The Word today, 17C
- Admin
- Jul 26
- 3 min read
July 28 - August 02, 2025
Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 It’s a bit of a surprise to find such a frank and sudden collapse into gross idolatry...and yet, with more sophistication perhaps (!), we all do it, moulding God into our own image and likeness!.
Matthew 13:31-35 Today, we have the contrast between small beginnings and extraordinary growth and the hospitality of the Kingdom.
Sts Mary, Martha and Lazarus
Exodus 33:7-11, 34:5-9, 28 What is God like? In our reading today two sides of God are held in tension: ‘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.’
John 11:19-27 The Gospel reading is proper to the feast. All three siblings are mentioned in the excerpt from the rich symbolic narrative of John 11. This is the last and grandest of the “signs” in John’s Gospel, providing a powerful climax in the words of Jesus: I am the resurrection and the life leading to an essential question: Do you believe this?
St Peter Chrysologos, bishop and doctor
Exodus 34:29-35 Something happened to Moses in his encounter with God and afterwards, he was “different.” St Paul reflects on this, contrasting the old and the new, in the second Letter to the Corinthians: Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. (2Corinthians 3:12–13).
Matthew 13:44-46 Two very mini parables with the same teaching: for those who discover it, the king is worthy all that I am, costing not less than everything.
St Ignatius Loyola, priest and religious
Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 Often in Bible, God is presented as Godwith-us or Immanuel. God’s presence is symbolised in today’s reading by the cloud.
Matthew 13:47-53 The gospel of Matthew can be uncomfortable and today he does teach that there will be a judgment and a sorting at the end. It is, of course, not a literal description but an invitation not to lose the potential of the present moment.
St Alphonsus Mary de'Liguori, bishop, doctor
Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34-37 Today, the feasts of the Jewish calendar are enumerated if not all named: Passover and Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, Tabernacles. Our Christian feasts of Easter and Pentecost are rooted in this Jewish calendar.
Matthew 13:54-58 The gospel reading may trigger complacency — the natives were unable to “hear” Jesus because they know him. But we can all block our ears and even block the work of Jesus.
St Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop St Peter Julian Eymard, priest
Leviticus 25:1, 8-17 The Jubilee year was to take place every fifty years—it symbolised the desire to be free, not to bound by the accumulation of debts. It is not really known if this was ever in reality practiced, but the desire is surely a reality! Who would not like such a year?
Matthew 14:1-12 The death of John the Baptist is a sad, even absurd ending to a fiery career. It is reported Mark and Matthew, both of whom use it a warning about the cost of discipleship. It is omitted in Luke and John, probably to avoid any comparisons with the unique death of Jesus. We know a little more about it from Josephus, whose version is less theatrical but rather more credible. See Jewish Antiquities 18.
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025bn, July 27). Seventeenth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072725.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings
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