August 9 Gospel: Mt 17:22–27

Monday

19th Week in Ordinary Time
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

►1st Reading: Ezk 1:2–5, 24–28c

On the fifth of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiakin) the word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel, son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans by the banks of the Kebar.

There the hand of Yahweh was upon me.
I looked: a windstorm came from the north bringing a great cloud. A fiery light inside it lit up all around it, while at the center there was something like a glowing metal.

In the center were what appeared to be four creatures with the same form;
I heard the noise of their wings when they moved, similar to the roar of many waters, similar to the voice of the Most High, the noise of a multitude or of a camp. When they were not moving they lowered their wings.

I heard a noise above the platform over their heads. Above it was a throne resembling a sapphire and high on this throne was a figure similar to that of a man. Then I saw a light as of glowing bronze as if fire en-veloped him from his waist upwards. And from his waist downwards it was as if fire gave radiance around him.

The surrounding light was like a rainbow in the clouds after a day of rain. This vision was the likeness of Yahweh’s Glory. On seeing it I fell on my face and then I heard a voice speaking.

►Gospel: Mt 17:22–27

While Jesus was in Galilee with the Twelve, he said to them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into human hands, and they will kill him. But he will rise on the third day.” The Twelve were deeply grieved.

On returning to Capernaum, the Temple tax collectors came to Peter and asked him, “Does your master pay the temple tax?” He answered, “Certainly.”

Peter then entered the house, but immediately Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? Who pay taxes or tributes to the kings of the earth: their sons or the other people?” Peter replied, “The others.” And Jesus told him, “The sons, then, are tax-free. But so as not to offend these people, go to the sea, throw in a hook and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. You will find a coin in it, take it and let it pay for you and for me.”

REFLECTION

“The collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and asked,
‘Does your teacher pay the temple tax?’”

Like us, Jesus lived in two worlds–
a public one and a spiritual one.
he paid the temple tax to sustain the tradition
and he went to the temple to sustain his own spiritual life.
Clearly, maintaining the faith and living the faith
are two different things.