TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Tuesday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
1 Kgs 17:7–16

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 4:2–3, 4–5, 7b–8

Gospel
Mt 5:13–16

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

The sayings of Jesus that Matthew records in today’s Gospel are biblically based. In the Hebrew Bible, salt is used as a metaphor in a number of different senses. But combining light with the city on a hill unmistakably alludes to Isaiah 2 (cf. also Micah 4). There the prophet speaks of the days to come, when all the nations shall stream to the mountain of the Lord’s house that towers above the hills, to be instructed in God’s ways. Therefore, he calls the house of Jacob to “walk in the light of the Lord!”

Jesus’ message is clear. Just as the miracle Elijah worked invited a Sidonian widow to recognize the power of Israel’s God, and just as God intended faithful Israel to be a beckoning light to the nations, so must we who follow Jesus incite others to praise God our heavenly Father by our good works. As Paul would say, it is for this that God has anointed us, sealed us and deposited the Spirit in our hearts.

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul