Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Dedication of the Basilica of Mary Major

LECTIONARY
409

FIRST READING

JER 31:1-7

At that time, says the LORD,
I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel,
and they shall be my people.
Thus says the LORD:
The people that escaped the sword
have found favor in the desert.
As Israel comes forward to be given his rest,
the LORD appears to him from afar:
With age-old love I have loved you;
so I have kept my mercy toward you.
Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt,
O virgin Israel;
Carrying your festive tambourines,
you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits.
Yes, a day will come when the watchmen
will call out on Mount Ephraim:
"Rise up, let us go to Zion,
to the LORD, our God."

For thus says the LORD:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
exult at the head of the nations;
proclaim your praise and say:
The LORD has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.

PSALM

JEREMIAH 31:10, 11-12AB, 13

Response: The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD's blessings.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

GOSPEL

MT 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon."
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
He said in reply,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, "Lord, help me."
He said in reply,
"It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters."
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
"O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish."
And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Daily Reflection

Yet again, in today’s first reading Jeremiah brings hope to the grief-stricken race with words of assurance from the Lord, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my affection for you”. The Lord makes no distinctions and harbours no grudges!

Jesus came to give humankind a first-hand experience of this. He taught that love should be non-exclusive and He lived by what he preached. Today’s Gospel also demonstrates how Jesus sought to teach His disciples to love without discrimination. Firstly, he takes them to a non-Jewish region. Then, he ignores the Canaanite woman who persistently pleads for her daughter’s cure, which prods the disciples into asking Jesus to deal with her and let her go! Considering the fact that Jews abhorred Canaanites, this interaction, on the part of the disciples, would have been unbelievable in the normal course of events.

If we keep fanning those embers of hate within us, it will only burst into flames that will eventually consume us.