THE LORD WARNED ISRAEL…

2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15,18
5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 And this was so, because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced.
13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.
15 They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. They went after false idols, and became false, and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.
18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.

Matthew 7:1-5 

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

MEDITATION

THE FIRST READING recount the capturing, displacement and subjucation of the people of Samaria by the Assyrian king. The author of this book bluntly point out that the tragedies, misfortune, the utter humiliation that these Israelites endured had it coming, because they refused to; heed the commands-turn from their evil ways and stop sinning! Moreover, this community obstinatly refused to listen to the prophets who warned them to not worship false gods!

THE GOSPEL READING: We are warned and put on notice to not cast judgements against others unless or untill we begin to honestly and objectively look inwards and recognise our; faults, failings, irreverence, false promises, shortcomings, self-denials of our hidden sins, unforgiving hearts that is filled with hatred towards others and our inability to seek forgiveness never mind forgiving those who sinned against us— we shall remain restless, unfulfilled, lacking joy with no sense of self-worth or the hope of salvation! 

In essence, we need to do an honest thorough scrupulous examination of our conscience; taking personal responsibility for the grave sins we have committed against God and our fellow man—apologise to the person(s) if he or she is reachable—and or make reperation where possible in kind and prayer and works of charity. Finally we must present ourselves to the ‘minister of mercy and reconcilliation’ (Jn 20:2;, 2Cor 4:1; 5:18) in the confessional, where we shall receive God’s mercy and forgiveness by a validly ordained concecrated priest ‘in persona christi’.  

LET US PRAY:Psalms 60:3-5,12

3 Thou hast made thy people suffer hard things; thou hast given us wine to drink that made us reel.4 Thou hast set up a banner for those who fear thee, to rally to it from the bow. [Selah]5 That thy beloved may be delivered, give victory by thy right hand and answer us!12 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

Commentary. 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