We are truly a headstrong people, we want what we want and we want it now! Fast food, fast money, fast cars, faster more efficient!
Is there anything from stopping us from being headstrong for love of our Lord? From being faithful and obedient?
Today we learn the nature and essence of God our loving Father. He is God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; for thousands he maintains his kindness, forgives faults, transgression, sin; yet he lets nothing go unchecked, punishing the father’s fault in the sons and in the grandsons to the third and fourth generation.’ In other words He is All loving, All merciful, All forgiving, All patient, gentle and kind. However He is no pushover for us; as there will be a day of reckoning for us who refuse to the very end, to listen His Word and live out His Will for us according to His commands and statutes
St Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:4 that love is patient, love is kind. And we are so loved by God our Heavenly Father that He loves us even when we are sinners and had sent His only begotten Son to save us. He waits ever patiently for our hearts to turn back to Him. Are we grateful for such undeserving love on our part? If are grateful then how can we continue to be impatient and unloving towards our fellow sisters and brothers in Christ?
Let us strive to grow in Holiness, love and patience. So that we can walk humbly with the Lord our God and always be in His presence. Amen
First reading
Exodus 33:7-11,34:5-9,28
‘They are a headstrong people; but forgive us our faults’
Moses used to take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who had to consult the Lord would go out to the Tent of Meeting, outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise. Every man would stand at the door of his tent and watch Moses until he reached the Tent; the pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When they saw the pillar of cloud stationed at the entrance to the Tent, all the people would rise and bow low, each at the door of his tent. The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would turn back to the camp, but the young man who was his servant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the Tent.
And the Lord descended in the form of a cloud, and Moses stood with him there.
He called on the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; for thousands he maintains his kindness, forgives faults, transgression, sin; yet he lets nothing go unchecked, punishing the father’s fault in the sons and in the grandsons to the third and fourth generation.’ And Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped. ‘If I have indeed won your favour, Lord,’ he said ‘let my Lord come with us, I beg. True, they are a headstrong people, but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt us as your heritage.’
Moses stayed there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, eating and drinking nothing. He inscribed on the tablets the words of the Covenant – the Ten Words.
Gospel
Matthew 13:36-43
As the darnel is gathered up and burnt, so it will be at the end of time
Leaving the crowds, Jesus went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.’ He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’
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