" When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us."

             ~~~  ST. JEROME  ~~~

   ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5

Then Yahweh answered

Job out of the storm: Have you ever commanded the morning, or shown the dawn its place,  that it might grasp the earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it,

 when it takes a clay color and changes its tint like a garment;  when the wicked are denied their own light, and their proud arm is shattered?

 Have you journeyed to where the sea begins or walked in its deepest recesses? Have the gates of death been shown to you?

Have you seen the gates of Shadow?  Have you an idea of the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.  Where is the way to the home of light, and where does darkness dwell?

Can you take them to their own regions, and set them on their homeward paths?  You know, for you were born before them, and great is the number of your years!

 Job said: How can I reply, unworthy as I am! All I can do is put my hand over my mouth.  I have spoken once, now I will not answer; oh, yes, twice, but I will do no further.

 

Ps 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Luke 10:13-16

Alas for you Chorazin! Alas for you Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wear­ing the sackcloth of repentance. 

Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better than for you on the Judgment Day. And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead.

 Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

 Gift of wonder

So many miracles happened in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum; but the hearts of their citizens remained cold and unresponsive. They failed to respond precisely because they has lost the sense of wonder and marvel; they had lost the freshness of sight.

Take a second look at the questions Yahweh raised before job. Have we ever contemplated those marvels? If we pause to “really see” those marvels unfolding around us on a daily basis, we will, like job, place our hands on our mouth in wonder and go down on our knees in worship and adoration of the Creator.

We will then respond to these marvels by sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth of repentance for failing to recognize Grace that has always surrounded us; and we will align ourselves with the designs of the Creator.