ELEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Wednesday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
2 Kgs 2:1, 6–14

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 31:20, 21, 24

Gospel
Mt 6:1–6, 16–18

Meditation on Today’s Readings

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

In today’s Gospel, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus comments on three acts of traditional Jewish piety—almsgiving, prayer and fasting. The fact that Matthew has preserved these sayings of Jesus indicates that Christians also practiced these religious acts. As he touches on each one in turn, Jesus cautions against making any one of these private acts of piety into a self-serving public display. To do so is to forfeit any reward from the heavenly Father. In 2 Corinthians Paul is especially concerned with the practice of almsgiving. He writes to encourage everyone to give “without sadness or compulsion,” confident that the Father who sees in secret will repay.

The reading from 2 Kings may help us to appreciate how private prayer may be richly repaid. It describes the powerful and empowering religious experience of Elisha. Leaving the fifty guild prophets on the other side of the Jordan, Elisha learns the secret of Elijah’s power and returns with the prophet’s mantle and a double portion of his spirit.

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