Inspired to Work in His Harvest

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to be open to the healing of Jesus as we join Him working for fullness of life in the field of our environment.

Bridge to Labour in Our Environment

The Reading from the Prophet Hosea protests against the conspiracies at the royal court.

* [8:4] Hosea is not against the monarchy, but against the conspiracies at the royal court (see note on 7:3–7). The king should be chosen by God (1 Kgs 19:15–16).

* [8:5] Calf: a cultic object introduced by Jeroboam I after the separation of the Northern Kingdom from the Southern Kingdom (1 Kgs 12:26–30; cf. Ex 32).

* [8:11] The altars had become places of self-serving worship (cf. v. 13).

* [8:13] Return to Egypt: to punish their violation of the covenant they will experience a reversal of the exodus. (Hosea, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 115 ridicules the lifeless idols of the nations.

* [Psalm 115] A response to the enemy taunt, “Where is your God?” This hymn to the glory of Israel’s God (Ps 115:1–3) ridicules the lifeless idols of the nations (Ps 115:4–8), expresses in a litany the trust of the various classes of the people in God (Ps 115:9–11), invokes God’s blessing on them as they invoke the divine name (Ps 115:12–15), and concludes as it began with praise of God. Ps 135:15–18 similarly mocks the Gentile gods and has a similar litany and hymn (Ps 135:19–21). (Psalms, PSALM 115 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus healing a Mute Person and the Compassion of Jesus.

* [9:32–34] The source of this story seems to be Q (see Lk 11:14–15). As in the preceding healing of the blind, Matthew has two versions of this healing, the later in Mt 12:22–24 and the earlier here.

* [9:34] This spiteful accusation foreshadows the growing opposition to Jesus in Mt 11 and 12.

* [9:35] See notes on Mt 4:23–25; Mt 8:1–9:38.

* [9:36] See Mk 6:34; Nm 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17.

* [9:37–38] This Q saying (see Lk 10:2) is only imperfectly related to this context. It presupposes that only God (the master of the harvest) can take the initiative in sending out preachers of the gospel, whereas in Matthew’s setting it leads into Mt 10 where Jesus does so. (Matthew, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Larry Hopp asks: “Do we truly understand who is in charge of our world? Do we really understand the consequences of not following God’s will?” Today’s Daily Readings provide stark insight into what can happen when people stray from following God’s directives. But less we become discouraged when considering how closely today’s world parallels Israel during Hosea’s time, today’s Readings close with a strong challenge from Jesus designed to both provide insight as to the seriousness of this tendency to stray from His will and how we should respond.

Dear Heavenly Father, we are reminded of how easy it is for us to allow the world to draw us away from you and your will for our lives. Help us to remember that there are indeed consequences for straying from your will. Give us the courage to use our lives daily to point others to your saving grace. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen (Hopp, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Freedom and healing in Christ,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).

"In the deaf and dumb and demoniac appear the need of the Gentiles for a complete healing. Beleaguered on all sides by misfortune, they were associated with all types of the body's infirmities. And in this regard a proper order of things is observed. For the devil is first cast out; then the other bodily benefits follow suit. With the folly of all superstitions put to flight by the knowledge of God, sight and hearing and words of healing are introduced. The declaration of the onlookers followed their admiration over what took place: 'Never has the like been seen in Israel.' Indeed, he whom the law could not help was made well by the power of the Word, and the deaf and dumb man spoke the praises of God. Deliverance has been given to the Gentiles. All the towns and all the villages are enlightened by the power and presence of Christ, and the people are freed from every impairment of the timeless malady. (excerpt from ON MATTHEW 9.10) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Hosea's role is best understood in the history of Israel. Jeroboam had ruled the northern two tribes and concluded the people needed to stop going to the shrines in Jerusalem. He created a shrine with two idols of calves intended to be the throne where God would appear. Hosea called the people to “Cast away your calf.” The northern kingdom was a “banana kingdom” and God had chosen David to “sow the wind and reap the whirlwind”. The people had made a bad choice and would suffer consequences. The Pharisees declared that Jesus heals demons by the “prince of demons”. They won’t believe the truth before their eyes. The shepherds of Israel have failed. Jesus asks the Lord of the harvest to send workers. Friar Jude reminds us that we are collaborators with Jesus to spread the word of God as intended by the Father.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 9:18-26 comments that Jesus wants to send every believer to reach out to those who are troubled and abandoned. Each of us can share the compassionate heart of Jesus for those who are searching, confused, or misled. We can proclaim the good news of God’s faithfulness and mercy in our lives and bring the love of Jesus wherever we go.

