Leviticus 25:1,8-17
1 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 8 “And you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years.
9 Then you shall send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family.
11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you; in it you shall neither sow, nor reap what grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines.
12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat what it yields out of the field.13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.14 And if you sell to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.15 According to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years for crops he shall sell to you.16 If the years are many you shall increase the price, and if the years are few you shall diminish the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you.17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.
Matthew 14:1-12
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus;
2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist, he has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, for the sake of Herodi-as, his brother Philip’s wife; 4 because John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodi-as danced before the company, and pleased Herod,
7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given;
10 he sent and had John beheaded in the prison,11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it; and they went and told Jesus.
MEDITATION
THE FIRST READING describe the implementation of a jubilee year that sought to set free or give release to slave or hired workers or servants who were members of a Hebrew household. The effect of this jubilee year sought the promotion of justice and fair trade conditions between the hired workers and or servants and their former Hebrew masters.
Catec: 1929 “Social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of man. The person represents the ultimate end of society, which is ordered to him:What is at stake is the dignity of the human person, whose defense and promotion have been entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and women at every moment of history are strictly and responsibly in debt.”
St MATTHEWS GOSPEL traverse events that led to the beheading of John the Baptist. Herods desire to put John to death was motivated by Johns apposition to his marriage to his half brothers former wife! Herod feared that Jesus was the reincarnation of John because of the miracles He performed. The year our Lord was crucified was a jubilee year that saw Jesus release and heal men and women who were in bondage and afflicted. Herod used the arrest of Jesus to challenge His kingship, versus Ceasar Augusta whom the Hebrew were to worship as a king.Mt 27:15-17
Since the petrine office and its successors have the authority to “bind and to loose” (Mt 16:19,18:19), the Church use this power given by Christ to absolve the sins and pardon the people on the jubilee year which takes place every twenty five or fifty years. To be sure, Christs death and ressurection inaugurated the forgiveness and pardon of sin of all who come to believe that He is the Son of God. We are called to be set free and be a jubilant people. Do appropriate this gift of Gods grace by approaching the confessional soonest!
LET US PRAY: Psalms 67:2-3,5,7
2 that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! 5 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! 7 God has blessed us;
Author. Henry R SYLVESTER Note: The daily scripture readings are taken from the Roman Missal which the Catholic Church use in the daily Celebration of the Holy Eucharist throughout the world.Some weekly readings may differ because of the celebration of local feast days
Morning Coffee Meditations. 