Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Friday of the 17th week in ordinary time, July 31, 2026, Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

Delivered by Thia Santos from the Church of Divine Mercy Shah Alam in the Archdiocese Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Jeremiah 26: 1-9; Rs psalm 69: 5.8-10.14; Matthew 13: 54-58.CELEBRATION OF FAITH Our meditation today has the theme: Celebration ofFaith. A person who is said to have good faith if he has these three elementsthat are equally substantial: knowledge, celebration and practice or life offaith. The knowledge of faith refers to doctrines, teachings or dogmas. Thecelebration of faith is expressed in act of worships, ministry of sacraments,prayers and devotions. The life of faith is shown in the testimony anddedication of what is believed into the real life. With regards to the celebration of faith, some basicelements that are mostly required to make a celebration happens are like theorder of celebration, times for celebration, norms and regulation, places ofworship and participation of faithful. All these requirements aim to bring allthe faithful together as a community of believers who worship and dedicatetheir faith to the Lord. The institution and regulation of this faithcelebration was already made in the old covenant, when it was started by Mosesand continued to the time of the prophets and priests. In our today's readingfrom the book of the prophet Jeremiah, it is described how Jeremiah stood atthe court of the house of God and delivered God's Word to all religious leadersand God's people. They all gathered there to give thanks, to worship God and tooffer sacrifices. The Prophet had a duty to deliver that message of the Word ofGod. The truth and goodness of the Word of God will determine whether those wholistened to it were the good people of God or vice versa the sinners whoopposed God.                                                                                                                                        The divine law establishes this celebration of faithas the third commandment of God, which is to require faithful to keep theLord's day holy. The Church does not only dedicate Sunday as the holy day ofobligation, but also a number of holidays and feasts. Since it is a commandfrom God to celebrate, then it should be an obligation. The faithful who do notobserve this obligation, they are guilty of violating the commandment of God.In addition there is the practice of devotion by members of the Church, thoughnot an obligation, but it is very useful to strengthen our faith. For exampleprayer of the Rosary and  the singing ofspiritual songs would be very helpful in helping our faith grow. One of the celebrations of faith that is mostlyrecommended to all of us is the celebration of Word of God. This celebration ismade when the Word of God is read, heard, pondered and shared. The celebrationof the word in various places such as our houses, chapel or church with orwithout the eucharistic celebration is an occasion for us to encounter thePerson who has the Word speaking to us in a personal way. The synagogue waswhere the Word of God being celebrated according to Jewish norms. But when Jesuswanted to preach His own Word in His place of origin, people from His ownfamilies and town obviously rejected Him and because of that He did not want toshare them the good news from the loving God. As a result, there was noblessing coming to them. The purpose of celebration of faith is for us toreceive blessings from God for all our needs in life. Let us always be happyand genuine in the celebration of our faith. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Lord Jesus Christ, may our spirit alwaysbe pure in receiving Your Word that will take root and grow in our lives. Gloryto the Father and to the Son ... In the name of the Father ...