Think of your daily life. You probably come into contact with lots of people who might never have had an opportunity—or maybe wouldn’t want one—to speak to a priest. But you can reach them. Maybe it’s someone at work or your roommate or the neighbor down the street. Maybe it’s a chance encounter with someone in the checkout line at a store or after you drop off your kids at school or a caregiver who comes into your home. Can you look at each of these people with the gaze of Jesus the Good Shepherd? Can you allow your heart to be moved when you see the ways they are “troubled and abandoned”? Your presence, your words, and the witness of your life can make a difference in their lives!

Are you ready to be sent?

“Jesus, my shepherd, help me to be more like you!” (Meditation on Matthew 9:18-26, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on the sacred nature of our ability to grieve—our own pain and that of the world.  New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine describes how Jesus’s listeners would have heard echoes of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah’s message of consolation. Father Richard recognizes mourning as a quality that connects the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.

Mourning might be thought of as the prophetic “way of tears,” a letting down of our defenses, in stark contrast to our more common ways of heroic willpower, commandment, obedience, force, anger, and legitimated violence. It takes an initial tender vulnerability (“wounding”) to defeat our ego and to open us to full consciousness—which must include the scary unconscious! It is a movement, frankly, from the Ten Commandments to the eight Beatitudes. A movement that the prophets illustrated for us twenty-five hundred years ago, and that we need—out of desire and desperation—to recover today. [3] (Rohr, n.d.)

Sadly, the resonance of our society with the attraction to false gods condemned by Hosea is very evident as we invoke the Spirit in our contemplation of our action to be Jesus' workers in the cultivation of an abundant harvest of faith, hope and love.

References

Hopp, L. (2026, July 7). Daily Reflection July 7, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-july-7-2026 

Hosea, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hosea/8? 

Matthew, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9?32 

Meditation on Matthew 9:18-26. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/07/07/1610031/ 

Psalms, PSALM 115 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/115?3 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Blessed Are Those Who Mourn. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/blessed-are-those-who-mourn/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Never Seen Anything like This. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 7, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Faith for Full Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today draw us back to the basics of the role of faith in filling our lives with life even as we journey through illness and death in our family and friends.

Faith and Full Life

 

The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy cautions against disobedience by reminding us of the Great Commandment and our call to fidelity in prosperity.

* [6:4] Hear, O Israel!: in Hebrew, shema yisra’el; hence this passage (vv. 4–9), containing the Great Commandment, is called the Shema. In later Jewish tradition, 11:13–21 and Nm 15:37–41 were added to form a prayer recited every evening and morning. The LORD is our God, the LORD alone: other possible translations are “the Lord our God is one Lord”; “the Lord our God, the Lord is one”; “the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”1

 

Psalm 18 is a Royal Thanksgiving for Victory.

* [Psalm 18] A royal thanksgiving for a military victory, duplicated in 2 Sm 22. Thanksgiving Psalms are in essence reports of divine rescue. The Psalm has two parallel reports of rescue, the first told from a heavenly perspective (Ps 18:5–20), and the second from an earthly perspective (Ps 18:36–46). The first report adapts old mythic language of a cosmic battle between sea and rainstorm in order to depict God’s rescue of the Israelite king from his enemies. Each report has a short hymnic introduction (Ps 18:2–4, 32–36) and conclusion (Ps 18:21–31, 47–50).2

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches about faith as He cures a boy with a demon.

