17 Aug
Fri
19th Week in Ordinary Time
Ez. 16:1-15,60,63
(R. Ps): Is. 12:2-3,4,5-6
Mt. 19:3-12
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Ezekiel was a master of imagery and imaginative symbolism. Centuries before George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and the musical version My Fair Lady, he used the story of the girl in the gutter and the kind gentleman to bring out the contrast between God's unfailingly generous love and the infidelity that often plagues the human heart. In Ezekiel's story, Jerusalem is the girl abandoned in the gutter, and God is the man who finds her and loves her in marriage almost to the point of extravagance. God's generosity was met by Jerusalem's ungrateful infidelity.

We have been raised from the gutter of sin, and are now Jerusalem, the people of God. But have we forgotten to give thanks to God, the sole provider of our many gifts? Even if we have, God is kind and will always remember His covenant with us.

Just as God blessed Jerusalem, He has also sanctified Christian marriage with many blessings. Our heavenly Father desires that Christian couples live their marriage vocation faithfully.



Lord, You have been so generous with Your blessings. Teach us to appreciate Your gifts, and to make good use of them so that we can better praise, revere and serve You.


DAILY OFFERING
Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen.

PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
INTENTION
That any far-reaching decisions of economists and politicans may protect the family as one of the treasures of humanity.
Elaboration

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