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Christian Resources Library
Readings July to September 2005
July
| August | September
3 July
Sixth Sunday after Trinity, St Thomas
John 20. 24 - 29
The hesitant faith of Thomas, with its demand for proof, rings bells
in the modern West. But the stress falls on the blessing of Christ given
to those who find faith that is beyond questions of proof: in God who
gives himself for us.
- Pray for grace to accept the love of Christ.
- May we learn to use our minds I the service of God.
- Give thanks for the wonder of life.
10 July
Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Romans 8: 1 - 11
Paul has the positive sense of what Christ has achieved and there si
no question of 'partly' or 'perhaps'. Flesh here means not 'body' but
us, stuck in our own weakness and meanness; and 'Spirit' here means
the liberating power of God.
Psalm 65. 9 - 13
We read a psalm of trust in God's power, directed always generously
for our good.
Matthew 13. 1 - 9, 18 - 23
The parable is so familiar and seems so much a matter of commonsense
that we may miss its drive: all sorts of resistance and failure happen,
but the push of the story is towards the good soil' where success is
abundant.
- How hard do we find it actually to rejoice in the good purpose of
God?
- Does the sharp contrast of 'flesh' and 'Spirit' alarm or encourage
us?
- Can we tell which kind of soil truly attracts us and holds us?
17 July
Eighth Sunday after Trinity
Romans 8: 12 - 25
Paul saw that we Christians are not like subjects of a lord or monarch
but like members of a family, marked by love and acceptance for our
own sake - and by hope that all shall be well.
Psalm 86. 11 - 17
We are to trust God in the face of all adversities
Matthew 13: 24 - 30, 36 - 43
Matthew gives us a parable offering a stark and frightening choice,
with a future to match. The message is that we should not relax in complacent
ignorance of the choice, but buckle to in the Christian task.
- To be aware of our liberty is surely to be full of hope for all
good.
- Pray for the gift of constant trust in God.
- Evil oppresses the world but we hold fast to God's victory, with
its signs all around.
24 July
Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Romans 8: 26 - 39
The passage leads up to the most confident and triumphant cry of Christian
faith in all the New Testament. No hostile force can finally count against
the love of God.
Pslam 119. 129 - 136
The message is that we are to stick to God and his teaching, come what
may
Matthew 13: 31 - 33, 44 - 52
The casue of God, whose success is assured, is so precious that we
should forego anything to grasp it for ourselves. To be on God's side
is our ultimate good.
- Pray for the gift of wise discernment in the problems that face
us.
- We have every reason to face our adversities with courage from God.
- Reflect on where the rule of God comes in your scale of values.
31 July
Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Romans 9: 1 - 5
Paul is embarking here on a long discussion about how Jews and gentiles
share together in God's purpose and gift. He begins by recognizing the
Jews' long role as first receivers of that gift - and we are reminded.
Psalm 145. 8 - 9, 15 - 22
We are to praise God gladly for his sustaining gifts to his creatures.
Matthew 14: 13 - 21
The story of the crowd being fed by Jesus must always have made Christian
people think of the Eucharist - God's free and abundant gift to his
people, expressed in simple bread but so full of meaning.
- We recognize that our faith does not come from nowhere but, for
each of us, has deep-laid roots that we easily forget.
- Thank God for his constant goodness.
- We thank God for the greatness of his sacramental gift to us.
7 August
Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
Matthew 14: 22 - 33
The Gospel gives us a picture of God's utter reliability in life's
storms. Yet on our part, trust in God can always be strengthened, as
testing may show.
- Praise God, for he is our haven in all our ills.
- Pray for the deepening of trust in God's love and power.
14 August
12th Sunday after Trinity
Romans 11: 1 - 2a, 29 - 32
Paul sees Christ as the gift to Jews and gentiles alike - which took
courage of heart and mind for a man of Paul's Jewish heritage and training.
Psalm 67
None is exempt from the scope of God's good purposes for us.
