Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

What does it mean to be pastors after the heart of God? We can see how God distributes His Word in today’s Gospel. He continues sowing the seed no matter what the condition of the soil is. It can be very tempting to stop sowing the seed of the Word of God if we look at what has come of our sowing. We see people fall away, we see people sleeping during Mass, we hear people completely misunderstand and misinterpret the Scriptures. Among all of this we also encounter the good soil that, by the fruit they bear, put us to shame. To be a pastor after the heart of God, it would seem that we must continue sowing no matter what. We could find different seeds that would grow better in bad soil, we could simply avoid scattering the seed where we think (or even know) that it will not stand a chance to grow or bear fruit. We know, if we are according to the heart of God, that His Word is truth and life and power. We know that even when it appears to have failed, it is never the fault of the Word itself. Let us continue sowing the True Word without relying upon the results for our motivation.

BASIL THE GREAT:

We should consider our pastor happy in his death because he has laid aside his life at an age rich with years and has gone to his rest with the greatest honors from the Lord. Concerning all else we have this to recommend, that you should cast off all depression, regain self-control and rise to the necessary duty of caring for the church, so that the holy God may give heed to his own flock and provide for you a shepherd according to his will, one who will govern you wisely.¹

CYPRIAN:

Brethren and especially priests, if God rebukes whom he loves, and rebukes him for the very purpose of amending him, do not hate, but love those whom you rebuke, that you may amend them. God also before predicted by Jeremiah and pointed to our times, when he said, “And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you with the food of discipline.” But if in Holy Scripture discipline is frequently and everywhere prescribed, and the whole foundation of religion and of faith proceeds from obedience and fear, what is more fitting for us urgently to desire? What is there more to wish for and to hold fast than to stand with roots strongly fixed and with our houses based with solid mass on the rock, which is unshaken by the storms and whirlwinds of the world, so that we may come by the divine precepts to the rewards of God?²

JEROME:

“The wicked one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” The wicked one snatches away the good seed. You must also understand that it was sown in the heart. The diversity of soils stands for the diversity of the souls of believers. “And when trouble and persecution come because of the word, he at once falls away.” Notice what was said: “He at once falls away.” Hence there is some distance between the one who is constrained by many troubles and sufferings to deny Christ and the one who in the face of persecution immediately falls away and succumbs.³

ORIGEN:

Daniel, knowing that the intelligent are the light of the world and that the multitudes of the righteous differ in glory, seems to have said this, “And the intelligent shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and from among the multitudes of the righteous as the stars for ever and ever.” And in the passage, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead,” the apostle says the same thing as Daniel, taking this thought from his prophecy.⁴

Footnotes

LETTER 62. Wenthe, D. O. (Ed.). (2009). Jeremiah, Lamentations (p. 37). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 1–2. Wenthe, D. O. (Ed.). (2009). Jeremiah, Lamentations (p. 38). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2.13.19–21. Simonetti, M. (Ed.). (2001). Matthew 1–13 (p. 274). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 10.3. Simonetti, M. (Ed.). (2001). Matthew 1–13 (p. 275). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Daily Readings

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
by USCCB on April 18, 2024 at 8:30 am
Reading 1 Acts 8:26-40 The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,“Get up and head south on the roadthat goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.” So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,a court official of the Candace,that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,in charge of her entire treasury,who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.The Spirit said to Philip,“Go and join up with that chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,“Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied,“How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. This was the Scripture passage he was reading:Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,so he opened not his mouth.In his humiliation justice was denied him.Who will tell of his posterity?For his life is taken from the earth.Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?About himself, or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,he proclaimed Jesus to him.As they traveled along the roadthey came to some water,and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” Then he ordered the chariot to stop,and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,and he baptized him. When they came out of the water,the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,and the eunuch saw him no more,but continued on his way rejoicing. Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good newsto all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Responsorial Psalm Ps 66:8-9, 16-17, 20 R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.or:R. Alleluia.Bless our God, you peoples,loudly sound his praise;He has given life to our souls,and has not let our feet slip.R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.or:R. Alleluia.Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declarewhat he has done for me.When I appealed to him in words,praise was on the tip of my tongue.R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.or:R. Alleluia.Blessed be God who refused me notmy prayer or his kindness!R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.or:R. Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 6:51 R. Alleluia, alleluia.I am the living bread that came down from heaven,says the Lord;whoever eats this bread will live forever.R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 6:44-51 Jesus said to the crowds:"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,and I will raise him on the last day.It is written in the prophets:They shall all be taught by God.Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.Not that anyone has seen the Fatherexcept the one who is from God;he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you,whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;this is the bread that comes down from heavenso that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven;whoever eats this bread will live forever;and the bread that I will giveis my Flesh for the life of the world." - - -Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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