In his mercy, God has chosen us, Unworthy as we are, out of the world, to serve him and thus,

to advance in goodness and to bear the greatest possible fruit of love in patience.

 

Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, priest

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29*

(...) Jacob went to his father and said,

"Father!" He answered, "Yes, my son, who is it?" and Jacob said to his father, "It is Esau, your firstborn;

I have done what you told me to do. Come, sit up and eat my game so that you may give me your blessing."

Isaac said, "How quick you have been my son!" Jacob said, "The Lord, your God, guided me." Isaac said to Jacob,

"Come near and let me feel you, my son, and know that it is you, Esau my son, or not."

 

When Jacob drew near to Isaac, his father felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau."

He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau, his brother, and so he blessed him.

He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" and Jacob answered, "I am." Isaac said, "Bring me some of your game, my son,

so that I may eat and give you my blessing." So Jacob brought it to him and he ate. And he brought him wine and he drank.

Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." So Jacob came near and kissed him.

 

Isaac then caught the smell of his clothes and blessed him, saying, "The smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.

May God give you of the dew of heaven; and of the richness of the earth; and abundance of grain and wine.

Let peoples serve you and nations bow down before you. Be lord over your brothers,

and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses you and blessed be everyone that blesses you!"

 

Ps 135:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6 Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

 Matthew 9:14-17

Then the disciples of John came to him with the question, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?"

Jesus answered them, "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then, they will fast.

 

No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat.

In the same way, you don't put new wine into old wine skins. If you do, the wine skins will burst and the wine will be spilt.

No, you put new wine into fresh skins; then both are preserved."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"God never leaves us."

The events of today's first reading might leave us somewhat uncomfortable.

Jacob disguises himself as his brother to receive his father's blessing: the conclusion of Esau's loss of his birthright,

which began with Esau thoughtlessly giving it away on oath to Jacob for a meagre bowl of lentil stew.

It's only after Jacob receives the fullness of Isaac's blessing that Esau realizes what he has lost, and he wants to kill Jacob.

The story is challenging for us, as it contains an apparent casual disregard for God's blessings on the part of Esau,

but also deceit on the part of Jacob. And yet, God's saving plan was still able to unfold.

 

It shows that God is at work even in the midst of the sin and imperfection of human existence.

He never leaves us but is with us every moment of our lives. God has the final victory over sin and death,

and, with all our imperfections, we share in that victory if we choose to live a life that's in union with his will.