Monday 18 th July 2022
- Frederick
He was Bishop of Utrecht between 816 and 838. Frederick was born around 780 in Friesland and was a grandson of the Frisian King Radboud. He preached at Walcheren and together with St. Odulfus in Stavoren and its surroundings.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 53: 6, 8
See, I have God for my help. The Lord sustains my soul. I will sacrifice to you with willing heart, and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.
Collect
Show favour, O Lord, to your servants, and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : Micah 6:1-4,6-8
Listen to what the Lord is saying: Stand up and let the case begin in the hearing of the mountains and let the hills hear what you say. Listen, you mountains, to the Lord’s accusation, give ear, you foundations of the earth, for the Lord is accusing his people, pleading against Israel: My people, what have I done to you, how have I been a burden to you? Answer me. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I rescued you from the house of slavery; I sent Moses to lead you, with Aaron and Miriam. – ‘With what gift shall I come into the Lord’s presence and bow down before God on high? Shall I come with holocausts, with calves one year old? Will he be pleased with rams by the thousand, with libations of oil in torrents? Must I give my first-born for what I have done wrong, the fruit of my body for my own sin?’ – What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.
Psalm 49:5-6,8-9,16-17,21,23
R/ I will show God’s salvation to the upright.
- ‘Summon before me my people who made covenant with me by sacrifice.’ The heavens proclaim his justice, for he, God, is the judge.
- ‘I find no fault with your sacrifices, your offerings are always before me. I do not ask more bullocks from your farms, nor goats from among your herds.
- ’But how can you recite my commandments and take my covenant on your lips, you who despise my law and throw my words to the winds?
- ‘You do this, and should I keep silence? Do you think that I am like you? A sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me and I will show God’s salvation to the upright.’
Gospel Acclamation : cf.2Tim1:10
Alleluia, alleluia! Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death and he has proclaimed life through the Good News. Alleluia!
Gospel : Matthew 12:38-42
Some of the Scribes and Pharisees spoke up. ‘Master,’ they said ‘we should like to see a sign from you.’ He replied, ‘It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign! The only sign it will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. ’
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who in the one perfect sacrifice, brought to completion varied offerings of the law, accept, we pray, this sacrifice from your faithful servants and make it holy as you blessed the gifts of Abel, so that what each has offered to the honour of your majesty may benefit the salvation of all. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Ps 110: 4-5
The Lord, the gracious, the merciful, has made a memorial of his wonders; he gives food to those who fear him.
Prayer after Communion
Graciously be present to your people, we pray, O Lord, and lead those you have imbued with heavenly mysteries to pass from former ways to newness of life. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Before this scene, Jesus told the Pharisees that a good tree only produces good fruits and a bad tree produces bad fruits. Experts in religion will not listen to Him but want to challenge Him by asking for signs. Jesus has been showing them good signs but they were not enough for them. They represent the bad tree with bad fruits because they pretend to be teachers of the law but they do not practice it. The sign of Jonah is the resurrection of Jesus. If they do not believe in His word and works, maybe at the resurrection they will believe. It was at the resurrection that some professed “Truly this man was the son of God”. If the Ninevites could believe in the prophet and repent, what more of those the Son of God speaks to directly, our generation”.