Let those who have ears, listen

 Wednesday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time   24 July 2013

Feasts of St. Charbel Makhluf, Priest (1828-1898), Saint Christina, Virgin and Martyr († c. 300)

Exodus 16:1-5.9-15. 

The children of Israel set out from Elim, and came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. Here in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not.
On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
Then Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole Israelite community: Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling."
When Aaron announced this to the whole Israelite community, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!
The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
 
Ps 78(77):18-19.23-24.25-26.27-28. 

They tempted God in their hearts

by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?”
 
Yet he commanded the skies above
and the doors of heaven he opened;
He rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread. 
 
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
He stirred up the east wind in the heavens,
and by his power brought on the south wind.
 
And he rained meat upon them like dust,
and, like the sand of the sea, winged fowl,
Which fell in the midst of their camp
round about their tents. 

Mt 13:1-9. 

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.

Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

 Commentary of the day :

 Isaac the Syrian (7th century), monk near Mosul, saint of the Orthodox churches

 Ascetical Discourses, 1st series, no.32

 

"A hundredfold"

Just as all the force of the laws and commandments God gave to men comes to fulfillment in purity of heart (as the Fathers say), so all the means and methods with which God is prayed come to fulfillment in pure prayer. Groanings, prostrations, petitions, lamentations: all the forms that prayer can take have their end, in fact, in pure prayer... Meditation no longer has anything to detain it: neither prayers, nor movements, nor lamentation, nor power, nor liberty, nor petition, nor desire, nor pleasure in what it hopes for in this life or in that which is to come. After pure prayer there is no other... Beyond this limit lies wonder and no longer prayer; prayer ceases and contemplation begins...Prayer is the sowing and contemplation the harvest of the grain. The reaper is astonished to see what cannot be expressed: how is it that from the tiny, bare seeds he has sown such abundant sheaves can have suddenly sprung up before his eyes? The sight of his harvest takes his breath away...Just as hardly a man in several thousands can be found to fulfil a little less badly the commandments and things of the Law and come to purity of soul, so one in a thousand can be found who is worthy, with much vigilance, of attaining pure prayer, of crossing the threshold and discovering this mystery. For it is not granted to many but to few to know pure prayer.