Weekday Readings

The Sixteenth Week of the Year July 22 - 27, 2024 Monday (Feast of St. Mary Magdelene; meditation is on weekday Gospel reading.) Matthew 12.38-42 The attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees represents an aspect of a way of thinking. I may ask, then, what is in the center of my heart that seeks God in prayer? Am I an entrepreneur of spiritual experiences? Do I want a sign that I can feast my eyes upon, an experience that will be a trip around the world? The evil and adulterous generation is turned away from seeking the goodness of God preferring rather a personal experience and is therefore faithless to the creator who deserves adoration and obedience. So much of me reflects the spirit of that generation. The only sign that I must seek is that of the cross. What buries me for three days with Christ is what I should welcome . My prayer must be that gentle, simple, relentless waiting upon that which is greater than Solomon, than Jonah, upon the One who is the Lord Jesus. Live in the reality of Christ’s Second Coming. Tuesday Matthew 12.46-50 The phrase, "my mother, my brethren--my brothers and sisters," is spoken three times. Jesus must be absolute amid all that is most familiar in my life. My prayer waits the out-stretched gesturing hand of Jesus directed at me and thus including me among his disciples. These realities must be foremost in my heart: Discipleship, the will of the Father, heaven, i.e., the state of that existence which is the Kingdom of God, the absolute and eternal reign of God over all in Christ. Prayer is the act of discipleship; it places me among those listening to Him. And there is where I will find His Mother. She is the perfect disciple. She is the most perfectly redeemed and sanctified within the Kingdom. I must pray as she prayed, as she prays even now in the Kingdom. Wednesday Matthew 13.1-9 Prayer must conform to the teaching of this parable in the Gospel of today; it is the greatest and first of all the parables. My prayer prepares the ground of my soul to receive the word. More than speaking, prayer is hearing and is receiving. Prayer is hearing as the ground receives the seed. Prayer is a hearing that is absolute receptivity and is inwardly disposed to receive the word as the good ground receives the seed for a thirty, sixty, hundred-fold yield. What of the adverse conditions--the trampled-upon path, the rocky ground, the thorns? I enter into the life of prayer for the long haul. It will take a life-time and perhaps a purgatory for the inner purifications that prepare the soil. He, who has ears, let him hear. To pray is to open the ears of my soul. Thursday Fest of St. James the Apostle ; (meditation is on weekday Gospel reading.) Matthew 13.10-17 I must certainly say that I have not always seen or heard, rather I have blocked and turned away from God’s initiative to communicate. Prayer is attentive waiting, ready to hear. Prayer is the watchfulness so that we can see when we can the light dawns upon us, so that we can hear when the Spirit speaks the Word. Yet I am blessed. I am blessed because in the Church, the Sacrament of the Mystery of Christ, there is always the light to be seen and the word to be heard. Many before me in the Old Testament longed for that hearing and seeing. The fact that I seek to be faithful to the Church and to prayer would mean that I approach those to whom "it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." Dedication to the discipline of prayer will allow me to resist the dull heart, heavy ears, and closed eyes in the doze of my own self-importance. Every time I enter into the discipline of contemplative prayer the choir of angels sings: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." Friday Matthew 13.18-23 In my journey in faith, I have learned that all three negative examples of the seed's failing describe me at different times in my life. I have allowed my heart to be a pathway, a "Times Square" of feet plodding over me--how much I tried to hide among all the people I used. There was no time for understanding. Easily the evil one could pluck away the word. I have allowed the rocks of resistance to remain in my heart. There were no roots; there was no space for the roots of understanding. And the thorns of the cares of the world and the delight in riches choked the word. I complicated my life in my ambitions and sought the diversions that a middle-class life could buy. But the tiny, fragile pilot light of faith and hope burned ever so faint waiting for ignition. If in fidelity to the grace of prayer I may finally yield the thirty per cent I will be grateful. Only allow my heart to be fertile ground for the word. Jesus is not only a teacher of wisdom but He is the Savior, the Enabler, the Risen One who can conquer all internal difficulties and effect redemption and holiness in my contrite heart. Saturday Matthew 13.24-30 Prayer shares in the current condition of God's Kingdom. The Kingdom has its enemies. It has the enemy, the Evil One—Satan, the Devil. I have not escaped the evil one’s influence. I have many times been the enemy's companion which meant that my enemy has triumphed over me. My prayer must allow me to follow the root, deep into the power of the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit of Christ will conquer the enemy of the Kingdom. That victory is already achieved in Christ. Grace is the gift of sharing in that victory. My prayer then is the surrender into that victory. That is what my prayer is about: abiding in the victory of Christ. Meanwhile the patience of the daily struggle remains. The faith to see the victory of Christ is the light given in prayer. Now is the time to keep awake, to see and to hear Christ through faith and hope. But the final victory is at the end of the days. The struggle will continue until I close my eyes in death; and it will continue after me until Christ comes in glory for the final victory over his enemy, the evil one. Prayer is a sober awareness of what the Kingdom must endure while the weeds grow along with the wheat until the end. William Fredrickson, OBLSB, D.Min. --
For questions, comments or other communication, please contact: William Fredrickson Fredrickson46@msn.com

The Sixteenth Week of the Year

July 22 - 27, 2024

Monday
(Feast of St. Mary Magdelene; meditation is on weekday Gospel reading.)

