Monday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time
First Reading
Jeremiah 13:1–11
The Lord said this to me, ‘Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.’
And so, as the Lord had ordered, I bought a loincloth and put it round my waist.
A second time the word of the Lord was spoken to me, ‘Take the loincloth that you have bought and are wearing round your waist; up! Go to the Euphrates and hide it in a hole in the rock.’
So I went and hid it near the Euphrates as the Lord had ordered me.
Many days afterwards the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to the Euphrates and fetch the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.’
So I went to the Euphrates, and I searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. The loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing.
Then the word of the Lord was addressed to me, ‘Thus says the Lord: In the same way I will spoil the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem.
This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for nothing.
For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the whole House of Judah to cling to me – it is the Lord who speaks – to be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast.
But they have not listened.’
Responsorial Psalm
Deuteronomy 32:18–21
You have forgotten God, who gave you birth.
You forget the Rock who begot you,
unmindful now of the God who fathered you.
The Lord has seen this, and in his anger
cast off his sons and his daughters.
You have forgotten God, who gave you birth.
‘I shall hide my face from them,’ he says
‘and see what becomes of them.
For they are a deceitful brood,
children with no loyalty in them.
You have forgotten God, who gave you birth.
‘They have roused me to jealousy with what is no god,
they have angered me with their beings of nothing;
I, then, will rouse them to jealousy with what is no people,
I will anger them with an empty-headed nation.’
You have forgotten God, who gave you birth.
Gospel Acclamation
James 1:18
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Father gave us birth by the message of his truth,
that we might be as the first fruits of his creation.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Matthew 13:31–35
Jesus put a parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables.
This was to fulfil the prophecy:
I will speak to you in parables
and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.
Reflection
Jeremiah’s ruined loincloth is not a pleasant image, but it carries an important message. God had chosen Judah for closeness. Just as the garment was intended to cling to the body, the people were intended to cling to God. They were to be his people, his glory, his honour and his boast.
Their calling was not based on their strength or importance. It came from their relationship with God. Yet they stopped listening. They followed the desires of their own hardened hearts and placed their trust in other gods.
The loincloth did not become useless in a single moment. It was hidden away and left until the damage became clear. That makes Jeremiah’s image uncomfortably familiar. Our spiritual lives can also deteriorate gradually.
We do not usually wake up one morning and decide to abandon God completely. More often, we slowly stop listening. Prayer becomes something we postpone. Scripture becomes familiar enough that we no longer allow it to challenge us. Resentment is allowed to remain because dealing with it feels difficult. Comfort, money, approval or control begins to occupy the place that belongs to God.
The Catechism describes idolatry as giving to something created the worship and trust that belong to God alone. Idolatry is not limited to statues or ancient pagan religion. Anything can become an idol when it takes God’s place in our lives (CCC 2112–2114).
We may not call these things gods, but we can still organise our lives around them. We may depend on financial security to give us peace, other people’s approval to give us worth, or control to protect us from uncertainty. These things may have a legitimate place, but they cannot carry the weight of our deepest trust.
The responsorial psalm describes the same problem in direct words: “You have forgotten God, who gave you birth.”
Forgetting God does not mean losing all memory of him. The people still knew who God was. Their forgetting was practical. They lived as though the God who created, protected and sustained them no longer mattered.
This kind of forgetting can happen even while we continue to attend Mass or identify ourselves as Catholic. We may remember God during worship but exclude him from our decisions, relationships and ambitions. We may ask God to bless our plans without allowing him to question those plans.
The Catechism teaches that faith is our response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to us. It is not merely accepting information about God. Faith involves entrusting ourselves completely to him (CCC 26, 142–143).
That is the closeness God wanted from Judah. He did not simply want outward obedience. He wanted a people who would cling to him because they knew that their identity and life came from him.
Against Jeremiah’s image of decay, Jesus gives us two images of growth.
The mustard seed is remarkably small, yet it grows into something large enough to provide shelter. The yeast is nearly invisible after being mixed into the flour, yet its influence gradually spreads through the whole mixture.
The kingdom of heaven often begins in ways that seem too small to matter. We tend to look for dramatic signs of God’s activity. We may expect an immediate answer, a powerful spiritual experience or a visible result. Jesus asks us to recognise God at work in quieter beginnings.
A short but honest prayer can be a mustard seed. Choosing not to repeat harmful gossip can be a mustard seed. Apologising without defending ourselves can be a mustard seed. Returning to Mass after time away, opening Scripture again or forgiving someone one small step at a time can all become places where the kingdom begins to grow.
The Catechism teaches that the kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly—those who receive it with humble hearts. Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom and calls them to conversion (CCC 544–545).
This conversion may begin quietly, but it is not meant to remain superficial. Yeast works through the whole measure of flour. In the same way, the Gospel is meant to reach every area of our lives.
Faith cannot be confined to Sunday worship while remaining absent from how we treat people during the week. It must influence how we use money, speak about others, respond to disappointment and exercise responsibility. God’s kingdom works from within, gradually changing our habits, priorities and relationships.
This process requires patience. A seed does not become a tree immediately, and dough does not rise the instant yeast is added. Spiritual growth often happens slowly enough that we struggle to notice it.
We may become discouraged because we are still dealing with the same weakness, temptation or fear. We may wonder whether our prayers or efforts are achieving anything. Jesus’ parables remind us not to confuse slow growth with no growth.
The Catechism describes the kingdom as already present in Christ while still awaiting its final fulfilment. It grows mysteriously in the hearts and lives of those who receive him (CCC 541–546, 669–670).
Our task is not to force growth through our own strength. We are asked to receive the seed, allow the yeast to work and remain faithful to the grace God provides.
Jeremiah and Jesus therefore present two possible movements of the heart. A person can slowly move away from God by refusing to listen, or slowly become transformed by receiving his word.
Both movements may begin with small choices.
Neglect rarely seems serious at first. One missed prayer, one excuse or one compromise may appear harmless. Yet repeated choices can slowly harden the heart.
Faithfulness may also seem unimpressive at first. One prayer, one act of patience or one decision to obey may appear too small to change anything. Yet God can use those choices to establish his kingdom more deeply within us.
The important question is not whether our spiritual lives appear impressive to other people. It is whether we remain close enough to God for his life to work within us.
God did not choose Judah merely to have servants who obeyed from a distance. He wanted a people who clung to him. The image is one of relationship, dependence and belonging.
The Gospel shows what becomes possible when that relationship is restored. What begins as a small seed can become shelter for others. What begins invisibly within one person can eventually influence a family, workplace, parish or community.
We may not see the full result of our faithfulness. The person who planted the mustard seed could not force each stage of its growth. The woman who mixed the yeast into the flour had to allow time for it to work.
We also need to trust what God can accomplish through small beginnings. Our responsibility is to listen, remain close and respond faithfully. The growth belongs to him.
One line to carry today:
Small acts of faithful listening keep us close to God and allow his kingdom to grow within us.
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