The WORD
today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/070817.cfm)
reminds me that there is a time for everything.
When I was new to corporate
life, I was blessed to be part of a good team. People were friendly - my
teammates and even our manager at that time. I felt at ease and comfortable
with my team. However, I was surprised when I attended my first team
meeting/conference call. I saw the other side of my teammates and my boss. They
were very serious and professional. They taught me that indeed, there is a time
for everything – a time to be friendly, casual and warm, and a time to be
serious, professional and to mean business.
This is what Jesus is telling
us in the gospel. When the disciples of John, who always fast, asked why his
disciples don’t fast, his reply was that there is a time for his disciples to
fast, but not yet now since Jesus is still with them.
There is a time for everything.
And he is reminding us that this applies until now. There is a time to be
happy, have fun, and celebrate God’s goodness and love, but there is also a
time to be serious, to be sorry for our sins and confess, and to fast. There
should be a time to spend time with family, work, self and with loved ones, but
also a time for God – of loving, praising and serving Him. There is a time to
pray and wait for God’s plans to come true in our lives, and a time to enjoy it
and thank him for it. There is a time for problems and challenges, but a time
to enjoy victory and blessings from God as well. Too much of one is not good.
There should always be a balance.
May we remember how important
it is to know the proper time for everything.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another weekend. Thank
you for another chance to love and serve you. Thank you for the reminder. Lord,
I ask that you give me the knowledge to know the right time for doing things.
Always remind me that there is a time for everything. Remind me that I should
have a balanced life. I know you hold everything at the palm of your hand, and
I just trust in your great plans for me. May I always strive to have a balanced
life for you. May I never forget you amidst the busyness of life. Amen.
Blessed
weekend!
In
Christ,
-g-
Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 382
Reading 1GN 27:1-5, 15-29
he called his older son Esau and said to him, "Son!"
"Yes father!" he replied.
Isaac then said, "As you can see, I am so old
that I may now die at any time.
Take your gear, therefore–your quiver and bow–
and go out into the country to hunt some game for me.
With your catch prepare an appetizing dish for me, such as I like,
and bring it to me to eat,
so that I may give you my special blessing before I die."
Rebekah had been listening
while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau.
So, when Esau went out into the country
to hunt some game for his father,
Rebekah [then] took the best clothes of her older son Esau
that she had in the house,
and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear;
and with the skins of the kids she covered up his hands
and the hairless parts of his neck.
Then she handed her son Jacob the appetizing dish
and the bread she had prepared.
Bringing them to his father, Jacob said, "Father!"
"Yes?" replied Isaac. "Which of my sons are you?"
Jacob answered his father: "I am Esau, your first-born.
I did as you told me.
Please sit up and eat some of my game,
so that you may give me your special blessing."
But Isaac asked, "How did you succeed so quickly, son?"
He answered,
"The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me."
Isaac then said to Jacob,
"Come closer, son, that I may feel you,
to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not."
So Jacob moved up closer to his father.
When Isaac felt him, he said,
"Although the voice is Jacob's, the hands are Esau's."
(He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy,
like those of his brother Esau;
so in the end he gave him his blessing.)
Again he asked Jacob, "Are you really my son Esau?"
"Certainly," Jacob replied.
Then Isaac said, "Serve me your game, son, that I may eat of it
and then give you my blessing."
Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate;
he brought him wine, and he drank.
Finally his father Isaac said to Jacob,
"Come closer, son, and kiss me."
As Jacob went up and kissed him,
Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes.
With that, he blessed him saying,
"Ah, the fragrance of my son
is like the fragrance of a field
that the LORD has blessed!
"May God give to you
of the dew of the heavens
And of the fertility of the earth
abundance of grain and wine.
"Let peoples serve you,
and nations pay you homage;
Be master of your brothers,
and may your mother's sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
and blessed be those who bless you."
Responsorial PsalmPS 135:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD;
Praise, you servants of the LORD
Who stand in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, which we love;
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel for his own possession.
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
For I know that the LORD is great;
our LORD is greater than all gods.
All that the LORD wills he does
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and in all the deeps.
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 9:14-17
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
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