Today, August 5
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Readings of the Day
Book of Jeremiah 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.
Book of Jeremiah 31,10.11-12ab.13.
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.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 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
In the Gospel Jesus invites us to pray: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”. Jesus' words here are very valuable because they express the true relationship between God and man and answer to a fundamental difficulty in the history of religions and in our personal lives. Is it right and proper to ask God for things? Isn't the only response that answers to God's transcendence and greatness to glorify, adore and give him thanks in a prayer that will, for this reason, be disinterested? Jesus pays no attention to this fear. Jesus does not teach a religion for the wholly disinterested elite. The understanding of God that Jesus teaches us is something else: his God is very human, a God who is good and powerful. Jesus' religion is very human, very simple – it is a religion for the simple: “I give praise to you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to children” (Mt 11,25). Children, those who have need of God's help and tell him so, understand the truth far better than the learned who, by not accepting petitionary prayer and only allowing disinterested praise of God, construct a self-sufficiency for man that does not correspond to his dependence, as expressed in Esther's words: “Come to my help!” (4,14). Behind the noble attitude of not wanting to disturb God with our little woes hides the doubt: 'Has God the power to respond to the realities of our life? Can God change the situation and enter into the reality of our earthly life?'... But if God doesn't act, if he doesn't have power over the concrete events of our lives, how could God still be God? And if God is love, won't love discover a way of answering the hopes of one who loves? If God is love, and if he is unable to help us in our actual lives, then love would not be the ultimate power at work in the world.