Exodus 33:7-11, 34:5-9, 28; Psalm 102; Matthew 13:36-43
In today’s text from Exodus we see Moses meeting the Lord in the tent of meeting and on the mountain top where he asks the Lord to forgive the stupidity of the people and to take them again as his heritage. Moses spent forty days and nights on the mountain in the presence of God and received again the two tablets of the Law. The Psalm reminds us that the Lord is compassion and love and that he forgives those who have sinned. In today’s Gospel we see Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds, or the darnel, to his disciples. The weeds are the followers of the prince of darkness while the good seeds are the followers of Christ. At the end of time the good will be separated from the bad and the good will enter heaven while the bad will be cast below where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. This is yet another reminder for us to examine our lives and see where we are for we do not know when judgement day will come for each of us – maybe tomorrow, maybe next year.
Memorial of Blessed Titus Brandsma, Carmelite Priest & Martyr
Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born at Bolsward, The Netherlands, in 1881, joined the Carmelite Order in 1898 taking the name ‘Titus’, and was ordained priest in 1905. Following studies in Rome he lectured in philosophy at the Catholic University of Nijmegen from 1923 to 1942, where he also served as professor and Rector Magnificus. He was also a journalist and was involved in a number of publications, being appointed ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists in 1935. During the 1930’s he visited Ireland and stayed in Kinsale with the Carmelite Community there – to improve his English – before giving a series of lectures in the United States. Throughout the 1930s Nazi propaganda was on the rise but Fr Titus refused to support or print anything in support of the Nazi regime, working instead to maintain the freedom of the Catholic press and education in the Netherlands. By 1942 it was required that the press in the Netherlands print articles in favour of the Nazi regime but, continuing to refuse, Titus was arrested by the Gestapo on January 19, 1942, and imprisoned in his native country before being sent to the concentration camp at Dachau where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow prisoners. In Dachau he was experimented on in the medical wing and was finally put to death by lethal injection on July 26, 1942.