all, seeks solidarity with the people, who can always count on God’s fidelity despite their sin (Psalm 106:4-5). Confident of God’s mercy, the speaker invites national repentance (Psalm 106:6) by reciting from Israel’s history eight instances of sin, judgment, and forgiveness. The sins are the rebellion at the Red Sea (Psalm 106:6-12; see Exodus 14-15), the craving for meat in the desert (Psalm 106:13-15; see Numbers 11), the challenge to Moses’ authority (Psalm 106:16-18; see Numbers 16), the golden calf episode (Psalm 106:19-23; see Exodus 32-34), the refusal to take Canaan by the southern route (Psalm 106:24-27; see Numbers 13-14 and Deut 1-2), the rebellion at Baal-Peor (Psalm 106:28-31; see Numbers 25:1-10), the anger of Moses (Psalm 106:32-33; see Numbers 20:1-13), and mingling with the nations (Psalm 106:34-47). The last, as suggested by its length and generalized language, may be the sin that invites the repentance of the present generation. The text gives the site of each sin: Egypt (Psalm 106:7), the desert (Psalm 106:14), the camp (Psalm 106:16), Horeb (Psalm 106:19), in their tents (Psalm 106:25), Baal-Peor (Psalm 106:28), the waters of Meribah (Psalm 106:32), Canaan (Psalm 106:38). [23] Withstood him in the breach: the image is that of Moses standing in a narrow break made in the wall to keep anyone from entering.
31 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." 33 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." 34 All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."
Bible Study: [31-33] See Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-21. The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast illustrate the same point: the amazing contrast between the small beginnings of the kingdom and its marvelous expansion. [32] See Daniel 4:7-9, 17-19 where the birds nesting in the tree represent the people of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. See also Ezekiel 17:23; 31:6. [33] Except in this Q parable and in Matthew 16:12, yeast (or "leaven") is, in New Testament usage, a symbol of corruption (see Matthew 16:6, 11-12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1; 1 Cor 5:6-8; Gal 5:9). Three measures: an enormous amount, enough to feed a hundred people. The exaggeration of this element of the parable points to the greatness of the kingdom’s effect. [34] Only in parables: see Matthew 13:10-15. [35] The prophet: some textual witnesses read "Isaiah the prophet." The quotation is actually from Psalm 78:2; the first line corresponds to the LXX text of the psalm. The psalm’s title ascribes it to Asaph, the founder of one of the guilds of temple musicians. He is called "the prophet" (NAB "the seer") in 2 Chron 29:30 but it is doubtful that Matthew averted to that; for him, any Old Testament text that could be seen as fulfilled in Jesus was prophetic.
 

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