Gratitude

Jul 26: Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

According to a 2 -century tradition, Anne and Joachim conceived Mary as a gift from God after years of infertility. Devotion to Anne dates to around 550, when Emperor Justinian built a church in her honor. She is frequently depicted teaching Mary to read the Scriptures.

Pope Francis wrote: “Saints Joachim and Anne were part of a long chain of people who had transmitted their faith and love for God, expressed in the warmth and love of family life, down to Mary, who received the Son of God in her womb and who gave him to the world, to us. How precious is the family as the privileged place for transmitting the faith!”

Reading 1

Ex 16:1-5, 9-15

The children of Israel set out from Elim, and came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The children of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days."

Then Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling."

When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud! The LORD spoke to Moses and said, "I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."

Thousands of years after these events, Ben Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

The Israelites are complaining about being free, and not provided for by their masters. But God is their Master now, as He is ours today. We owe Him everything, yet He gives us our freedom to turn away or complain.

St. Josemaría relates freedom to Mary¹ and her choice to obey God: “Consider now the sublime moment when the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary the plans of the Most High. Our Mother listens, and asks a question to understand better what the Lord is asking of her. Then she gives her firm reply: Fiat! Be it done unto me according to thy word! This is the fruit of the best freedom of all, the freedom of deciding in favor of God.”

So, do we use our freedom to complain, or to thank God?

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
They tempted God in their hearts
by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the desert?"
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Yet he commanded the skies above
and the doors of heaven he opened;
He rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
He stirred up the east wind in the heavens,
and by his power brought on the south wind.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
And he rained meat upon them like dust,
and, like the sand of the sea, winged fowl,
Which fell in the midst of their camp
round about their tents.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

The Israelites, like all humans, like us, weren’t always grateful for what they had. They escaped slavery, but now they were hungry. Later on, we’ll see that even though they’re no longer hungry, they get sick of eating the same thing over and over.

It’s frequently like that in our own lives. We think about what we lack instead of what we have. Gratitude can help us a lot in life—

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
All who come to him will live for ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Today’s gospel is a rerun of the Gospel from a couple Sundays ago, where I argued that Christ is not the sower but the seed, given the context of this particular parable. But what do I know?

Gospel

Mt 13:1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

In ancient Palestine, farmers often sowed seeds before plowing. So the sower isn’t being wasteful; he’s just planting before the earth has been turned over.

The advantage of this (as far as my city-slicker understanding goes) is that the seeds which are in good ground get pushed deeper by the plow which allows the plants to grow even larger.

The trials and tribulations we go through often make us come out even more blessed and fruitful on the other side.

1. Whose parents have a feast day today!