To pray, to bless, to preach

A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (Lk 10, 1-12)

“After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.”

 This is the Word of the Lord.

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Let your light shine!

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:18-23)

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

This is the word of the Lord.

On July 26 the Church celebrates the memorial of Saints Joachim and Anna, the parents of Our Lady, and grandparents of her son Jesus.

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Are we curious enough?

 “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you…

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Mt 7, 6. 12-14)

This is the Word of the Lord.

Today’s gospel reading is made up of three instructions that apparently have no link, nothing in common except that they are reported as spoken by Jesus Christ at the end of what we normally call “The Sermon on the Mount”.

The first one instructs the faithful not to give what is holy to dogs and not to throw pearls before pigs. The reason given is that dogs and pigs, will not appreciate the value of the things we throw to them, and they will turn against us and harm us. It is not easy to understand what Jesus really means by this, and scholars try to understand the instruction. I will not enter the discussion here. However, it seems to me that it asks us to identify and appreciate what is holy, and that pearls are precious. We do not, normally, throw away things that we value or that are precious. In a way, then, Jesus asks us to learn how to make good use of what we have.
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A prayer to Mary, our Mother

Mother of the silence that preserves the mystery of God, deliver us from the idolatry of the present, to which those who forget are condemned. Purify the eyes of pastors with the balm of memory: that we might return to the freshness of the beginning, for a praying and penitent Church.

Mother of the beauty that blossoms from fidelity to daily work, remove us from the torpor of laziness, of pettiness, and defeatism. Cloak Pastors with that compassion that unifies and integrates: that we might discover the joy of a humble and fraternal servant Church.

Mother of the tenderness which enfolds in patience and mercy, help us burn away the sadness, impatience, and rigidity of those who have not known what it means to belong.

Intercede with your Son that our hands, our feet and our hearts may be swift: that we may build the Church with the truth in charity.

Mother, we will be the People of God, on pilgrimage towards the Kingdom.

Amen.

 by Pope Francis

Text from page http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/05/24/pope_leads_italian_bishops_in_profession_of_faith/en1-695043 of the Vatican Radio website

I believe in God

From all eternity, God spoke one word which said all He had to say. It was not a human word, and therefore it was not limited. The word God spoke is God. "The Word was with God and the Word was God" (Jn 1, 1) John told us in the prologue to his gospel.

Spoken from eternity the Word brought about the beginning of time through creation, for “All things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made that had been made”. (Jn 1, 3)

After creation, God made his Word known in many ways and at many times through those he chose so people could come to know Him, the true God and to embrace the project He set in motion when He created everything that is in the heavens and on earth.

Who can be saved?

A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark: Peter began to say to [Jesus], “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age - houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” (Mk 10, 28-31) This is the word of the Lord.

This gospel reading is sort of framed between two stories. Jesus was “setting out on a journey”, he was walking, therefore. A young rich man ran up to him and asked him “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered that he should obey the commandments. When the young man answered that he had kept them all since his youth, Jesus looked at him and loved him, and he challenged him to give up everything he had to follow him [Jesus]. The young man “was shocked and went away grieving”. The disciples were shocked too for Jesus told them how difficult it was “for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” They said to one another: “Then who can be saved?” 

RISE, LET US BE ON OUR WAY.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.

Jesus said to his disciples: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way (John 14, 27-31). This is the word of the Lord.

In today’s gospel selection, the last sentence caught my attention: Rise, let us be on our way. It lies at the end of John’s chapter 14 and it seems to close Christ’s farewell discourse to his disciples after having participated in the Last Supper he had eagerly desired to eat with them. But Jesus’ discourse goes on for another three chapters. Bible scholars discuss this matter at length. This is not the place to expand on this discussion. I only want to quote St. Thomas Aquinas who, commenting on this reading from John’s gospel recalls St. John Chrysostom saying that “He [Jesus] said this because he saw they [the disciples] were afraid, … Consequently they were not paying attention to what he was saying. So Christ led them to another hidden place, so that feeling more secure they could listen with more attention to what he would say to them and understand it better” (Commentary on John’ gospel, Ch14, Lecture 8,  no 1977). 

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