Matthew 15. 21 - 28
The Canaanite woman serves as a test-case for Jesus' ministry of rescue
for all. She perseveres and her need is met.
- Can we stop ourselves putting limits of come kind on our sense of
God's love for his creation?
- Pray to have a simple faith in God's concern for all.
- Do we need to persevere more doggedly in our faith in God and not
be discouraged?
21 August
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
Romans 12: 1 - 8
Christians are to be distinct from the society around - in the world
but not of it. The reason is that it is Christ who gives us our shared
identity and makes us one.
Psalm 138
Like many psalms, this one draws out our desire to praise God for his
mighty love and care.
Matthew 16: 13 - 20
To say 'Yes' to Jesus leads straight to a practical role: Peter (his
name means 'rock') signifies the church in all its day-to-day life and
whose ultimate victory on behalf of God's is sure.
- It is hard to keep a sense of our importance before God: not too
much, not too little.
- Do we see the Christian community as truly Christ's people - and
that alone?
- Pray that confession of Christ leads us to a live part in his purpose.
28 August
14th Sunday after Trinity
Romans 12: 9 - 21
Paul gives simple and basic moral teaching, some of it echoing Jesus
in the Gospels. Much of it is not unusual - but that makes it no easier
to accept and follow, except in God's grace.
Psalm 26. 1 - 8
This is a psalm that can make us self-satisfied! But our love for God
is the basis of our virtues.
Matthew 16: 21 - 28
It is a solemn message: to follow Jesus is essentially to share the
cross and all that it entails for our way of life. That is the unavoidable
route to success and triumph.
- Pray even to accept ill from others with true patience.
- Pray for readiness to take up our crosses, small and great.
- Can we bear to become nothing for the sake of having everything
that matters in the end?
4 September
Birth of Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 1: 46 - 55
Mary inspires us with a vision of a world and society turned upside
down - which is always the direction in which God's amazing purpose
drives.
- Can we bear the prospect of the joy that God sets before us?
- We praise God for the gift of Jesus through Mary's gracious generosity
of herself.
- What can we but wonder at the courage of Mary's proclamation?
11 September
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Romans 14: 1 - 12
Christians, like others can squabble and divide about matters that
seem to be, in the end, of minor importance. Only love can restore a
true sense of proportion.
Psalm 103. 8 - 13
If we consider our weaknesses and failings in our lives, we can only
rejoice that God bears with us and raises us up as if fresh.
Matthew 18; 21 -35
It is a terrifying parable bringing home dramatically the message of
the Lord's Prayer - to forgive readily, as we ourselves are forgiven
by God.
- Pray always to hold to the great things of God's love.
- Pray to be forgiving to others, for we also are forgiven much.
18 September
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Philippians 1: 21 - 30
Paul wants to encourage his converts at Philippi and shows himself
a good and wise pastor, who has suffered at they do - and has stood
firm.
Psalm 145. 1 - 8
The wonder of God's greatness is beyond our imagining. Our experience
of people and of the world in general carries so many signs of that
greatness to us.
Matthew 20: 1 - 16
No parable of Jesus strikes us as more shocking than this: what sort
of world is it about? It is not about our world, but God's - where,
fortunately for us, his grace takes no account of our deserts.
- Christian ministry is family-like given to us, but from alongside
us.
- Pray for greater awareness of the wonder of God's gifts.
- Pray to be glad that God has no favourites.
25 September
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
Philippians 2: 1 - 13
The drama of Christ's self-humbling and his vindication by God is at
the heart of our faith. It gives us the best clue we have to the mystery
of our own life and destiny.
Psalm 25. 1 - 9
The psalm leads us to pray that God will lead us to a more and more
faithful relationship with himself.
Matthew 21: 23 - 32
If people cannot see Jesus' meaning from his conduct in his ministry,
the fault is their own. Those please with their own goodness are the
last people to grasp the character of God.
- The gift of humility is surely a matter of being 'real' before God
and everyone else.
- We wish to be delivered from stubborn blindness to Truth when it
stares us in the face.
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