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Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1  : Jeremiah 13:1-11

The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth;
wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.
I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.
A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:
Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing,
and go now to the Parath;
there hide it in a cleft of the rock.
Obedient to the LORD’s command, I went to the Parath
and buried the loincloth.
After a long interval, the LORD said to me:
Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth
which I told you to hide there.
Again I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth
from the place where I had hid it.
But it was rotted, good for nothing!
Then the message came to me from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot,
the great pride of Jerusalem.
This wicked people who refuse to obey my words,
who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts,
and follow strange gods to serve and adore them,
shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing.
For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
But they did not listen.

Responsorial Psalm  : Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21

R. (see 18a) You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
You forgot the God who gave you birth.
When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing
and anger toward his sons and daughters.
R. You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
“I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what will then become of them.
What a fickle race they are,
sons with no loyalty in them!”
R. You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
“Since they have provoked me with their ‘no-god’
and angered me with their vain idols,
I will provoke them with a ‘no-people’;
with a foolish nation I will anger them.”
R. You have forgotten God who gave you birth.

Alleluia  : James 1:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel  : Matthew 13:31-35

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”

He spoke to them another parable.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Message from the Readings

Today’s readings proclaim a striking and hopeful truth:
When we cling to God, His Kingdom grows within us—even through small, hidden beginnings. When we forget Him, our spiritual life begins to decay.
• Jeremiah shows the danger of pride and disobedience.
• Deuteronomy reveals the wound beneath sin: forgetting God.
• James reminds us that God renews us through His Word.
• Jesus teaches that God’s Kingdom grows quietly, steadily, and powerfully.
The message is clear: Cling to God. Trust His quiet work. Let His Word renew your heart.

Reflection for the Day

Jeremiah’s prophetic action is vivid and unforgettable. A linen loincloth—meant to cling closely to the body—is buried, left to rot, and becomes useless. God explains:
“So I will allow the pride of Judah to rot.”
The loincloth symbolizes Israel’s relationship with God. They were meant to cling to Him— to be His people, His praise, His beauty. But pride, stubbornness, and idolatry caused their spiritual decay.
This is not just Israel’s story. It is ours.
Whenever we cling to anything more tightly than God— success, comfort, approval, pleasure— our spiritual life begins to fray. We lose the closeness we were created for.
Deuteronomy deepens the diagnosis: “You have forgotten God who gave you birth.” Sin begins with forgetfulness—forgetting who God is, who we are, and who we belong to.
But the Alleluia offers hope: God gives us new birth through His Word. Where forgetfulness causes decay, the Word restores life.
Then Jesus speaks of mustard seeds and yeast—images of quiet, hidden growth. The Kingdom does not always arrive with noise or spectacle. It begins small: a prayer whispered, a Scripture read, a moment of obedience, a seed of faith planted.
But when nurtured, it becomes a sheltering tree. It becomes leaven that transforms everything.
Today’s readings invite us to three movements:

1. Cling to God again.
   Let nothing replace Him as the center of your life.
2. Remember the God who gave you birth.
   Return to gratitude, humility, and trust.
3. Welcome small beginnings.
   God’s Kingdom grows quietly—honor the small acts of faith.
   Let today be a day of renewal, remembrance, and quiet growth.

Prayer for Today

Heavenly Father, draw me close to You and keep my heart from pride and forgetfulness.
Renew me by Your word of truth and let Your Kingdom grow within me in quiet, faithful ways.
Help me cling to You with love, trust, and obedience, so that my life may reflect Your beauty and Your grace.
Amen.