Daily Readings - Fri Aug 02 2019
Leviticus
1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying4Therefore, these are the feasts of the Lord, which you must celebrate in their times5The first month, the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, is the Passover of the Lord6And the fifteenth day of this month is the solemnity of the unleavened bread of the Lord. For seven days shall you eat unleavened bread7The first day shall be greatly honored and holy to you; you shall do no servile work in it8But you shall offer a sacrifice with fire, for seven days, to the Lord. Then the seventh day shall be more honored and more holy; and you shall do no servile work in it9And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying10Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: When you will have entered into the land which I will give to you, and you will have harvested your grain fields, you shall carry the sheaves of grain, the first-fruits of your harvest, to the priest11He shall lift up a sheaf before the Lord, on the day after the Sabbath, so that it may be acceptable for you, and he shall sanctify it15Therefore, you shall number from the day after the Sabbath, in which you offered a sheaf of the first-fruits, seven full weeks16all the way to the day after the completion of the seventh week, that is, fifty days, and then you shall offer a new sacrifice to the Lord27The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement; it shall be most honored, and it shall be called holy. And you shall afflict your souls on that day, and you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord34Say to the sons of Israel: From the fifteenth day of this seventh month, there shall be the Feast of Tabernacles: seven days for the Lord35The first day shall be called most honored and most holy; you shall do no servile work in it36And for seven days you shall offer holocausts to the Lord. Likewise, the eighth day shall be most honored and most holy, and you shall offer holocausts to the Lord. For it is the day of assembly and gathering. You shall do no servile work in it37These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall call most honored and most holy, and in them you shall offer oblations to the Lord: holocausts and libations according to the rite of each particular day
Matthew
54And arriving in his own country, he taught them in their synagogues, so much so that they wondered and said: "How can such wisdom and power be with this one55Is this not the son of a workman? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude56And his sisters, are they not all with us? Therefore, from where has this one obtained all these things?57And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.58And he did not work many miracles there, because of their unbelief
Sermon
The first reading from Leviticus describes the sacred feasts of the Israelites, which were not just cultural traditions but deeply spiritual practices. These feasts—such as the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles—were instituted by God to remind the people of His mighty acts of salvation and to draw them into a deeper relationship with Him. They were times of celebration, sacrifice, and renewal, rooted in the history of Israel’s deliverance and covenant with God. The feasts also pointed forward, in a way, to the ultimate sacrifice and salvation that would come through Christ.
In the Gospel, we see Jesus returning to His hometown of Nazareth, where He teaches in the synagogue. The people are amazed by His wisdom and power, yet they are also scandalized because they know Him as the son of a carpenter. Their familiarity with Jesus leads to unbelief, and as a result, He is unable to perform many miracles there. Jesus responds by saying that a prophet is not honored in his own house—a reminder that faith often falters in the face of familiarity or comfort.
These readings remind us that faith requires us to move beyond our limited perspectives and to trust in God’s presence and plan, even when it seems ordinary or unexpected. The feasts in Leviticus call us to remember God’s saving acts and to live in gratitude and awe. Similarly, the Gospel challenges us to avoid the kind of unbelief that comes from thinking we already know God or that He cannot work in our lives in new and surprising ways. Let us ask for the grace to cultivate a deeper faith, to see God’s hand at work in our lives, and to trust in His providence, even when it seems closest to home.