Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
THE COMMANDMENTS
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
“I am the Lord your God. I brought you… out of the house of slavery.” These opening words of the commandments mark the meaning that the Old Testament gave to God’s commandments. They are the charter of fidelity for us, God’s partners, to the God of the covenant. No one can belong to God’s free people without being faithful to these fundamentals. The commandments are the road to freedom. Their basis is love, which makes us faithful to God and to people.
Matthew interprets for his community and applies to their situation what the parable of the sower means for them.
Reading I: Ex 20:1-17
20 1-2 God spoke all these words:
I am God, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4-6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I’m unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.
8-11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.
12 Honor your father and mother so that you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
13 No murder.
14 No adultery.
15 No stealing.
16 No lies about your neighbor.
17 No lusting after your neighbor’s house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don’t set your heart on anything that is your neighbor’s.
Gospel: Mt 13:18-23
18-19 “Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21 “The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22 “The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23 “The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”
Prayer
Lord, mighty God,
at times, some feel your commandments
as a yoke hard to bear,
and a limitation to our freedom.
Make us deeply realize Lord,
that they are a strong safeguard
against any form of slavery.
By your commands, keep us free
to respect the rights to freedom
of people far and near
and to become ever more your sons and daughters
set free by Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.