Dress to God's Word / "Liturgical Dress": July 21

Readings

Mi 6:1-4, 6-8 The Lord's plea: "O my people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? I brought you up from Egypt, from slavery I released you; I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." / With what shall I come before the Lord? Offerings, calves, rams, oil, my firstborn...? What the Lord requires: do right, love goodness, and walk humbly with your God.

Ps 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23 "To the upright I will show the saving power of God." Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you. Why recite my statutes and profess my covenant with your mouth while you hate discipline and disregard my words? I'll correct you. Those who offer praise as a sacrifice glorify me; I'll save those who go the right way.”

Mt 12:38-42 Scribes and Pharisees / Jesus: “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” / “No sign will be given to this evil generation except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was in the whale three days, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh, who repented, will condemn this generation; and there is something greater than Jonah here. The queen of the south, who came to hear Solomon's wisdom, will condemn this generation; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

Music

*listening tips

Reflections

Creighton: Micah asks how Jews might come before God for favor and protection: Do right, love goodness, walk humbly before the Lord. Now we ask what the Lord wants, and through the Spirit in us we hear Jesus' echo of the same message.

One Bread One Body: People who made great commitments to mere human beings and activities will testify against us, because they showed more commitment than we. Jesus is greater; serve him.

Passionist: Micah shows God seeking a response to his past overtures to the people; when the Scribes and Pharisees ask for a sign, Jesus again recalls the past, contrasting their current reception of him to the times of Jonah and Solomon. We can go back into our own personal history to [re]discover signs from God: opportunities, gifts, warnings, people....

DailyScripture.net: Jesus warned his generation when they asked for a sign; he faulted them for spiritual adultery. Jesus himself is the sign.

Universalis: St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Capuchin priest, preacher, "apostolic doctor"; see Pope Benedict XVI audience.

Preaching is an apostolic duty: "For the word of God is a light to the mind and a fire to the will. It enables man to know God and to love him. And for the interior man who lives by the Spirit of God, through grace, and it is bread and water, but a bread sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, a water better than wine and milk. For the soul it is a spiritual treasure of merits yielding an abundance of gold and precious stones. Against the hardness of a heart that persists in wrongdoing, it acts as a hammer. Against the world, the flesh, and the devil, it serves as a sword that destroys all sin." (St. Lawrence of Brindisi; link has Sermo Quadragesimalis 2, Opera omnia 5, 1, nn. 48, 50, 52; thanks to Fr. Chris Bazyouros for the quotation)