He Never Left

Play
For 7 July 2018, Saturday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time, based on Amos 9:11-15, Matthew 9:14-17

Amos 9:11-15

The Restoration of David’s Kingdom

On that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen,
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old;
in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does this.

The time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when the one who ploughs shall overtake the one who reaps,
and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them,

says the Lord your God.

Matthew 9:14-17

The Question about Fasting

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’


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.

Avatar photo

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.