* [17:17] Faithless and perverse: so Matthew and Luke (Lk 9:41) against Mark’s faithless (Mk 9:19). The Greek word here translated perverse is the same as that in Dt 32:5 LXX, where Moses speaks to his people. There is a problem in knowing to whom the reproach is addressed. Since the Matthean Jesus normally chides his disciples for their little faith (as in Mt 17:20), it would appear that the charge of lack of faith could not be made against them and that the reproach is addressed to unbelievers among the Jews. However in Mt 17:20b (if you have faith the size of a mustard seed), which is certainly addressed to the disciples, they appear to have not even the smallest faith; if they had, they would have been able to cure the boy. In the light of Mt 17:20b the reproach of Mt 17:17 could have applied to the disciples. There seems to be an inconsistency between the charge of little faith in Mt 17:20a and that of not even a little in Mt 17:20b.3

 

Nancy Shirley shares one of the faith stories that filled her heart this week as she struggled to write her reflection that involved the death of a very young man.

We will not ever be free from tragedy and hurt while we walk this earth, but we will never have to face that hurt alone.  We are always in the arms of our Father and comforted by our loving Mother and the numerous angels on earth.  The ordinary people who cross our lives, share their stories, listen to ours, and together our lives are changed forever . . .4 

Don Schwager quotes “Faith as a grain of mustard seed,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).

"The mountains here spoken of, in my opinion, are the hostile powers that have their being in a flood of great wickedness, such as are settled down, so to speak, in some souls of various people. But when someone has total faith, such that he no longer disbelieves in anything found in holy Scripture and has faith like that of Abraham, who so believed in God to such a degree that his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6), then he has all faith like a grain of mustard seed. Then such a man will say to this mountain - I mean in this case the deaf and dumb spirit in him who is said to be epileptic - 'Move from here to another place.' It will move. This means it will move from the suffering person to the abyss. The apostle, taking this as his starting point, said with apostolic authority, 'If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains' (1 Corinthians 13:2). For he who has all faith - which is like a grain of mustard seed - moves not just one mountain but also more just like it. And nothing will be impossible for the person who has so much faith. Let us examine also this statement: 'This kind is not cast out except through prayer and fasting' (Mark 9:29). If at any time it is necessary that we should be engaged in the healing of one suffering from such a disorder, we are not to adjure nor put questions nor speak to the impure spirit as if it heard. But [by] devoting ourselves to prayer and fasting, we may be successful as we pray for the sufferer, and by our own fasting we may thrust out the unclean spirit from him." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 13.7.19)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Deuteronomy 6:4-13 comments that as we raise our children in the faith and speak openly about the difference Christ has made in our lives, we are living out our love for God and showing the world what Christian love looks like.

Moses knew that loving God and sharing that love with other people would help the Israelites remain faithful to him and not “forget” him (Deuteronomy 6:12). For us too, the more we share our love of God and put it into action, the more our love for God grows. And as our love for God grows, we will find ourselves sharing that love with more and more people. And so the cycle of grace keeps growing, bringing us all closer to the Lord. God is asking for our “all.” So let’s not shy away from the call to proclaim his good news. “Lord, teach me to love you more!”6

 

Friar Jude Winkler shares that the text from Deuteronomy begins the Jewish credal formula, the Shema, as he shares some signs of respect in Judaism for this Word. The failure of the disciples to cure the boy reveals a lack of faith in Jesus' authority to heal. Friar Jude reminds us that the most loving response from God may be what we ask or it may be an opportunity to meet Him on His Cross.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares the work of Buddhist teacher Cuong Lu, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, who describes a practical way to be present to our pain.

The world needs your suffering, your courage, and your strength. Don’t try to kill your pain. Share it with another, communicate it. If the first person you talk to isn’t the right one, find someone else. Somebody somewhere wants to listen to your pain, to connect with you and understand you. When you find them, when you lighten your burden and discover the jewels and joy that are alive beneath the pain, later you’ll be present for others who are suffering.7

 

In our journey, faith brings strength that connects us to others.

 

References 

1	(n.d.). Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/6
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 18 | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/18
3	(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/17
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries - Creighton University. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/080721.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=aug7
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/08/07/190529/
7	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: 2021 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://cac.org/everybody-grieves-weekly-summary-2021-08-07/