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For 21 July 2008, Monday Week 16 Ordinary Time, year II, based on Micah 6:1-4, 6-8, Matthew 12:38-42

Micah 6:1-8

God Challenges Israel

6Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
and he will contend with Israel.

3‘O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
4For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.

What God Requires

6‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
8He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 12:38-42

The Sign of Jonah

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ 39But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. 41The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! 42The queen of the South will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!


Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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About Martin Badenhorst, O.P.

Martin is a member of the South African Vice-Province and is a former lecturer in Hebrew Scriptures, World Religions, and Systematics at St. Joseph Theological Institute in Cedara, KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa. He has been pastor of Welkom and Bronville, prior of the formation priory, Emaphethelweni, and student master. He is currently assigned in Springs on the East Rand in the Gauteng province, serving as superior of the community and Parish Priest. He is also part-time lecturer in Scripture at St. Augustine College, Victory Park, Johannesburg.