The Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time · Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus; Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest; Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church · Liturgical Colours: Green/White
The 17th week in Ordinary Time traces layers of this truth: what looks like loss is the only kind of gain that lasts. Sunday’s Office of Readings names it first — a favor that profits the giver more than the receiver. Monday and Tuesday work out the exchange through mercy and almsgiving. Wednesday shows it lived, not preached, in a household that held nothing closed. Thursday clears away every substitute — God does not want a house built for him, but a humble heart held open. Friday shows what it costs to keep that heart honest. And Saturday reveals that the giving began on God’s side, from all eternity, before we opened anything at all.
Open Your Hearts
Sunday‘s Office of Readings starts the week with Saint John Chrysostom commenting on Saint Paul’s plea to the Corinthians, and he notices something easy to miss in Saint Paul’s choice of words:
- “He asks for a favor which will be no burden to them but will be more profitable to the giver than to the receiver… Open your hearts to us.” — Second Reading, Office of Readings, Sunday, 17th Week of Ordinary Time (From a homily on the second letter to the Corinthians by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop)
Saint Paul is not asking to be loved as a kindness done to him. He is naming an exchange that benefits the one who opens their heart more than the one received into it.
On Monday, Saint Caesarius of Arlesby, in his sermon, works out the same exchange through mercy.
- “Show mercy, then, while you are on earth, and mercy will be shown to you in heaven… Give to the beggar so that you may merit to receive from Christ. For he it is who says: Give and it will be given to you.” — Second Reading, Office of Readings, Monday (From a Sermon by Saint Caesarius of Arles, bishop, on Divine and human mercy)
Tuesday, Saint Basil the Great makes the exchange just as concrete:
- “Give to a hungry man, and what you give becomes yours, and indeed it returns to you with interest.” — Second Reading, Office of Readings, Tuesday (From a sermon on charity by Saint Basil the Great, bishop)
Wednesday brings the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, where this economy stops being an argument and becomes a household. Saint John Chrysostom, in the Office of Readings, presses the same point he raised on Sunday, now aimed at anyone tempted to keep their door closed:
- “There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not seek to save others… Each one can help his neighbor, if only he is willing to do what lies within his power.” — Second Reading, Office of Readings, Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus (From a homily on the Acts of the Apostles by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop)
Their proper Magnificat antiphon needs no argument at all: “Jesus loved Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus.” The house at Bethany simply stayed open. And what was open there was hearts, not walls.
Thursday clears away any confusion about what God is actually asking for. Isaiah’s Morning Prayer reading makes it clear:
- “The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me?… This is the one whom I approve: the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word.” — Morning Prayer, Thursday, Short Reading: Isaiah 66:1–2
Friday, the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, shows what it takes to keep a heart honestly open rather than merely available. His own testimony, recorded by Luis Gonzalez, describes the discernment that reshaped his life, learning to tell which of his desires were truly from God and which were not. His proper Benedictus antiphon names where he longed to arrive:
- “Would that I might know Christ and the power of his resurrection and that I might share in his sufferings.” — Morning Prayer, Benedictus Antiphon, Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Saturday, the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, this great bishop speaks of the love God had for us, from all eternity:
- “O man, consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day, nor did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you.” — Second Reading, Office of Readings, Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori (From a sermon by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop, On the love of Christ)
Every mercy shown this week, every gift given, every open door at Bethany, every honestly tested desire — all of it was already answered before it began. God opened His heart first.
Twenty years of this ministry have been carried by exactly this kind of giving — people opening their hearts to something that returns far more than it costs. If Divine Office has been part of your own prayer, please consider supporting our work, including our ongoing Spanish Liturgy of the Hours project. divineoffice.org/contribute
A note: This week falls within our 20th-anniversary novena, nine days of prayer intentions, starting Wednesday, July 29th, ending on our anniversary day and the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6th. This is an open invitation to pray this novena together and for each other.
✞Pray Office of Readings for the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
✞Pray Morning Prayer for the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
✞Pray Office of Readings for the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor
With gratitude, The Divine Office Team
