August 03, 2013
First Saturday – Year of Faith – Ordinary
Time
by Rev. Fr. Matthieu Dauchez
6:30AM Mass, Mary, Queen of Peace
Shrine (Our Lady of Peace Quasi Parish/EDSA Shrine)
Reading 1 Lv 25:1, 8-17
The LORD said to Moses on
Mount Sinai, “Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years– so
that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of the
seventh month, let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the
trumpet blast shall re-echo throughout your land. This fiftieth year you shall
make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It
shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own
property, every one to his own family estate. In this fiftieth year, your year
of jubilee, you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the grapes
from the untrimmed vines. Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for
you, you may not eat of its produce, except as taken directly from the field.
“In this year of jubilee, then, every one of you shall return to his own property. Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor
or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly. On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee shall you purchase the land from your neighbor; and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops, shall he sell it to you. When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of crops that he sells you. Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.”
“In this year of jubilee, then, every one of you shall return to his own property. Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor
or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly. On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee shall you purchase the land from your neighbor; and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops, shall he sell it to you. When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of crops that he sells you. Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.”
Responsorial Psalm PS 67:2-3, 5, 7-8
R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
The earth has yielded its fruits;
God, our God, has blessed us.
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
The earth has yielded its fruits;
God, our God, has blessed us.
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
Gospel Mt 14:1-12
Herod the tetrarch heard
of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servants, “This man is John the
Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at
work in him.”
Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
HOMILY
My dear brothers and sisters, the
King was distressed, the King was sad in our Gospel. When he was requested the
head of John the Baptist, the King was distressed. Why? Was it because he had
remorse? No. Because he had bad feelings about the killing? Not at all. The
King was distressed, only because of personal pride reasons. The King did not
want to lose his face in front of his guests - that's all. That's all that was
important, and that is a selfish one. He does not have consideration from his
conscience. He has only his own pride, and himself, as priority.
This is exactly the opposite of the
message of Jesus. The greatest gift that we can give to our friends is to
give our life for them. So the King's sadness is not because of love;
it is sadness because of pride.
What about us? What will be our life
- a life of pride, or a life of love?
Let us not be trapped. Amen.
