Forgetful

The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/072715.cfm) reminds me that as human beings, we tend to forget all the great things God has done for us.

They say that we only use a very small part of our brain. That is why our memory is very limited. As we grow older and as more things happen in life, we forget some things. However, we should not forget the essential and important things, because If we do, it can greatly affect our lives.

In the first reading, we see this in the Israelites. God has done a lot of great things for them – took them out of Egypt, spared their lives during Passover, parted the red sea, and even provided them with food in the dessert. However, they quickly forgot all these things and made a golden god to worship. OF course this made Moses angry with them, because he knows God is angry.

Sometimes we are like these people. God has done a lot of great things in our lives. He has provided for us, he has saved us and has healed us a lot of times in the past. However, as human beings, we will always tend to forget these things. However, sometimes even if we do not forget, we act as if we do. Sometimes, even if we know and remember all God has done, we just choose to love ourselves more than him. We just choose to give in to our desires, to our wants, and go against God.

Giving in to our desires and loving ourselves too much can lead us to forget God.

The Israelites probably did not forget all what God has done for them, but maybe they just gave in to their desires and needs. They gave in to their want of having a god to worship, that they made one. Sometimes we are like that as well. We know God and all he has done for us, but at that moment, we just seem to have a strong urge to sin or go against God, that we ignore him. However, God is forgiving and will always give us another chance. He allowed Moses to continue to lead the people, but we also see He is a God of justice and will punish us when the time is right.

May we remember all the things God has done for us, and may these things be enough for us to always surrender to God and put him first.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day, thank you for another week. Lord, I am sorry for the times I forget all you have done for me. But most especially, I am sorry for the times that I do not forget but I act as if I did. Sorry for putting myself first, for loving myself more than I love you, for giving in to my desires and wants even if I know it will hurt you. Help me Lord to be a faithful and loyal servant. You have done so much and have given me much, and I just want to live my life telling you that I love you and that I thank you. May my life always be pleasing to you. amen.

Blessed week!

In Christ,

-g-

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July 27, 2015

Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 401

Reading 1 Ex 32:15-24, 30-34

Moses turned and came down the mountain

with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,

tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;

tablets that were made by God,

having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.

Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting,

he said to Moses, “That sounds like a battle in the camp.”

But Moses answered, “It does not sound like cries of victory,

nor does it sound like cries of defeat;

the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry.”

As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing.

With that, Moses’ wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down

and broke them on the base of the mountain.

Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire

and then ground it down to powder,

which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink.

Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people ever do to you

that you should lead them into so grave a sin?”

Aaron replied, “Let not my lord be angry.

You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.

They said to me, ‘Make us a god to be our leader;

as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt,

we do not know what has happened to him.’

So I told them, ‘Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.’

They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

On the next day Moses said to the people,

“You have committed a grave sin.

I will go up to the LORD, then;

perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.”

So Moses went back to the LORD and said,

“Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin

in making a god of gold for themselves!

If you would only forgive their sin!

If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written.”

The LORD answered, “Him only who has sinned against me

will I strike out of my book.

Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you.

My angel will go before you.

When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 106:19-20, 21-22, 23

R. (1a) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Our fathers made a calf in Horeb

and adored a molten image;

They exchanged their glory

for the image of a grass-eating bullock.

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

They forgot the God who had saved them,

who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,

terrible things at the Red Sea.

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

but Moses, his chosen one,

Withstood him in the breach

to turn back his destructive wrath.

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Alleluia Jas 1:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth

that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mt 13:31-35

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”

He spoke to them another parable.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world