Monday 3 August 2020
Monday of week 18 in Ordinary Time
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Monday of week 18 in Ordinary Time
The "Epistle of Barnabas"
The new law of our Lord
God swept away all these things. The new law of our Lord Jesus Christ imposes no yoke of coercion and its sacrifice is not one made by man. In another place he says to them, Did I command your fathers when they came out of the land of Egypt to offer me burnt offerings and sacrifices? No, but I commanded them this: “Let none of you cherish any evil in his heart against his neighbour, and let none of you be fond of breaking vows.” If we have any sense then we will understand the loving intention of our Father. He wants us not to err as these people did but to seek how we may make our offering to him. And he tells us: the sacrifice for the Lord is a contrite heart, a heart that glorifies its Maker is a sweet savour to the Lord. My brethren, we must look closely into the matter of our salvation so that the Evil One does not slyly enter our hearts and drag us away from the life that lies before us.
God also says to them, Why are you keeping a fast for me and filling this day with your whinings? I have not decreed this fast, says the Lord, nor this humiliation of man’s soul. Turning to us, he says Here is the fast I decree: relax your iniquitous restrictions, loosen the shackles of your oppressive contracts, let your ruined debtors go free and tear up your unjust agreements. Break your bread and give it to the hungry; if you see a man without clothing, give him clothes of your own. If you see one who is homeless, bring him into your own house.
Let us flee from all vanity, let us hold in aversion the Way of Wickedness and its works. Do not withdraw into solitude as if you were already considered righteous, but come together and seek out the common good. For Scripture says: Woe betide those who are wise in their own eyes and knowledgeable in their own sight. Let us be men of the Spirit, let us be a temple consecrated to God. As far as we can, let us devote ourselves to living in the fear of God, and let us strive to keep his commandments so that his ordinances become our delight. When the Lord judges the world he will have no favourites: each will receive according to his deeds. If he is good then his righteousness will lead him forward; if he is evil then the reward of iniquity will be in front of him. Let us never complacently think of ourselves as ‘called’, let us never doze in our sinfulness, or the Prince of Evil may gain power over us and thrust us out from the Kingdom of the Lord. And consider this also, my brethren, you see what great signs and wonders were wrought in Israel and yet in the end they were finally abandoned – let us be very careful not to be among those of whom it was written that many are called but few are chosen.
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In other parts of the world and other calendars:
Saint Oswald, King and Martyr
A manuscript illustration from the Epitome of Chronicles by Matthew Paris, early 13th century.
St Bede, History of the English Church and People
As soon as he became king, Oswald greatly wished that all the people whom he ruled should be imbued with the grace of the Christian Faith of which he had received such signal proof in his victory over the heathens. So he sent to the Scottish elders among whom he and his companions had received the sacrament of Baptism when in exile, asking them to send him a bishop by whose teaching and ministry the English people over whom he ruled might receive the blessings of the Christian Faith and the sacraments. His request was granted without delay and they sent him Bishop Aidan, a man of outstanding gentleness, holiness and moderation. The king always listened humbly and readily to Aidan’s advice, and diligently set himself to establish and extend the Church of Christ throughout his kingdom, and while the bishop, who was not fluent in the English language, preached the gospel, it was most delightful to see the king himself interpreting the word of God to his ealdormen and thanes; for he himself had obtained perfect command of the Scottish tongue during his long exile.
Henceforward many Scots arrived day by day in Britain and proclaimed the word of God with great devotion in all the province under Oswald’s rule, whilst those of them who were in priests’ orders ministered the grace of Baptism to those who believed. Churches were built in several places and people flocked gladly to hear the word of God, while the king of his bounty gave lands and endowments to establish monasteries, and the English, both noble and simple, were instructed by their Scots teachers to observe a monastic life.
Copyright © 1996-2020 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.