AD SENSE

Extreme Roads or No Roads and Extraordinary Drivers


26 Sunday A: Words or Deeds?


Opening Story:
“A companion of Francis of Assisi, Brother Juniper is remembered as a “fool for Christ” and there are all sorts of wild stories about his antics. He was notorious for constantly giving his possessions away and living with a winsomeness that sometimes got him in trouble. At one point he was ordered by a superior not to give away his outer garment to the beggars anymore. But it wasn’t long before he met someone in need who asked him for some clothing. He said, “My superior has told me under obedience not to give my clothing to anyone. But if you pull it off my back, I certainly will not prevent you.” (Another version: "I can't give, but you can take.")


Philippine Priest Rescued

Philippine soldiers rescue priest from Islamic militants 

Manila: A Catholic priest held hostage for almost four months in besieged Marawi, a southern city in the Philippines, has been rescued hours after a deadly battle between Philippine soldiers and Islamic State-allied militants.

25 Sunay A: The Workers of the Vineyard


Gospel reading: Matthew 20:1-16


workers1Michel DeVerteuil
General Comments
We have another parable this Sunday, one that many people find particularly difficult to interpret.
As I said in last week’s meditation guidelines, method is always the root problem with interpreting parables, and to adopt the right method we must have a right understanding of what a parable is. It is not the kind of story where we identify “good guys” and “bad guys” and then draw the conclusion that we must imitate the good and avoid being like the bad.

24 Sunday A: Liturgical Prayers

Greeting
The God of forgiveness, mercy and life
be always with you.
R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
A. Forgive: Enter God's World

We are all familiar with the saying: "To err is human, to forgive is divine." Perhaps we forget the second part too easily: by forgiving one another, we do what God does all the time for us. If we cannot forgive we have not learned to love deeply and we are still far from the gospel. We begin this eucharist by asking pardon from the Lord and from one another.

24 Sunday A: Forgiveness

Fr. Bill Grimm's Video Message at the bottom
****

Gospel reading: Matthew 18:21-35


Michel DeVerteuil
General Comments
stewart and workerToday’s passage deals with the crucial issue of forgiveness, surely the most pressing of all our human problems, as individuals, as communities and as a human family. The future of humanity is in the hands of those who can forgive.

23 Sunday A: Prayer and Reconciliation


 Gospel Text: Matthew 18:15-20

Michel DeVerteuil
General Comments
J and disciplesThis passage is very different from those of the two previous Sundays. They were dramatic stories, marked by deep emotions and with deep implications for the characters involved. This is a little gem of a passage but with little drama, a very practical, common-sense teaching on that most common and most prosaic of community problems – conflict. It is deep wisdom teaching which continues to be valid for our time. Management has become a science today, and Jesus’ teaching stands up well as a model of how to “manage” conflict in any situation.