13th Week, Wednesday, Jul 1

Amos 5:14-15, 21-24 / Matthew 8:28-34 

Take your sacrifices away: “It is justice that I want from you.”

The God of Amos was a God of concern for the poor. He scorned those Israelites who came to offer sacrifice on religious feasts but trampled on the poor the rest of the year. God said of these people: “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them! . . .Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.” Amos 5:21,24

Revisit the Issue of Ministries in the Church

"We need to revisit the issue of ministries in the Church"

Exclusive interview with biblical scholar Anne-Marie Pelletier, member of new papal commission on women deacons.

Céline Hoyeau
France

June 25, 2020

Anne-Marie Pelletier. (Photo by CORINNE SIMON/CIRIC)

July 4th: US Independence Day

July 4 Saturday (U. S. Independence Day reflections on next page): Matthew 9:14-17: 14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is  taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 And no one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.  17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is  put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm

13th Week: June 29- July 4: Reflections

29 Monday (Saints Peter & Paul the Apostles): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/solemnity-of-saints-peter-and-paul/ Mt 16: 13-19: 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

13th Week, Monday, Jun 29th

Amos 2:6-11, 13-16 / Matthew 8:18-22 

Amos prophesies in Israel: “You trample on the poor!”

This week’s readings are from Amos. He’s the first of the so-called writing prophets, those whose works are recorded in books. Although Amos came from Tekoa, in the southern kingdom of Judah, he was sent by God to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos was ill-equipped to be a prophet. He himself said: “I am a herdsman, and I take care of fig trees. But the Lord . . . ordered me to come and prophesy to his people Israel.” Amos 7:14-15

13 Sunday A - Liturgical Prayers

1. It Is Me You Welcome2. Come In, Feel At Home 
Greeting (See Second Reading)
Consider yourselves dead to sin
but alive in Christ Jesus.
May Jesus, the Lord of life,
be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

 1. It Is Me You Welcome
Are we aware that when we receive strangers we receive the Lord himself? We have Jesus’ own words for this. In the stranger God visits us. This applies not only to us in our families, but also in our Church communities. How do we welcome “outsiders” in our churches, and people who have moved from other parishes? Do we welcome the Lord in them? Remember how the Lord welcomes us here.

12th Week, Friday, Jun 26th

2 Kings 25: 1-12 / Matthew 8: 1-4 

Babylon strikes Judah again: The city and the Temple were destroyed.

Judah’s “day of reckoning” dawned in 587 B.C. That date is branded forever on the heart of every Jew. It marks the year when Babylonian armies descended upon Jerusalem and reduced the city and the Temple to a pile of charred rubble. The people who survived the devastating defeat were led off to captivity in Babylon. There they joined many relatives and friends who had been taken captive ten years before.

Against Religious Nationalism by Joseph Lobo

 Joseph Lobo, SJ 

In some countries a form of religious-cultural nationalism is back in vogue. Religion is exploited both to obtain popular support and to launch a political message that is identified with people’s loyalty and devotion to a nation.[1] It is taken for granted that people have in religion a common identity, origin and history, and that these support an ideological, cultural and religious homogeneity that is strengthened by geopolitical boundaries.

John the Baptist - Nativity - Jun 24th

The Lord called me: You are my servant.

This is the second of the four “servant songs” in Isaiah. (Isaiah 40-50). These songs exalt the perfect Israelite, whose suffering saves many people. (Isaiah 53: ii). In one sense, the songs apply to Israel and to all of its great leaders; but in another sense, they apply ultimately and uniquely to Jesus alone. (Acts 3:13,26)

Birth of John the Baptist - Jun 24 - Liturgy

Greeting (See the First Reading of the Vigil) 

Do not be afraid to speak, says the Lord, for I am with you to protect you.  I am putting my words into your mouth.  Say whatever I command you.  May the Lord speak through us and be always be with you. R/ And also with you.