15th Week, Wednesday, Jul 15

Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16 / Matthew 11:25-27 

Isaiah rebukes Assyria: “Can an ax be greater than its user?”

The nation of Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. Now it threatened to destroy the southern kingdom of Judah, as well. Isaiah portrays Assyria as an ax in the hand of a woodsman (God) who was grubbing out the undergrowth from his vineyard (Judah). God was using Assyria to purify Judah. Meanwhile, Assyria grew arrogant, thinking that it alone was responsible for its power and its victories. This led Isaiah to remind Assyria that without the power of the woodsman’s arms the ax is useless.

15th Week: July 13-18: Reflections

July 13 Monday 

(St. Henry): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-henry/ Mt 10:34–11:1: 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. 37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

15th Week, Tuesday, Jul 14

Isaiah 7:1-9 / Matthew 11:20-24 

God speaks through Isaiah: “If your faith is firm, you’ll be firm.”

Tennessee Williams wrote a play called The Night of the Iguana. In one scene Hannah Jelkes is talking to Mr. Shannon, who seems to have a drinking problem. Hannah says, “Liquor isn’t your problem, Mr. Shannon.” And, of course, Mr. Shannon says to Hannah, “Then what is my problem?” Hannah says, “The oldest one in the world—the need to believe in something or in someone—almost anyone— almost anything . . . something.”

15TH Week, Monday, Jul 1

 15^th Week, Monday, July 11

Isaiah 1:10-17 / Matthew 10:34-11:1 

Isaiah calls for reform: “Stop all this evil.”

15th Sunday A - Sower: Reflection Summary

SOWER & THE SEEDS: PLANT A TREE THIS SUNDAY

15th Sunday A: Sower and the Soil: Quick Look

Wild Life and Railway Tracks in India

German Church - Catholics Leaving

A "Francis bishop" in Germany says Church is becoming irrelevant

Bishop Heiner Wilmer says Catholicism must find alternative ways to 'radiate presence and charisma'

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt
Germany

Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim. (Photo by Moritz Frankenberg/dpa/MaxPPP)

Catholics in Germany formally left the Church in record numbers last year. The exact figure was 272,771 – a statistic recently confirmed by the national episcopal conference.

French Catholics issue call for Church reform

Prominent French Catholics issue call for Church reform

Michel Camdessus, former Vatican policymaker and IMF director, is editor of new e-book calling for a change in Catholicism according to the vision of Pope Francis