Matthew 12.38-42
The attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees represents an aspect of a way of thinking. I may ask, then, what is in the center of my heart that seeks God in prayer? Am I an entrepreneur of spiritual experiences? Do I want a sign that I can feast my eyes upon, an experience that will be a trip around the world? The evil and adulterous generation is turned away from seeking the goodness of God preferring rather a personal experience and is therefore faithless to the creator who deserves adoration and obedience. So much of me reflects the spirit of that generation. The only sign that I must seek is that of the cross. What buries me for three days with Christ is what I should welcome . My prayer must be that gentle, simple, relentless waiting upon that which is greater than Solomon, than Jonah, upon the One who is the Lord Jesus. Live in the reality of Christ’s Second Coming.

Tuesday
Matthew 12.46-50
The phrase, "my mother, my brethren--my brothers and sisters," is spoken three times. Jesus must be absolute amid all that is most familiar in my life. My prayer waits the out-stretched gesturing hand of Jesus directed at me and thus including me among his disciples. These realities must be foremost in my heart: Discipleship, the will of the Father, heaven, i.e., the state of that existence which is the Kingdom of God, the absolute and eternal reign of God over all in Christ. Prayer is the act of discipleship; it places me among those listening to Him. And there is where I will find His Mother. She is the perfect disciple. She is the most perfectly redeemed and sanctified within the Kingdom. I must pray as she prayed, as she prays even now in the Kingdom.

Wednesday
Matthew 13.1-9
Prayer must conform to the teaching of this parable in the Gospel of today; it is the greatest and first of all the parables. My prayer prepares the ground of my soul to receive the word. More than speaking, prayer is hearing and is receiving. Prayer is hearing as the ground receives the seed. Prayer is a hearing that is absolute receptivity and is inwardly disposed to receive the word as the good ground receives the seed for a thirty, sixty, hundred-fold yield. What of the adverse conditions--the trampled-upon path, the rocky ground, the thorns? I enter into the life of prayer for the long haul. It will take a life-time and perhaps a purgatory for the inner purifications that prepare the soil. He, who has ears, let him hear. To pray is to open the ears of my soul.

Thursday
Fest of St. James the Apostle ; (meditation is on weekday Gospel reading.)
Matthew 13.10-17
I must certainly say that I have not always seen or heard, rather I have blocked and turned away from God’s initiative to communicate. Prayer is attentive waiting, ready to hear. Prayer is the watchfulness so that we can see when we can the light dawns upon us, so that we can hear when the Spirit speaks the Word. Yet I am blessed. I am blessed because in the Church, the Sacrament of the Mystery of Christ, there is always the light to be seen and the word to be heard. Many before me in the Old Testament longed for that hearing and seeing. The fact that I seek to be faithful to the Church and to prayer would mean that I approach those to whom "it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." Dedication to the discipline of prayer will allow me to resist the dull heart, heavy ears, and closed eyes in the doze of my own self-importance. Every time I enter into the discipline of contemplative prayer the choir of angels sings: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."

Friday
Matthew 13.18-23
In my journey in faith, I have learned that all three negative examples of the seed's failing describe me at different times in my life. I have allowed my heart to be a pathway, a "Times Square" of feet plodding over me--how much I tried to hide among all the people I used. There was no time for understanding. Easily the evil one could pluck away the word. I have allowed the rocks of resistance to remain in my heart. There were no roots; there was no space for the roots of understanding. And the thorns of the cares of the world and the delight in riches choked the word. I complicated my life in my ambitions and sought the diversions that a middle-class life could buy. But the tiny, fragile pilot light of faith and hope burned ever so faint waiting for ignition. If in fidelity to the grace of prayer I may finally yield the thirty per cent I will be grateful. Only allow my heart to be fertile ground for the word. Jesus is not only a teacher of wisdom but He is the Savior, the Enabler, the Risen One who can conquer all internal difficulties and effect redemption and holiness in my contrite heart.

Saturday
Matthew 13.24-30
Prayer shares in the current condition of God's Kingdom. The Kingdom has its enemies. It has the enemy, the Evil One—Satan, the Devil. I have not escaped the evil one’s influence. I have many times been the enemy's companion which meant that my enemy has triumphed over me. My prayer must allow me to follow the root, deep into the power of the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit of Christ will conquer the enemy of the Kingdom. That victory is already achieved in Christ. Grace is the gift of sharing in that victory. My prayer then is the surrender into that victory. That is what my prayer is about: abiding in the victory of Christ. Meanwhile the patience of the daily struggle remains. The faith to see the victory of Christ is the light given in prayer. Now is the time to keep awake, to see and to hear Christ through faith and hope. But the final victory is at the end of the days. The struggle will continue until I close my eyes in death; and it will continue after me until Christ comes in glory for the final victory over his enemy, the evil one. Prayer is a sober awareness of what the Kingdom must endure while the weeds grow along with the wheat until the end.

William Fredrickson, OBLSB, D.Min.