TWELFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Wednesday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
2 Kgs 22:8–13; 23:1–3

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 119:33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40

Gospel
Mt 7:15–20

Meditation on Today’s Readings

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

Today’s two first readings take up the theme of covenant. In Genesis, God “cuts” a covenant with Abraham in a ritual that seems strange to us, but is attested to in Jeremiah 34. In 2 Kings the people of Judah, having recovered “the book of the law” that was lost when the temple was desecrated during the reign of a previous king, renew their covenant with God. These stories convey two aspects of covenant. God’s covenant with Abraham underscores the graciousness of God, who here goes so far as to assume the obligations of the covenant by passing like a flaming torch between the animals. The account from 2 Kings, on the other hand, focuses on the covenant obligations that fall upon the people. These are contained in the book of the law, which scholars believe to be a version of Deuteronomy. The sayings of Jesus in today’s Gospel stress this point too.

Jesus declares that false prophets are known not by their words but by their deeds. For prophets, as for all God’s people then and now, covenant fidelity consists in keeping God’s statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls.

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