The Word today, W20B
- Admin
- Aug 16, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 27, 2024
August 19 - August 24, 2024
St John Eudes
Ezekiel 24:15-24 The prophets are called sometimes to illustrate their teaching with an action. This is perhaps the most disturbing prophetic gesture—and the message could hardly be clearer.
Matthew 19:16-22 A failed calling is always tough to listen to. It does remind us that we become disciples not because we choose it but rather the Lord chooses us.
St Bernard, abbot and doctor
Ezekiel 28:1-10 Today we hear a fierce critique of absolute rulers who set themselves up as gods over their people. “Being swollen with pride,” they are now severely corrected by God.
Matthew 19:23-30 The “eye of an needle” is not to be allegorized (there was no such “gate” in Jerusalem). Instead, we have grossly exaggerated image to make the point with wit and inescapable clarity.
St Pius X, bishop of Rome
Ezekiel 34:1-11 Ezekiel—whose ministry took place just before and then during the great Exile in Babylon—read that disaster as punishment for the total failure of leadership, both political and religious. He is very hard (rightly) on the shepherds who feed themselves instead of feeding the flock.
Matthew 20:1-16 Our parable today has not lost its capacity to shock and disturb. Originally, it was aimed at those who objected to God’s gracious inclusion of Gentiles in his plan of salvation.
Our Lady, queen and mother
Ezekiel 36:23-28 Eventually, Ezekiel comes to the question of renewal and restoration. In a marvellous passage he describes this as a conversion of heart, achieved not by human effort but by God alone. Long before transplants were thought of, Ezekiel portrays God as a heart surgeon.
Matthew 22:1-14 To “get” this parable, it is vital to hear it on two levels. There is the level of the historical Jesus, using traditional festal and nuptial imagery for the kingdom. There is the level of church, looking back and what actually happened to Jesus, the messiah and prophet.
St Rose of Lima; St Eugene, bishop
Ezekiel 37:1-14 We need a double lens to listen to this reading. First a political lens: the vision is a parable of restoration after the disaster of the Exile in Babylon. In other words, another generation will rise and return. At the same time, the metaphor of resurrection works only because some people were already coming to some kind of faith in life after death.
Matthew 22:34-40 In a memorable encounter, Jesus goes to the heart of the Gospel of love. This great teaching is never, ever “out of date.”
St Bartholomew, apostle
Apocalypse 21:9-14 What will heaven be like? Using a rich array of metaphors—marriage, jewelry, a city, the twelves tribes and the Lamb of God—our reading offers a stunning, vibrant and inviting portrait.
John 1:45-51 In this Gospel, the spread of the Good News is a kind of wildfire, with one person drawing another in. Symbolically, the fig tree referred to knowledge of God and evil and hence to the Torah which gives us this knowledge.
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024bl, August 18). Twentieth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081824.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/
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