Tuesday, 8/22/17
Up to sixty yars ago we never had our present variety of readings
at Mass. The daily Masses honored some sixty martyrs, virgins, bishops,
confessors; and we had the same Gospel and Epistles readings over and over.
Then, we switched, to presenting a succession of reading
from every book in the Bible. People who were used to having it the old way,
took to shaking their heads over Old Testament readings like this story of
Gideon. But little by little we have grown pleased over getting familiar with
the whole of the Bible.
That Joseph who was sold down into Egypt had tribal lands
named after his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Today's reading concerned Gideon,
who described him as the "Meanest in Manasseh."
Gideon, and all the Israelites who settled in the Chosen Land,
were good farmers, but at harvest time the wandering tribes from east of the
Jordan used to come across and steal their grain. But now God is setting up
Gideon as their champion,
The Gospel spoke of how surprised the disciples were at
Jesus saying it was hard for a rich man to enter heaven. They had thought that
God gave riches to his favorites.
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